Happy Wednesday! How is your week going so far?

I have been loving the sunny days lately, fall cooking/baking, and crisper (but not too cold) temps.

Today I’m posting a day-in-the-life recap post full of delicious eats from an intuitive eating perspective!

To review, intuitive eating is a framework of eating designed to guide you in re-learning how to tune into your natural intuition when it comes to nourishing yourself. It is a combination of head knowledge (nutrition wisdom), listening to one’s body, tuning into what simply sounds good, and trusting one’s overall intuition when it comes to eating decisions.

The 10 principles are:

1. Reject the diet mentality
2. Honor your hunger
3. Make peace w/ food
4. Challenge the food police
5. Discover the satisfaction factor
6. Respect your fullness
7. Cope with your emotions w/ kindness
8. Movement – feel the difference
9. Respect your body
10. Honor your health w/ gentle nutrition

I don’t necessarily think about these principles formally in my head when I go about the day eating, but they do represent a lot of my natural/intuitive ways for navigating my own food decisions. I find the principles to be help to introduce to clients who are working through a disordered relationship with food and all the conflicting messages society tells us about what/when/how to eat.

On to an eats-focused day in the life post! As always, the heart behind these posts is to show an example of what it might look like to navigate food throughout the day from a more natural, intuitive, non-disordered perspective. What/when/how much to eat is always individualized and your eating choices and patterns probably look a lot different from mine!

Per usual, my morning started off with one of my favorite fudgy cacao energy bites. Sometimes I am hungry right away when I wake up, sometimes not. I know I would be starving if I didn’t eat something within about 20-30 mins of waking, so I like to have a snack before my actual breakfast later on. Washed down with a glass of almond milk.

Lately I have been adding cashews to the above recipe (1/4 almonds + 1/4 cashews + 1/2 cup walnuts) to make them even fudgier! Protein + fat + carb all in one delicious snack for prime satisfaction.

I also made an (unpictured) spicy cacao morning drink to sip on while I spent time reading the Bible/praying. This is for enjoyment and something warm right when I wake up!

Around 7/7:15am Alec and I headed out for a walk/jog on the path near our townhouse. It was such a beautiful September morning! Can it be like this every day??

Running and walking outside is something I love doing as far as activity goes.

If you are looking to exercise/be active, I always recommend finding something you enjoy!! NOT something you merely “think you should be doing.”

I always sip on one of my “green juices” while I am getting ready for the day. Typically a blend of spinach + apple + lemon + ginger + cucumber. This is simply for morning hydration and some extra fiber/nutrition!

Finally sitting down for breakfast, my favorite meal of the day! Especially lately with the new oats combo I am absolutely loving. My usual overnight oats but this time topped with agave, mixed nut butter (from Costco – a mix of cashew/almond butter), and the best red pears from Whole Foods. Alec and I have concluded that red pears are vastly superior to regular/green pears.

Also cinnamon for topping!

This day was a day full of interesting college football match-ups so breakfast was enjoyed watching College Gameday in preparation!

Nutrition side-note: I am always in favor of filling, satisfying, nutrient-dense breakfasts! Something that will tide you over for at least a couple of hours and that includes a significant source of each of the 3 macronutrients. Oftentimes when people are struggling with binge/compulsive type eating later in the day, a helpful nutrition tweak can be to eat a more filling and satisfying breakfast! I generally consider something like a granola bar or toast a snack, not breakfast!!

Second cup of coffee (this time decaf) while working on weekly planning (meals, life stuff, etc.). I usually end up doing this on Saturday mornings. On the menu for this week includes sun-dried tomato pesto pasta, leftover chicken and rice soup, scrambled eggs w/ veggies, and fall harvest salad bowls.

When planning the menu for the week, I think about things like: what sounds good?? what is seasonal?? what do we already have?? what is within our budget?? (#practical)

We usually cook roughly every other night and have leftovers on the “non-cooking” nights.

Moving on to lunch! I usually get hungry for lunch about 2 hours after breakfast and this day was no exception. I prefer to eat an earlier lunch (around 11:15am or so), but other people might prefer a mid-morning snack and then a later lunch. You do you!

For lunch I had leftovers from the previous two nights’ dinner. AMAZING quinoa + veggie bowls with pumpkin hummus. Planning to post the recipe soon!

Eaten just before Michigan kicked off at noon.

I actually started not feeling that well as the day went on. Was super tired and had a headache all afternoon/evening. I think this threw off my hunger cues the rest of the day!

That being said, I wasn’t that hungry for my usual afternoon snack. I had a mini coconut cacao bar because it had been several hours since lunch and I used some nutrition head knowledge to know it was probably a good idea to still have a snack.

I mostly lied on the couch and was thus only partially present for the Michigan game!

After the game I made more energy bites. The past few months I have been using Saturdays to prep our go-to snacks for the week.

I find snacking to be a lot more enjoyable when I have some nutrient-dense and satisfying to look forward to!

Other favorite snack ideas include homemade muffins, cheese + crackers, hummus + tortilla chips, fruit w/ nut butter, and yogurt w/ granola. I always recommend at least TWO macronutrients in a snack! (I.e., not just carbohydrate, like just an apple or just popcorn). At the same time,  I see this as a rule of thumb and not something I *always* follow.

To celebrate the start of fall, I made my favorite chicken and rice soup for dinner along with homemade bread.

I also got outside again for a mini-walk while it was simmering. It was such a perfect day weather-wise and I couldn’t stay inside!

Nourishing fall comfort food!

There were still some interesting football games on for the evening but I decided to go upstairs for a bit and read. I made a ginger turmeric tea (from Trader Joe’s) with almond milk. I like to have my evening snack later / closer to bed, so sometimes like to have a tea right after dinner.

One of the books I am currently reading is The Women in the Castle. (WWII historical fiction that I am liking so far but only just started).

Ending the day how I most prefer, with my TJ’s Belgian dark chocolate. Eating a snack before bed helps me not wake up hungry in the middle of the night! And to end the day on an especially tasty note :).

You all know I am not a fan of “food rules,” but I will say ending the day with a sweet treat may be a daily life/food “rule” I am okay with! 🙂

I closed out the evening watching some more football with Alec (Notre Dame/OSU and Penn St./Iowa) before going to read a little more before falling asleep!

This was such a nice Saturday! A good mix of relaxing, beautiful weather, getting some life maintenance/work done, and overall delicious food!

How do you like to spend your Saturdays in the fall? 
What is your go-to evening snack or dessert??