Monday Eats: Intuitive Eating for Energy

Good-morning to you!

I’m here with eats from yesterday, which was a great day! I got a lot of work done, walked Abby with a friend, went to the gym with Marco and ended the night at my friend Nichole’s house watching the Bachelor (aka, talking).

Before we dive in, I just want to say that these posts are NOT for comparison (if these posts are triggering for you in anyway, scroll THESE posts instead).

I share my eats in hopes that you’d leave here today feeling inspired and full of PERMISSION to listen to YOUR BODY, as I listen to mine. I hope these posts fill you with the FAITH you need to let go of ALL food rules/control (just as I have!).

Monday

Breakfast: Over the weekend I got back into “bulletproof coffee.” However, I stray from the recipe because I do not like how much butter/oil is recommended (two tablespoons of each). I use as much as tastes good to me.

This coffee (x2) ended up being breakfast for me, as it took away my hunger until about 11:30 when I had lunch. It has been beautiful outside, so I sipped on this while watching Abby play and then got to work with a second cup.

Lunch: On Saturday night I made chicken villa (I’ll share the recipe in a sec) with rice and beans. It made a ton of leftovers and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. Yum! This is one of my favorite meals.

How I made it:

• 6 chicken breasts, chopped, cooked in olive oil/butter (Kerrygold) seasoned with salt and pepper
• When the chicken is nearly cooked I add an entire bag of sliced mushrooms from TJ’s (maybe two cups), jalapeños (deseeded and sliced), chopped green onions and garlic (4-5 cloves)
• Once the veggies cook through I scoop everything with a slotted spoon (so the juice drains) into a large glass baking dish. I layer a whole bag of pepper jack cheese on top and broil it until it’s perfectly golden
• I serve it with rice and beans (and for leftovers, like in the above photo, you can layer the rice, beans, chicken villa, salsa and sour cream on a tortilla – yum!). Add avocado if you’d like!

So good. So simple! Cooking insanely good food does not have to be hard my friends. Enjoy!

Sweet: After lunch I had two pieces of dark chocolate like this one above

I then got back to work, had a meeting with my assistant and took Abby for a walk with my friend and her pup. So much fun! After that, Marco and I went to the gym and ran a couple of errands.

Pre-Dinner Snack: When we got back home I was hungry. Low-energy hungry. So I heated up a pita, sliced it up, and dipped it into hummus while I cooked. This gave me the energy I needed and calmed my hunger.

Dinner: For dinner we had the last of leftover chili that I made a week ago. Yes, a whole week and it was still GREAT! If you need a meal that lasts in your fridge, make this Instant Pot chili from Damn Delicious. Yum! We topped it with diced red onion, cheese and cilantro.

Final Notes

Lately, I’ve been paying attention to what my energy levels do based on what I eat. It’s been pretty interesting and quite nice to listen to my body in this way.

I’ve been checking-in with how I want to feel and aiming to eat the things that can help me to feel that way. For example, my morning coffee makes me feel SHARP and creative. That’s exactly what I need when I’m starting work.

The chicken villa made me feel great as well, as long as I ate an amount that didn’t stuff me. Anytime I eat too much or get overly full, I usually feel tired rather than energized.

I’ve realized that things like a chicken/kale salad make me feel awesome, clear minded, and ready for the next thing while a delicious sandwich on thick ciabatta, which is a favorite food, is better eaten when I’m going to relax after. It has the potential to make me very tired.

It’s been a fun experiment that was 100% initiated by my intuition, noticing that certain things left me feeling very sleepy. Ever since I had that moment of noticing, I’ve been paying more attention.

This is the beauty of intuitive eating. You get to listen to your own body and let her call the shots about what helps you to feel the way you want to feel.

If you haven’t grabbed my 1-day intuitive eating guide, do so! Enter your name/email at the top of my site, confirm your email (I’ll send an email to do so – look for it from paige@paigeschmidt.com) – the guide will send right over.

Have a wonderful day, all! I’m off to meet with my private clients for the rest of today!