Daily Eats and Wrapping Up 2020
December 18, 2020
Hi all!
Sitting in my office this morning, candle lit, worship music on, sipping coffee and sharing my final post of 2020 with you. Only two weeks of this year left! What a year it has been… Honestly, amongst so much chaos/craziness I truly see that there is so much I have to be grateful for.
To name a few things: I am grateful for my health, my marriage, my sweet Abby girl, Selah, my clients, moving back to CA, selling our home, camper adventures, finding a new place to live, new friendships, sweet connection, less “busyness”… I could go on and rant for 20 minutes about how much GOOD this year has still held.
I’ll be reflecting on my perspectives of 2020 with a post in the new year sharing: reflections, my word/focus for 2021, and a bit about how I set NYR’s these days (hint: they’re focused on how I want to feel).
Before we dive in, a reminder: I share my eats to be an example of what is possible for you in your relationship with food. To show you that you can experience calm and ease with food, too.
You can eat what you enjoy, listen to your body and let go of the need for rules around food (and still feel good in your body!). As a result of feeling calm with food you’ll be able to focus on the things that are most important to you.
If you’d like to work with me one on one to stop restricting or feeling guilt around food, I’d love to book a discovery session with you to see if we’re a good fit. You can book a free call with me on this page (now booking January 2021).
Monday
Monday morning started off with the gym, breakfast with Marco, and work. For breakfast I had two eggs and two small slices of toasted sourdough with butter.
For lunch, we had teriyaki chicken, rice, and veggie bowls (from Costco). Yum!
After lunch I went for a walk and to the park with my friend Corrine and our dogs. We threw the ball for them and they played with another pup friend while there. So sweet – it literally fills my soul to see Abby having fun.
For dinner, I made my favorite Instant Pot chili recipe for us and a couple friends. We had a cozy night in watching football and eating dinner together. I topped mine with onion, cilantro, sour cream and some corn chips. I had this bowl plus another scoop with toppings afterward. So good!
Dessert was a “Brookie” (half brownie, half cookie) from Trader Joe’s with a small glass of milk and a couple little candy bites from my friends kiddo (we were building a gingerbread house with him!).
Tuesday
Tuesday morning started off with the gym, coffee, and a GoMacro bar.
Following the gym I had two eggs and two slices of sourdough before a morning client session. This client just sent in her testimonial this week and I’ll share it at the end of todays post (truly encouraging and touching!).
For lunch, I had a bowl of leftover chili with added avocado. Yum! After lunch, I went for another walk with my friend Corrine, her dog Hank, and Abby. We’re trying to walk her baby out :).
After our walk Marco and Mike (Corrine’s hubby) met us back at their house. We stayed for dinner and wated the rest of Taking Cara Babies newborn class. While waiting for dinner, I munched on these three crackers to calm my hunger.
Dinner was chicken enchiladas with black beans and spanish rice. Yum! So good. I got another small square of enchilada, with a small spoonful of rice and beans. Soooo good!
After dinner we watched a movie on Netflix (“Ava”) and sipped hot cocoa from Williams Sonoma. OH. MY. GOSH. Best hot cocoa I have ever had. I drank about 2/3 of mine and felt satisfied. Cannot wait to buy more of this! (Corrine whipped up the whipped cream from scratch at home – so good!)
Intuitive eating note: we also made brownies (well, Corrine did – she’s the best!) but I was satisfied from this hot cocoa. So instead of eating a brownie right then, I asked to take a couple home. I did and you’ll see, got to enjoy them later in the week :).
Wednesday
For breakfast on Wednesday I had a leftover biscuit and two eggs + coffee. I ate all of this but realized the one leftover I’m not so much a fan of are biscuits. They’re much better right out of the oven. Noted!
After breakfast Marco and I trekked up to King City to look at a truck for him. He wants something with more space and the ability to pull a trailer. We’re selling the Four Wheel Camper so we can get something with A/C for baby. We LOVE our camper, but know we’ll find something else we love that will be better for Selah girl, too. On our way home from looking at the truck we shared a GoMacro bar.
For lunch, we picked up a wet carne asada burrito from Ortega’s in Atascadero. Sooo yum! We shared this + the chips and guac. Perfect to share.
For dinner I made this delicious white bean chili recipe from Healthy Mama Kris.
Sooo good! Can’t wait for leftovers today and to make this again. I topped the chili with green onion, sour cream, and a few crumbled chips. I love crunch! Marco liked this too. I am in such a chili mood this week.
After dinner Marco, Abby and I snuggled up and watched a movie. I had this bowl of popcorn (TJ’s pre-popped with olive oil).
And for dessert, I enjoyed a brownie that I’d brought home the night before! So yum to have this Wed night with milk.
Thursday
Thursday started out with coffee and writing thank you notes to our friends and family who have sooo generously purchased gifts from our baby registry. We’re not doing a shower, so this has been SUCH a blessing. (Almost everything on our registry has been purchased!)
