If you're a healthy eater, what does a typical day look like?

[BeBraveAndBeKind]

I've just been through some pretty major surgery followed by a serious infection that saw me rehospitalised for more surgery and IV antibiotics. I'm now recovering but even making a cup of tea is exhausting. It's made me realise how much I've taken my body and health for granted.

Prior to the surgery, I'd have days where I'd eat reasonably okay but days where I'd have biscuits for lunch. I don't drink excessively but I do drink a lot of coffee and tea which also leads to snacking. I've been Pescatarian for a couple of years now but blood tests in the hospital showed that I was anaemic and I needed an Iron transfusion so I'm clearly not meeting all my nutritional requirements.

I want to turn things around to support my body's recovery with good restorative food rather than low fat versions or processed food. If you eat a healthy diet, what do you eat in a typical day?

Disclaimer I don't always eat this healthy but when I do have a healthy phase it looks like this...

Breakfast: scrambled egg, spinach, tomato, mushrooms with a slice wholemeal bread.
Or
Porridge and banana
Or
Weetabix, semi skimmed milk and blueberries/strawberries

Lunch: homemade veg and lentil soup
Or
A salad with avocado, chicken, loads of different salady veg, sun dried tomatoes, beetroot etc.
A few crackers
An apple or banana

Dinner: smallish portion of anything made fresh from scratch like chilli with loads of veg, chicken curry, salmon with steamed veg and a few potatoes
Prawn stir fry.

Snacks: peanut butter on apple, rice cakes
A tangerine, carrot sticks.

Drinks, water, green tea

OK. I'll bite. But I make no health claims. I eat what I like. Lots and lots of veg. Some fruit. Eggs. Some cheese/yoghurt. Some beans or lentils. Some wholegrains (eg oatcakes or seedy bread). Some nuts and toasted seeds (am currently munching home-made roast tamari pumpkin seeds, which IMHO are v. tasty). Herbs, spices, tamari soy sauce, lots of lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil. A little fish. I don't drink milk because I don't like it. Nor do I like butter. And I really don't like sweet things - cakes, biscuits, jam etc, or chocolate. Or ready meals - or most takeaways
I do drink some wine and lots and lots of black tea and coffee.

Today, this translates into:

No breakfast - was not hungry - but 2 big mugs black coffee.
Mid morning = weak black tea
Lunch = smoked salmon omelette (a luxury), a whole small cos lettuce, shredded, with the hot omelette on top. Posh 'pink lady' apple. More black coffee.
Mid afternoon = black tea
Pre-supper = white wine, aforesaid pumpkin seeds
Supper = will be mixed veg ( carrot, parsnip, leek, new potato and cauliflower) in cheese sauce plus lots of collard (spring) greens.
After supper = in the course of the evening, 2 or 3 mugs of weak black tea

If I were to eat breakfast, it would be something like peanut butter or olive tapenade on oatcakes or toasted seedy bread , or hummus and carrot sticks. Or, if I had not had eggs for a couple of days, a simple plain omelette.

Health warning - looking at the above, it is probably much too salty (though I don't use salt in cooking).

B - two boiled eggs with a slice of bread (no butter) or greek yoghurt with fruit and 20g granola
L - salad with beans and yogurt dressing, or vegetable soup
D - grilled chicken or fish with vegetables, some cheese and fruit
snack - vegetables (tomato, cucumber, celery), fruit

The above is 90% of times.

I supplement the above with croissants, steak and fries, pizza and other shit. I also have the capability to demolish massive amounts of chocolate.

Thanks for sharing.

User56770987 I always forget how good peanut butter is on apple slices so that's going on the list. Chicken and avocado salad sounds lovely too.

florascotia2 Oooh, those pumpkin seeds sound good! Do you just toss them in the sauce and then toast them in the oven?

I'm going to go back to eating a bit of meat a couple of times a week but not processed meat (it's something I need to watch carefully though because it's a slippery slope to a Gregg's corned beef slice!)

AnaViaSalamanca Your supplemental list is my 80% of the time list at the moment (with the exception of the steak). I used to eat quite a bit of bean salad but haven't for ages so that's going back on the list.

