074 Want to Know What a Nutritionist Eats? Plus Ideas for You

The Investigation

As a clinical nutritionist, many people email me asking me what I eat to stay healthy. They want to know how I stay gluten and dairy-free without falling off the wagon and how I keep things interesting with meal ideas plus all about which supplements I take.

I’ve gone through my share of health challenges (and had a health mystery or two as well) and had to get to the root of my problems to regain my health. My diet has been a big part of what put me on the path to where I am today which is being able to thrive after all those struggles.

So, in this week’s episode, I’m revealing some of the things I eat as well as some foods and brands I have found that can make eating a clean diet delicious and fun. I guess you could say I’m flipping the investigation around to me.

Starting My Day

One of the things I try to do each day is a short, intermittent fast. So, I usually don’t have food in the morning until 12 hours has passed since I ate the night before. One of my favorite ways to start my day is a peach smoothie (see recipe below) that includes Whole Body Collagen, and maybe a gluten-free Paleo Waffle from Birch Benders with some almond butter.

My son Jake loves oatmeal muffins (see recipe below) in the morning and sometimes I’ll enjoy one or two myself. When I do, I like to add some fat and protein to make sure to balance my blood sugar. This might be a collagen protein drink with flavoured protein by Paleo Pro or Pea protein.

On other days, I might make protein pancakes (see recipe below), some eggs with veggies or baked sweet potato slices.

Lunch Time (on a Tight Timeline)

My lunches tend to be quick. A lot of time I have a salad (I cut up the veggies ahead of time). I usually include a protein like chicken, turkey, shrimp, or salmon (make sure they’re clean and don’t contain nitrates). I also like to include a carb like lentils, black beans or kidney beans that I’ve made in the Instapot ahead of time once a week. You can use canned beans (make sure they are BPA free cans) but the pressure cooker destroys lectins (those can be an issue for those who have autoimmune diseases) so that is why I love using the pressure cooker. If you have to buy canned beans, Eden Foods actually pressure-cooks their beans before canning them so you get the lectin-reduced benefit with them.

Sometimes, I’ll do a sweet potato for the carb or I also like the Siete Tortillas which come in a variety of flavors and are actually grain-free. They have ones made with cassava flour, almond flour, cashew flour and chickpeas, very yummy!

Simple Kneads Bread is also a very tasty gluten free bread option (they’re also yeast free) that is clean and delicious. It does contain grains but if you are ok with grains, its one of the best gluten free breads that I have found recently.

Snack Time

I like coconut yogurt because it’s dairy free and I like the So Delicious brand, specifically the unsweetened vanilla which I mix with some Paleonola Granola.

Or, I might do fruit and nuts, hummus and veggies, or a protein drink similar to my breakfast smoothie.

Dinner

I like to balance my plate with a protein, a veggie and a starch. An example is to have baked chicken (I do the whole chicken early in the week so I have chicken for lunch the next day) or add a homemade BBQ sauce (see recipe below).

Another favorite in our house is tacos. We saute grass-fed beef or turkey and we love to use the Seite tacos (they have hard and soft shells) because they’re super clean. We load up the tacos with veggies.

We also like to grill wild-caught shrimp and put it over zucchini noodles in a vegan pesto sauce from Gotham. Or, we might have beef stew, turkey thighs or burgers with veggies.

What I Drink

A lot of people want to know about my water. I don’t recommend tap water. We have filtered water but because we are on a well and the house didn’t have good filtration before we moved in, I worry about what is in the pipes and so we actually subscribe to Mountain Valley Springs which is a water service that delivers clean water in glass jugs. Its a great option if you are looking for delivery and trying to avoid plastic bottles which I really recommend. For others, I recommend a 7-stage reverse osmosis water filter if you are able to install it under your sink. If you live in an apartment or are not able to install under the sink, a great counter top option for reverse osmosis is AquaTru.

My Supplements Regimen

Over the years, I have taken a variety of supplements based on what my tests indicated I needed. My supplement regimen is always changing (and it did while I was pregnant for sure).

Most of the time, I take fish oils - specifically, OmegAvail Ultra from Designs for Health and I also take two krill oil gel caps called XanthOmega from Designs for Health.

Whenever I do a hair test, I am always low on magnesium so I also take the Magnesium Buffered Chelate from Designs for Health. Lately, I’ve also been taking a lot of extra vitamin C and I rotate between the Stellar C and the C+ BioFizz (both from Designs for Health) to support my immune system as well as Zinc a couple of times a week.

At bedtime (well away from when I take my other vitamins), I also take some Tocotrienols and Glutathione to balance my immune system (which is important for me because I have Hashimoto’s).

In addition, I take a vitamin D (dose depends on my lab tests), probiotics (I rotate between the Ortho 100, Ortho-Biotic, and ProBioMed.

And finally, I take pancreatic enzymes and Betaine when I have a meal that's a little bit bigger or contains a little more animal protein.

Final Thoughts

I hope this episode helps you discover some new food choices and motivates you to ...