I enjoyed a GoMacro bar with my coffee while writing these notes and then headed out to the gym.
When I got home from the gym I showered, got dressed for my workday, and made eggs, toast and another cup of decaf for breakfast (in my coffee this week: liquid stevia – 4 drops + goat milk). I like to switch it up!
Midday I drove Marco down to Toyota to pick up his truck from getting serviced and snacked on this apple on the way.
When we got home I put some leftover soup on the stove to heat up and went outside with him to snap some photos of the camper so we could list it online. We ate lunch (white bean chili with avocado, sour cream, green onion and a few tortilla chips broken up over the top) before I went back into my office for three more client sessions. Such great sessions.
One of my clients said to me on our call: “Paige, The Growth Vault is amazing and such an amazing bonus to coaching! I’m going to write you a proper testimonial! For just ONE of these calls I would pay the price for a year.” SO amazing to hear. My private clients get access to TGV for free while they’re working with me. (You can also sign up for just TGV – put your name on the waitlist to hear when we open next.)
At the end of my client sessions it was about 5:30 and I was good and hungry. I went downstairs and made a snack plate to bring back up to the office with me (I still had about 1.5 hours of work). On my snack plate: green olives, roasted almonds, cheese (Kerrygold brand), salami, and Mary’s crackers. So yummy! This gave me the energy I needed to finish up my work.
After work I started cooking dinner and snacked on another apple (apples have been tasting so good to me!).
For dinner I was making a beef and butternut squash stew/chili. It took about 20 min to prep/cook and then it had to simmer for about an hour. Since I’d had my snack plate a couple hours earlier I felt super calm waiting for dinner. While waiting I had half a brownie with a little bit of milk.
Dinner was so good. I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to like it as it was cooking. I’ve never had anything like this before… but at first bite I thought “Oh my Gosh, Kristin really knows what she’s doing!”
This recipe is from Kristin over at Healthy Mama Kris. I adore Kristin – you may have listened to our Podcast episode together on why the way we think about food is the way we think about money (such a good convo – it’s one of her top episodes!).
Looking forward to having this for lunch again today (and I have plenty leftover for the weekend).
See you in 2021!
As I shared, this is my final post for 2020. I hope you enjoy the rest of this year, stay safe and feel connected to those around you. I’ll see you back here on the 1st with a new post talking about 2021.
Thank you all so much for making 2020 so special around here: showing up to read blog posts, working with me in private coaching (it has been so special supporting many of you this year!), joining me in The Growth Vault, and celebrating the coming of our sweet Selah girl! I’ll be in the second week of the third trimester entering 2021 (so wild!).
If you’re ready to stop restricting food, let go of guilt, and experience a calm and peaceful relationship with food and your body, join me in coaching in the new year. Two ways we can work together:
- Through my monthly coaching membership – The Growth Vault (packed with courses and content, plus coaching with me). Put your name on the waitlist.
- In private, one on one coaching with me for six-months. Now booking discovery sessions for January 2021 – click here to book yours and get on the calendar.
I’ll leave you with this testimonial that brought the happiest tears to my eyes last night when it was emailed over to me:
I will never forget the day I stumbled across Paige on Instagram. I read through the testimonials thinking to myself 'Oh my gosh, I am not the only one?!'. I was SO nervous before our discovery session and thought for sure I was messed up beyond help, but she made me feel so comfortable and at ease, just like having a conversation with a best friend. I immediately felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders and like I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time in my life, I was able to be 100% transparent and honest about my issues with someone who listened and understood.
Coaching with Paige is NOT quick fix to lose 20 pounds. In fact, after the first session, I came to realize that it is not about the weight at all. Through my journey with Paige, she gave me the resources and guidance to pinpoint the root of my longtime issues with food and body image and gave me the tools to allow the process of healing to begin. It wasn't until I healed myself mentally that I was able to begin to shed weight physically.
Today, I wake up feeling so much lighter mentally, I eat what I want to eat, when I want to eat it, and the number on the scale is just another number that holds no power within my mind anymore. I am able to look forward to grocery shopping, cooking, flipping through cookbooks, and trying on clothes again. Meal plans and calorie counting and tracking are not a part of my life anymore. It has been SO freeing to give myself permission to eat whatever my body is wanting in that moment. Through healing my relationship with food, I have also found that my home life and financial wellbeing have also improved greatly. For the first time in my 25 years of life, I feel calm within myself and able to accept myself in the current moment.
If you are on the fence, or worried about the cost and commitment of starting your journey with Paige, I urge you to say YES. The commitment to yourself and your wellbeing is absolutely priceless. The journey is not always easy and there will be times you question yourself, but I plead you to show up for yourself and give your full commitment and trust to the process.
I will never be able to express my full gratitude for Paige and the life I was given back thanks to her coaching."