This post about what I eat on a typical weekday is sponsored by NOW®. I’ve been a customer and fan of the brand for many years, and I’m happy to be a partner again this year.
It’s a food post! It’s been quite some time since I shared what I’ve been eating. Although my style of eating has changed so much over the years, a few things have remained the same: I eat most of my weekday meals at home, I eat pretty similar stuff most weekdays, and I eat food that can be ready in under 20 minutes or less, because I often come home from a morning of teaching group fitness classes quite hungry.
While I don’t track my calories, I do know that I’m loosely aiming to get 145 grams of protein in each day, and I usually come pretty close to meeting that goal. The day I’m about to show below probably comes up just shy of 145 grams of protein. I hope you enjoy taking a look at some real-life, real-time meals — nothing filtered, nothing staged — just the real stuff I consumed.
Here’s what I eat on a typical weekday …
7am: Breakfast – Collagen coffee and protein yogurt
Before I eat anything at all, I try to chug at least half of my water cup to start the hydration process for the day. Once that’s done, it’s time for coffee and breakfast. Technically, it’s better to wait to have your coffee after or alongside your first meal of the day for your hormones (especially as a woman), so I try to keep the distance between coffee and food pretty short. But to be honest, the coffee often comes right after the water.
In my coffee mug is some standard drip coffee with oat milk creamer and two tablespoons of NOW Collagen Peptides Powder. I’ve been taking collagen in some form for more than 10 years, and although it’s said to support healthy skin, I’m mostly interested in the fact that regular consumption of collagen can support strong bones and healthy joints.* Collagen peptides dissolve into your coffee and you don’t even know they’re there. And I find that the habit of adding collagen to my coffee is a total no brainer, with great benefits.
Next up, is breakfast. In my bowl is a couple hearty scoops of high-protein vanilla yogurt, some organic blueberries, half of a chopped-up banana and NOW Organic Raw Brazil Nuts. I added back in four daily Brazil nuts to my diet last fall in order to support my thyroid health. Although I’ve never taken any medication for my thyroid, I’ve been monitoring it closely for the last few years and occasionally had T3 levels on the lower side (but not anymore thanks to acupuncture). Brazil nuts contain selenium, which is an important dietary mineral that can support thyroid health and immune function, and they also contain valuable magnesium. My daily Brazil nuts are a big nutritional boost, and so are the blueberries, which are full of antioxidants.
I’ve been eating a version of this breakfast for probably about a year and a half, and it tastes great and fills me up to have an active morning. As a loose calculation, the combination of the yogurt and collagen make this breakfast about 45 grams of protein.
11:45am: Snack – Post-workout protein and aminos
I teach fitness classes in the mid-morning five days a week, and about 30 minutes after I’m done, I always reach for a protein shake, which I prepare the night before and bring with me in my bag.
My shaker always contains creatine, protein powder and water mixed together. And I look forward to drinking it!
In addition to my protein shake with creatine, I also have a separate water cup full of BCAAs (branched chain amino acids, which are essential amino acids that can’t be produced by the body). I drink my BCAAs during and after my classes and workouts.
Here’s exactly what I use:
- In my protein shaker: One scoop of NOW® Sports Micronized Creatine Powder and two scoops of NOW® Sports Organic Plant Protein Powder in my protein shake. Taking creatine can support the growth and development of lean mass, and promote optimal performance during short bouts of intense exercise.* And of course, taking protein powder helps me meet my daily protein intake goal. (I wrote a whole post about creatine here in case you’re interested.)
- In my water cup: One scoop of NOW® Sports BCAA Big 6 in my water cup. Taking BCAAs or aminos before, during and after exercise can support muscle retention and recovery.* And as a group fitness instructor who is really active, this is a must for me.
You should see me heading out the door in the morning and coming home early afternoon with all three of my liquid bottles — the protein shaker, the BCAAs water cup and the plain water cup. They’re all three usually empty when I get home, so that means I’ve already consumed about 160 ounces of liquid by the time I have lunch each day and I have to rinse them all out. Dave loves to laugh at my excessive water cup posesssion, but I don’t laugh. 🙂
1pm: Lunch – Baked chicken nuggets and mashed sweet potatoes
A couple years ago, I actively added a lot more meat back into my diet, as my activity levels increased with all the classes I teach. Now, I eat meat at least once a day and sometimes two.
This lunch shown below is one I usually have at least a couple times a week. On my plate, we’ve got some baked chicken nuggets (cooked from frozen) and some mashed sweet potatoes (cooked in the microwave). This entire lunch can be ready in about 12 minutes, which is why I reach for it again and again. Is it a perfect lunch? No. But is it tasty and convenient and full of protein and nutrients? Yes. And it works for me.
1:15pm: Dessert – Dates
If you’re wondering if the Pitt family is still spending too much money on dates, the answer is yes, we are. There’s nothing special about dates, they don’t have a ton of special nutritional value, but I/we just love them. I reach for a date or two after lunch and after dinner, and while that’s not significant, it’s part of what I eat, so here it is.
4:30pm: Snack – Protein balls
I got these protein balls from Life Time after I co-taught a special event with a fellow instructor and some of our refreshments for our members were left over. I was so excited to bring home a bag of these protein balls, because they’re delicious. They each contain a few grams of protein, oats, peanut butter and fruit, and according to the little label on the package, they have about 100 calories each, so they’re hearty.
Some days for my snack, I have a protein yogurt, protein bar or protein shake, but this day, I had these protein balls. They’re an easy grab-and-go, and that’s usually what my mid-afternoon snack looks like, often consumed in the car on the way to our afternoon activities.
7:30pm: Dinner – Chicken nuggets, cauliflower gnocchi and avocado
We’re big on frozen food over here. And I’m not talking about frozen microwavable meals, but I’m talking about veggies or sides that you keep in the freezer then heat up and add to your plate.
Below on my dinner plate, you’re seeing some air-fried chicken nuggets (yes, that means I had two different types of chicken nuggets on the same day, and sometimes that happens, so don’t hate), some cauliflower gnocchi and half of an avocado. This was a truly tasty dinner, and I mixed up all the elements in each bite when I ate it. Also, this dinner was ready in about 15 minutes, which is all the time we have at night, once getting home from our evening activities.
8pm: Dessert – More dates
I love to end my dinner with another sweet bite, so a couple more dates made an appearance. Once these were done, I opened up a sparkling water and sipped on that too, and then my food consumption was complete for the day.
And that’s the day of eating! You’ll see it’s totally imperfect. Some days I have more veggies than I did here, some days I have more protein, but overall, I keep my meals quick, simple and tasty. That’s real-life eating, if you ask me. I hope you enjoyed this look at my meals from a typical weekday. Now, let’s talk about NOW …
Enjoy 20 percent off at NOWFoods.com with my discount code ASHLEY
You all know I love NOW products, I use them regularly and I recommend them too.
You can find NOW products in major natural health food stores and grocers, and you can find some of their products on Amazon. In addition, you can access the full line-up on the NOW site. My pantry is stocked with NOW products, especially the supplements I use every single day and are mentioned above in my typical weekday of eating.
You can always use my discount code, ASHLEY, at NOWFoods.com for 20 percent off.
That’s it for today, friend. Have a great day! Happy eating!
Disclaimer: Thanks again to NOW for sponsoring this post. While I was compensated, all of these opinions are totally my own. Thanks, NOW! #NOWWellness
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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What’s your favorite meal of the day?