I go through phases but recently have been trying to get my 10 a day in. I’m also pescatarian. A day might look like:

B: Smashed avocado on granary toast with chilli and lime, poached egg on top and grilled (or fried) cherry tomatoes

L: Cheese and cucumber bagel with an apple on the side

D: Salmon fillet with baked sweet potato and a ton of veg on the side – brocoloi, mushrooms, peas etc. Sometimes a stir fry mix

Snacks: Apple and peanut butter; crackers/crudités and hummus; banana; satsuma

Beans are really nutritious instead of meat. BBC has an amazing smoked aubergine and bean chilli, or I often for burrito bowls – Mexican black beans, homemade guacamole, chopped lime salad/salsa, spiced vegetables and brown rice. Really tasty! (And topped with too much cheese )

Oh and a fruit smoothie with breakfast! I know there’s a sugar debate around those but I often chuck in things like cucumber and spinach, so hopefully I’m not rotting my teeth...

Breakfast: depending on time, Greek yoghurt with berries, or seedy bread toasted with nut butter, or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.

Lunch: Salad - green leaves with meat or fish, olive oil based dressing. Sometimes cheese or avocado with it.

Dinner: some form of protein (red meat, fish, chicken) with lots of green veg.

If I have a pudding, it'll be a couple of squares of very dark chocolate.

Do you cook lentils mich? They’re a great source of iron. Indian recipes especially great if you like that kind of food.

Re pumpkin seeds (also works with sunflower seeds):

You can do them in the oven (about 20 mins at 180C on a well-oiled baking sheet - stir once or twice) but I do them in a very heavy little (20 cm /8 in diameter) cast-iron frying pan.

Enough olive oil to cover the base of your pan, but don't drown the seeds.
Stir them around to make sure that they are covered with the oil.
Cook gently until the pumpkin seeds begin to pop or the sunflower seeds turn pale golden brown. Takes 5-10 mins, depending on the thickness of the frying pan.
Take the pan off the stove - there will still be a lot of residual heat - and stir in 1 generous tablespoon of tamari reduced salt soy sauce. It will spit a bit. Stir to make sure that all the seeds are covered. The soy sauce will stick to them as they cool.
I've a very approximate cook - but I hope that this will give you some idea.

Fnal line - should be I'm a very approximate ....' I don't have a cook!

B'fast- either a bannana or frozen berries, greek yoghurt and granola a bagel with peanut butter if I have been running
Lunch either;
Hm soup (vegetable and lentil, chicken noodle )
Lentils with celery, peppers and feta sometimes with roasted squash, seeds
Avocado on toast

Nearly always an apple

Supper
Something like
3 bean chilli with rice, salad, guacomole
Chick pea and spinach curry
Try to have soup once a week
Salmon with cherry tomatos, green beans and olives
HM Pizza on a friday
Pasta with fried veg stirred through with pesto
Only have desert at the weekend
Drink black coffee 1st thing the herbal tea
I take an iron containing multi vit, don't drink in termtime.

If I'm eating well then..

Breakfast - usually scrambled eggs and mushrooms, sometimes beans on toast. Small glass of orange juice (I have it half and half diluted with water because I'm a weirdo)

Lunch - salad, with bag of salad, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions etc and tuna or feta or chicken

Tea - anything but always with a bag of frozen steam veg, even pasta I eat with veg on the side (yes, weirdo again!) so might be sausage and mash or veg pasta or

Snacks - apple and PB, piece of cheese, total Greek yoghurt and berries, banana, boiled egg...

3 scrambled eggs for breakfast, maybe a slice of cheese too.

Homemade lentil and veg soup for lunch, or a jacket potato, a protein and salad.

Dinner would be the usual stuff but nodding to lower carb - casseroles, curries, steak and salad etc. If its pasta then a small portion. Fruit for pud.

Not much processed stuff or sugar, very little alcohol.

I have been losing weight by counting calories, so although I allow myself treats they have to fit into my calories so that limits it. I have a moderately active job and walk a few miles a day to and from work.

Breakfast is normally either crumpets or porridge with peanut butter, and coffee

Lunch is either a salad (often with chicken or avocado etc) or cuppa soup with a bread roll on the side. Maybe once a week a sandwich with ham and cheese. I usually pack a piece of fruit or little tupperware of berries as a little pudding.

Dinner is varied but we almost always have 4 or 5 of our "5 a day". Ie spaghetti mixed with courgetti in tomato sauce with other veg in the sauce, and turkey meatballs, or veggie chili with many types of vegetables cooked in, or salmon roasted with veg and served with rice. We always try to have enough protein every day, and I need to eat enough iron too so often this is some meat. Spinach and broccoli appear a lot too but not enough to get all my iron!

