Health Made Simple, Day 43

Yesterday, my 43rd day on the Health Made Simple whole foods-based meal plan from No Meat Athlete, started with a little extra sleep! Paul and I had stayed up a little too late Sunday night watching Netflix. Actually, he stayed up too late, while I fell asleep on the couch, but I still didn't feel rested. When my alarm went off at 5:30 am for yoga, I decided to re-set it for 6:30!

When I finally did roll out of bed, I had a Triple Berry Banana Smoothie with a frozen berry mix of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, plus banana, spinach, and walnuts.

On Week 7 of HMS, we're on our own for breakfasts and snacks, and they're still providing meal plan ideas for lunches and dinners. It's a way to ease us off the plan and help set us up for success. The idea with the meal plan is to help you adjust your "most of the time" to eating this way even after the plan is over. But I love having smoothies on week days, so I plan to keep that up. I'm just combinng the fruit in my freezer in whatever way pleases me now.

Morning snack was Veggies & Oil-Free Hemp Dijon Dressing (a hemp-cashew "honey" mustard dressing that I'd made for snacks and salads for the week). I had planned to eat this at my desk, but I ended up having to run a work errand around 10:30 am (my usual snack time), so it was a car snack instead!

For lunch, I'd planned to eat my leftover mushroom and black bean tacos from Sunday night, but Paul really wanted to meet me at Crosstown Concourse (where I work) for lunch. How could I say no to a workday lunch with my boo? We opted for Next Door American Eatery in Concourse because they have some super-healthy things that fit well into my eating goals (plus, Today & Always — the plant-based restaurant at Crosstown Arts — is closed on Mondays).

I had the Roasted Veggie Bowl with red quinoa, broccolini, bell pepper, cauliflower, and mushrooms and topped with cilantro-tahini dressing. Sure, it had more oil than any recipe in Health Made Simple, but it's not "my most of the time" so that's cool. I love that this meal is helping me find guilt-free balance.

Afternoon snack was fruit (apples, grapes) at my desk.

And for dinner, I finally had those leftover Smoky Mushroom & Black Bean Tacos and a salad. I had a meeting right after work, so it was nice to have a quick dinner to re-heat!

I had a small glass of red wine at my meeting, and when I got home, I had a larger glass of my dad's peach wine! A pretty great day of eating if you ask me!