Today is one of those days where I did so much better than normal in the eating department.  I wanted to share with you what a day looks like in my world when I’m truly on top of things with what I eat during the day.  This is an example of what works for my body, lifestyle, and preferences.  I’ve been vegetarian since 2002 and have had many experiences finding what worked best for me during this time.  Believe me, I have tried many things!

I get asked so many times where I get my protein from eating when this way.  Thank God for CRON-O-Meter for helping me answer this question in great detail, which you will see below.  I also hear other dancers say that they are advised not to eat fruit at all, which is crazy with the amount of energy we exert in classes, rehearsals, and performances.

Eating high amounts of fruit has been the BEST decision that I have ever made.  At least that has been my experience as someone who was extremely addicted to refined sugar in the past.  Fruit is high in calories which is needed for energy for a dancer or anyone who is very active.  I am never depleted during the day eating like this.

It is nearly impossible to crave unhealthy sweets or junk food when you are eating nature’s highly energizing vitamin, mineral, and fiber rich “dessert” for a majority of the day.

Breakfast

It’s citrus season in Los Angeles and I love mandarin oranges.  Usually one of my meals during the day is a mono-meal.  It is a super easy way to approach eating and also very easy to digest.

After Dance Class Snack

I always have fruit in my dance bag if I don’t have a smoothie pre-made and packed for an after class mini snack/meal.

Lunch

For this smoothie I blended four large bananas, seven medjool dates, one tablespoon of chia seeds, and 1 1/2 cups of frozen raspberries with water in my Vitamix.  The entire smoothie equals about two of these jars.

Dinner

For dinner I made a salad with romaine, carrots, red cabbage, sunflower seeds, and Italian dressing plus delicious mashed potatoes.  I cooked the potatoes in organic low sodium vegetable broth before mashing with a hand held blender, and added spices, Himalayan pink sea salt, and butter.

Nutritional Breakdown with CRON-O-Meter

Below you will see that I made 90% of my nutritional goals with just this food alone.  I did not add any supplements to the chart because I wanted the focus of this article to be about nutrition through whole organic food.  I will say that once I added my supplements I reached 99% of my nutritional goals for the day.

I will definitely get more into supplements in another article.  For starters I will say that a good multi-vitamin, vitamin B-12 and vitamin D3 can be helpful especially for vegetarians.  Taking supplements is a personal preference which works for me.  Do what works for you.

Every day doesn’t look exactly like this for me although it is motivation for me to see this.  If I miss getting my box of organic fruit from the farmer’s market on the weekend, things are thrown off tremendously.  It is challenging to get enough nutrition into my diet if I don’t have an abundance of what I like to eat at home waiting for me.  Other days I may have lunch or dinner out, and I can’t calculate how everything nutritionally breaks down for the day because of it.  I also don’t use CRON-O-Meter daily anymore, but it has been an amazing tool for becoming more aware of what works for my body and why.

Please don’t get caught up in the amount of calories that I ate this day alone.  You honestly cannot compare raw food calories with cooked fried food or processed food calories.  I was a bit surprised myself when I entered everything, but this is what felt right for this day.  I also didn’t include the mile walk I took with my dog this day for exercise.  I honestly didn’t think it would make a tremendous difference compared to my dance class.

If you are desiring a way to feel phenomenal, have radiantly clear skin, abundant hair growth, and just be healthier in general, please focus on nutrition first.

“Beauty-out-of-the-box” as I like to call it is amazing too, but nothing compares to having a great foundation first.  Your “healthy” will look different from mine as we are all unique, yet take the time to figure it out.  CRON-O-Meter as well as trial and error is what helped me create my ideal health inside and out.

One Love!

(Images by Dawn Michelle)

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