What A Nutritionist Eats in a Day | Britni Thomas, RD, LD
We tagged along with Britni, a Nutritional Weight & Wellness nutritionist, to share a day of her meal ideas and ask questions about how she cooks. Here's a typical weekday from Britni. Hopefully it inspires you with a new idea or two!
Do you have any tips or tricks that make meal prep easier?
I typically always cook on Sunday and plan for leftovers. That way I know we'll have that meal for lunches on Monday, if not longer. Every time we cook, be it Sunday night or during the week, we usually try to double the recipe so that it'll feed both of us, my boyfriend and me, for numerous meals. Also, I always make a plan before I go grocery shopping so I know exactly what I'm going to use the food for. If I go without a plan and just get what looks good, that often leads to food waste or another trip to the grocery store.
What do you consider when packing meals for the day?
My day-to-day client schedule varies, so every day I look at my schedule for the next day and figure out when I'll be able to eat. If I know I'm going to have to go a longer period of time without eating, then I might bulk up my breakfast or lunch. Or, if I know I'll only have a short amount of time to have a snack, I'll bring something quick to eat such as an egg bake or smoothie.
Breakfast
Smoothie
Smoothies are a "go to" for me because they are convenient, taste good, and I usually drink them on the go. I'll typically make a big bulk batch, usually four at a time, and freeze them in individual containers. I save old jars to do this, or mason jars, whatever I have on hand. To thaw the smoothie, I either take it out a couple of days in advance and put it in the fridge or take it out the night before and put it in the sink to thaw. I also like an idea from a fellow nutritionist who puts frozen smoothie jars into her lunch bag to keep the rest of lunch cold. That way, by the time you're ready for a snack, it's thawed.
This particular morning I blended a bunch of mixed greens, the espresso flavored NutriKey Key Greens & Fruits, coconut milk, ground flax and beef protein powder. I often add greens to my smoothie. I usually have a bag of kale in the freezer (it blends better when it's frozen) or I use up spinach or mixed greens that are starting to turn bad.
Lunch
Egg roll in a bowl
This is just so delicious and so easy. It's just ground pork, garlic, onion, cabbage, water chestnuts, carrots, ginger, Braggs Liquid Aminos, sesame oil and toasted almonds on top for a little more fat and crunch. Whipping this up took just 15 minutes, and it was good. First I sautéed the garlic, onions, carrots and pork in sesame oil. When that was cooked I added the cabbage, a little more sesame oil, Braggs and ginger. After it was done, I topped it with the almonds. You can purchase toasted almonds that don't have any additional oil; otherwise, you just put raw slivered almonds in a fry pan on low heat and very quickly toast them. I made this for dinner and made a lot extra to have for lunches and other dinners. As mentioned above, I usually figure out what nights we're going to cook and then plan to have a lot of leftovers to rotate for other meals and snacks. This saves so much time!
Snack
Roasted nuts, deli meat and raw bell pepper
I roast my own nuts, which is way less intimidating than it sounds. I usually make up around four cups or so. I throw the raw nuts into a bowl, beat an egg white with a little bit of water and then coat the nuts in that. Then I'll add seasonings. Lately I've been really into a spicy-sweet combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder, cumin, cardamom, cayenne and garlic salt. Pre-mix the seasonings and then mix them into the bowl of nuts. The egg whites make the nuts crunchier and bind the seasonings to the nuts. Then I cook these at 225 or 250 degrees for an hour. It's so easy! I make them for parties or if we have people over, and everyone really likes them. Plus, it's fun to experiment with whatever spices you want!
In addition to a ¼ cup of nuts, I cut up a whole bell pepper and added three slices of lunch meat. This particular day was either Plainville ham or turkey.
Dinner
Pheasant, sweet potato and Brussels sprouts
This dinner was made with pheasant from my boyfriend. I breaded it by dipping the pheasant in an egg wash, then rolling it in almond flour and seasonings. Then I cooked it in a pan over medium heat until it browned. Once it was browned, I put the pheasant into a casserole dish with mushrooms and chicken broth and added seasoning. Bake the pheasant at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes depending on how thick the meat is. The broth helps keep the meat tender, which also works with chicken or turkey. If you're not dairy sensitive, this dish is delicious with gruyere cheese on top.
The sides are standbys at our house. We had baked white sweet potatoes with butter on top and roasted Brussels sprouts, tossed in olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. I sometimes add slivered almonds to these for more crunch.
Bedtime Snack
Banana pancake
These are so simple and just a plain fun snack before bed. Mix up two eggs, one banana (ripe bananas work best), add a dash of vanilla extract and cinnamon. Then fry that in butter or coconut oil, just like you would a pancake, wait until it bubbles to flip. I topped this snack with cashew butter and some dark chocolate chips. Delicious! This recipe serves two and can be made ahead of time, then heated up or eaten cold.
Stay tuned for more peeks into a nutritionist's day coming to this blog soon. In the meantime, look back in our archives for not one, but two days of meals with Alyssa.
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