These days, my life seems to be learning from my mistakes…case in point: I’ve been running for over 15 years and I’m finally about to lose a toenail from my hiking boots that are too small, and too many years old. I’m religious about replacing running shoes every 6 months but hiking boots that I beat up all the time? haha.
The other thing I’ve been learning the past few weeks: a good dinner is essential for a the following day. Lately with all the hiking I’ve been doing for work, I’ve been too exhausted to make or really eat anything other than smoothies or sandwiches for dinner. I’m getting in a good amount of fruits, veggies and non-processed foods throughout the day, but having bread at almost every weekend can get old, and make my body weak.
All I needed was one meal to kick me back into action, and a good talk with my counselor about how eating a REAL MEAL will help me out in the long run, especially with all the exercise and other stress I’ve been under.
So last night my roomie and I met up with a coworker at Thai place for dinner. This was probably the first dinner I’d had in a long time! I ordered the first thing that caught my eye, mock chicken snow pea stir fry with rice. My coworker got a black pepper cabbage and mushroom with mock chicken while my roomie got a meat dish. I ate 2/3 of my dish with some steamed rice and was set for the night. It was a great meal and I knew the leftovers would be great for tonight.
I did feel the huge amount of sodium that was in it last night, so tonight I tried to tone it down a bit by getting rid of the excess liquid, adding in steamed veggies and just a bit more rice to soak everything up. It was a delicious meal to end a long day (8 miles of hiking hills in the heat! Yikes!) along with some grapes and a few mini york peppermint patties.
Do you feel the difference when you don’t eat real meals? What is your favorite meal when you’re in a pinch or tired? I’m all ears and eyes!
10 comments:
This made me crave Thai food. I LOVE IT!
i definitely feel out of sorts when I don't eat real food. It's just not as comforting.
The past two weeks have been so chaotic with getting ready to go back to school and the first week of school, I can totes relate to a simple dinner... I've been eating a lot of soup lately- love it but can get sick of it too :P
I always find that if I don't eat a "real" dinner to end to day, I'm never satisfied. Example, the other night, I wasn't too hungry for dinner so I just had a bowl of cereal. Well, that turned into 3 bowls plus a ton of other bites of random things.
Eggs in some form tend to be my 'go-to' dinner when I'm exhausted or just don't have much time. If I have any leafy greens on hand, I'll throw those in as well and eat it all on toast.
This month I'm swamped with school programs and lots of traveling, so I spent last weekend cooking larger meals and freezing them in meal-sized portions so that all I have to do is decide if I want curry or crepes or frittata for dinner and heat up my meal in the oven. It took up a fair bit of my weekend, but I think it's going to be worth it in the long run.
Stir fry's are the best when you're in a pinch b/c you can pretty much add anything you want to the pan and call it dinner. Even a good quality store bought oven ready pizza with a side salad would do the trick!
Nights I don't end up eating a real dinner I am never satisfied and find myself snacking a ton! My fave go-to dinners is sweet potato hash topped with an egg or two...we seriously eat this at least once a week!
I definitely have stronger cravings, or dont feel as satisfied if I dont take the time to make "real meals." this sounds terrible because it comes in a box but trader joes and kashi make some really great frozen dinners i take an add my own fresh veggies to to make it a little more nutritious.
i also love stuffed peppers because you can change up what you put in them every time! and homemade pizza on pita bread or flat wraps!! yummy :-)
I just discovered your blog, and wanted to let you know that I love it. I too am a mega environmentalist (although I'm more into lemurs and farms than birds. But birds are still AWESOME) and a recovering anorexic (since I was 15, I'm 20 now). I've only read a few of your posts, but I find you heartfelt and inspiring, and I can't wait to read more.
Also, big and real dinners are awesome. Sandwiches are "lunch" food to me, they don't satisfy the way "dinner" foods do.
I totally agree with needing to eat a real dinner in order to function with lots of wear and tear on your body the next day!
It's been so long since I read blogs -- I'm so happy to be reading again!
My question is - what exactly constitutes a "real meal"? Smoothies can be a real meal, and so can sandwiches. It might not be the meal you crave, but it's still a meal none the less. In fact, I would argue anything can be a real meal if you see it as one and are satisfied by it.
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