I tend to not snack but if I do it'll be an apple or banana. We only have real dessert on Sundays, usually.

I'm vegan and eat healthy but sometimes that means healthy pizza, burgers, chips etc. Today was:

Breakfast- Just a coffee with oatly barista
Lunch- Hummus wrap with carrot, avocado, tomato, lettuce, and edamame beans
Dinner- Homemade curry with some apple crumble for dessert with oatly cream, made with apples off my tree

I don't know if it's that healthy as such but I cook from scratch the vast majority of the time. Try to get our 5 a day. On a really low income but we get by cause I mostly buy 'ingredients' rather than anything pre cut or prepared.

I rarely buy fizzy juices, chocolate or crisps cause if they are in I can't help myself.

I eat different stuff every day. I drink tea and water. I am not healthy in that I drink too much alcohol.

Today was -

B : toast and butter (seedy)

L: vegetable and cheese soup (has loads of veggies) from the BBC good food website.

D: roasted vegetable lemon and tomato cous cous made with a veg stock cubes, herbs and peas, added to roast beetroot, carrot, onion, red pepper. With grilled tinned sardines.

Also, we take multivitamin and mineral and probiotic. To help bridge any gaps. Not every day but some days. May be worth a try.

Today I had:
Breakfast- porridge with jam or honey. Cup of tea. Yakult
Mid morning snack - apple and cup of decaf tea
Lunch - avocado on toast. Followed by yogurt.
Afternoon snack - tangerine
Dinner - salmon and sweet potato and broccoli
Evening snack - Will be square of chocolate and herbal tea
I take vitamin D3 and a multi vitamin most days

@BeBraveAndBeKind I hope you get back on your feet soon!

healthy eating is relative, having a pack of biscuit for lunch ocassionally is absolutely fine.
aim for lots of veg, a mix of raw and cooked. imagine a toddler plate. the 2 small compartments for carbs & meat/sauce and the large one for veg or salad.

I'm not necessarily the epitome of healthy eating, but i try not to give into temptation, and I think I'm doing okay!
Today has been:
Readybrek with a spoon of peanut butter (smooth sunpat), a few walnuts and a few dates
A tuna melt on a brioche roll and a cappuccino
Grapes

I've been low carb for years but for the last 3 months I've been following a more strict, paleo style whole foods diet. A typical day for me is this:

Almond milk x 2 coffees
Breakfast: 100g chicken, 28g walnuts, salad leaves and homemade mayo. (May exchange eg. Chicken for mackerel or boiled eggs, and the nuts for avocado)

Lunch: frozen portion of leftover meal (homemade) with salad or similar to breakfast; protein, fat, veg

Dinner: homemade casserole, curry, meatballs, loads of veg. Or fish/steak/chicken breast and salad or winter veg. Maybe a piece of fruit.

No snacks.
Several pints of water
Herbal tea

I don't count calories as such but a lifetime of doing so means I can sort of accurately guess a portion size and I do occasionally tot up the cals as force of habit really. I guesstimate that to be about 1800 cals, 600 cals for each meal, with the vast majority of my cals coming from protein and fat. I only really eat heavy carbs (eg banana or sweet potato) if I am doing a long run the next day or if I am really tired and just need some carb- loading.
I run 5-7km average a day, do circuits 2-3 times a week, and yoga. I cook everything from scratch; no dairy, grains, sugar (except the sugar in occasional fruit and tonnes of veg), legumes or soy.

I can honestly say my diet is the healthiest it has ever been and, after 3 months of no junk whatsoever, not even a crumb of toast or grain of sugar, I feel a million dollars. However, it is drastic and not for everyone to do this and I think it is as much a weakness as it is a strength to be able to control food to this extent.

So many great ideas! Thank you all!

Seeded bread and lentils seems to be coming up a lot so they're going on the list. I'm eating a live yogurt or two every day to try and soften the blow from the antibiotics on my stomach (another four days to go!)

I know that I definitely don't eat enough fruit and veg. I'll do really well two days out of seven and it's been down to laziness really.

I've been taking Floridix every day for a year along with vitamin D and selenium but it doesn't seem to be filling the gap.

Thank you for the recipe @florascotia2 - i'll get my chef (one of the DSs) on it tomorrow