My Diet
A lot of folks have been asking about my diet. So I’m going to outline what I eat when I’m at home…As you’ll see, I eat a lot of raw food, very few animal products, and a lot of fruits and vegetables.
Oh, and I eat a LOT of carbohydrates too. I think the carb-phobia the diet world has is overblown. If you get your carbohydrates from raw fruits, raw vegetables, raw nuts, and whole grains, you’ll have a simple time losing fat.
Of course, you don’t need to eat a 100% raw diet in order to be healthy or lean.
But most of the folks I see when I travel could benefit from healthier eating.
Here’s what I follow from Monday to Friday when I am at my home in Toronto…
6am – I start my day with 2 cups of water followed by a dog walk as soon as I get up.
It’s not until about two hours after waking that I have my first breakfast:
8am – Breakfast #1 – Blender Drink + Toasted Almond Butter Sandwich on Flax Bread
Here’s what goes into my blender drink: 2-3 cups almond milk, 1 banana, berries (mix of raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries), spinach (you can’t taste it, trust me),cacao nibs, and walnuts or pecans.
Sometimes I throw in raw almond butter or dry roasted all-natural peanut butter,cinnamon, vegan protein powder, pineapple, or a variety of other random ingredients.
The vegan protein powder I’m using is “Garden of Life Raw Protein”. You wouldn’t want to mix this with only water, but it is fine when added to a blender drink.
I have access to berries all year round because my dear ol’ mom picks and freezes huge amounts of berries. Every time I visit she sends me home with a pound of blueberries, etc.
In addition, I have a toasted almond butter sandwich to go with this blender drink. For the sandwich, I use Vege Hut flaxmeal bread and I sprinkle blueberries on the sandwich as well.
Alternatively, I’ve been trying lately to replace the toasted sandwich with
raw almonds or cashews and dates.
10am – Breakfast #2 – More Blender Drink + an apple + raw nuts
A couple of hours after – but right before my workout – I’ll finish whatever is leftover from the blender drink and I’ll have an apple and an ounce of raw almonds or cashews as well.
11:30am – After Workout Snack
Right after my workout, I’ll immediately leave the gym and walk the 5 minutes back to my home, where I’ll make another blender drink. This one contains fewer ingredients:
Sweetened Chocolate Almond Milk, 1 banana, some spinach, natural peanut butter, and maybe the vegan protein powder (I am currently using Garden of Life raw protein).
After that I have my mostly raw, high-protein lunch right after…
1pm – Lunch – The Big Boy Salad
I start with a huge raw salad of:
– Spinach, red onion, mushrooms,1/2 avocado, broccoli, peppers
And I add a half can of black beans or kidney beans, and then I put some tomato sauce on top (yes, that’s weird, I know, but I use this as dressing).
This will get me to 3:30 or 4pm.
4pm – Late Afternoon Snack
I start with raw vegetables and hummus, and then have some raw nuts and dates. Usually a LOT of raw nuts and dates…sometimes more than 500 calories worth. This keeps me through to 7 or 8pm when I have a late dinner.
8pm – Dinner
Dinner is almost always cooked…but I have some raw components
as well.
If I go out for dinner, I tend to have pasta with vegetables, or red meat with vegetables.
If I’m just eating at home by myself, I’ll make:
Cooked quinoa with steamed broccoli, and I’ll add olive oil, raw onions, mushrooms, peppers, avocado, and then mix in tomato sauce as well.
Some of the other meals I’ll make include Amy’s Organic Chili, and I’ll add spinach, mushrooms, and red onion to that.
Last week I made my own tomato sauce for the first time ever – and while it turned out a lil’ runny – I added it to Kamut pasta for dinner. Kamut pasta has 4g of protein per ounce, and I ate about 5 ounces of it.
As you can tell, I’m not much of a cook, and that’s why I try to eat a lot
of meals out at friend’s houses and at restaurants.
But there you go…that’s my Simple Nutrition meal plan when I’m not traveling.
Get lean and stay lean,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Simple Nutrition
Author, Simple Nutrition