Dietitian's Day on a plate

Ever wondered what a dietitian eats in a day?

We sat down with our friends at Mojo Beverages to share what a typical day of eating looks like for us and how we balance being healthy while still enjoying some of our favourite treats. Warning: this content will make you hungry!

A quick note before we dive in..

We hope this example ‘day on a plate’ provides you with some inspiration and healthy meal and snack ideas. We are by no means suggesting you should eat exactly like us. There are many ways to eat a healthy diet – it depends on your individual circumstances. We generally eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.

 

Breakfast

Dietitian's Day on a plate

If you follow @thebitingtruth on Instagram you’ll know that we’re all for breakfast! We like to fill ourselves up with something hearty and nutritious first thing in the morning as it helps set us up for a busy day and optimise our productivity and concentration right through until lunch.

Our key tip when it comes to breakfast is to follow this simple formula to ensure you get the right balance of nutrients in the morning:

Dietitian's Day on a plate

Our go-to breakfast options:

  • Bircher muesli
  • Banana & oat smoothie (with a scoop of protein powder)
  • Eggs on toast with avo & tomatoes (we find boiled eggs super easy midweek!)
  • Porridge

 

Morning Snack

Morning snacks are a bit hit-and-miss for us. We find if we’ve had a decent brekkie then we usually make it through until lunch without needing a snack. Sure, there are days when we’re a little hungrier, and on those days we would opt for something rich in protein or fibre to help keep our hunger at bay until lunch.

Our go-to morning snack options:

  • Handful of nuts
  • Tub of yoghurt
  • Piece of fruit
  • Veggie sticks & hummus

 

Lunch

Without fail, if it’s midweek and we’re at the office, we are having some form of salad for lunch. If you’ve seen our salads on Insta, you’ll know they can vary quite a bit but consistently feature a range of yummy ingredients.

Most days, we enjoy our salads with a bottle of MOJO kombucha. At the moment we are loving the Mango Lime flavour but wouldn’t turn down any of their other flavours!

Here’s how we typically build our salads:

  • Start with a veggie base (e.g., lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber, capsicum, zucchini)
  • Add a source of carbohydrates (e.g., brown rice, quinoa, sweet potato, wholegrain crackers)
  • Add some protein (e.g., tuna, boiled egg, chickpeas, cottage cheese, feta)
  • Tasty toppers (e.g., edamame beans, sauerkraut, toasted almonds)
  • Delicious dressing (nothing beats a combo of extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon and Dijon mustard)

 

Afternoon snack

Between 3-4pm the afternoon munchies kick in. At this time we usually crave something a little sweeter. We try and meal prep some form of “healthy treat” on the weekend to enjoy in the afternoon midweek.

Our go-to arvo snacks:

  • Homemade bliss balls
  • Homemade banana bread
  • Muesli bar
  • Roasted chickpeas
  • Air-popped popcorn
  • Cheese & wholegrain crackers

 

Dinner

We like to mix up what we’re having for dinner so we don’t get bored. If it’s a Monday then we’re serving up a #meatlessmonday dinner, which will usually be based around some sort of legume (e.g., chickpeas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans) or tofu, accompanied by some veggies and a grain of course.

Our flexitarian approach means we usually like to eat meat or fish for either lunch or dinner; if we’ve had meat for lunch then we’ll opt for a veggie-based dinner, or vice versa

Our go-to midweek dinners:

  • Grilled fish & veggies
  • Salmon sashimi poke bowl
  • Black bean burrito bowl
  • Black bean burger
  • Minestrone soup
  • Roast vegetable lasagna
  • Chicken or tofu curry

Something that helps us cook healthy meals midweek is factoring in a bit of time for meal prep. For us, it’s not always on the weekend; sometimes we might dedicate 30 mins-1 hour one evening to roast up some vegetables or make our veggie lasagna. This really does make things easier, especially on nights where we might get home a bit later from the office.

 After-Dinner Snack

Some nights we’ll enjoy a few squares of dark chocolate or a piece of fruit post dinner. Other nights we’ll go to bed without eating anything after dinner.

There is no right or wrong here. If you’re still hungry after giving yourself some time to digest dinner then by all means enjoy a little something before bed. We certainly don’t suggest going to bed hungry as we find this can cause us to have a disrupted sleep.

 Bottom line

Listen to your body. Everyone is different and at the end of the day you know what’s best for you. The more you shift your focus away from ‘how much’ and ‘what’ you are eating towards how different foods make you feel, the sooner you’ll find a healthy diet and lifestyle that’s suited to you.

 

Notes

  • This article was written in collaboration with Mojo Beverages
  • For more delicious recipes that we regularly enjoy, check out our cookbook!