Hey friends!! I am super excited about today’s blog and can’t wait to share it with you all. I used to get asked a lot about my diet and what I eat, but when I became pregnant and now with nursing a baby I get asked even more. I love to share and show people that you can be healthy and provide everything you need for yourself and for another with a plant based lifestyle. I had a very successful and healthy pregnancy and now have successfully breastfed my baby for 8 months and counting. I have been blessed with the gift of over-production when it comes to breast milk and I am confident that my diet plays into that. I have also successfully donated over 7,000 ounces of breastmilk in the last 8 months. I only say this to show you that just because you are plant based doesn’t mean that your milk somehow isn’t good for your baby.
So what exactly do I eat? I chose to track my diet for a day to show you all what I ate and how it doesn’t have to be difficult. The date I did this was on Sunday Aug. 19th, 2018. This day was a bit busy for us because we had mass that morning and then our niece had her first birthday party that afternoon and it’s about an hour and a half drive one-way for us. So, preparation was key. Ask anyone who knows me, I always travel with food.
12am: So I started this at midnight since that is when I do my first feeding of the day. I got up at midnight and nursed Penelope and pumped the other side. Afterwards I had a banana and drank 16oz of water before heading back to bed.
5:45am: After getting up at 5 and getting ready it was time for breakfast. The night before I had prepped over-night oats. All you have to do for this super quick and easy breakfast is to grab a jar and fill it with 1/2 cup of plant based milk (I used flax milk), 1-2 tablespoons of a nut butter of your choice (I used 2 tablespoons of peanut butter), 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 1 tablespoon of hempseed or flax seeds (I used hemp), and then oats. Most recipes call for 1/2 cup of oats, but I do 1 cup of oats. I prefer my overnight oats to be thick and not runny. Then in the morning I top it with fruit and nuts. This morning I added about 1/2 a cup of blueberries and 1/2 a cup of strawberries. I also enjoyed two cups of black coffee with breakfast. My oats in the morning range from 20-30 grams of protein in this one meal. Who knew that oatmeal could have so much protein!
6am: Breastfed Penelope and pumped the other side.
7am: By 7 am I had finished another 32oz of water.
9am: Breastfed Penelope (didn’t pump the other side for this feeding today because we were in church when she ate).
10:30am: We get back from mass and this momma is starving! I had a snack of a banana and two banana/peanut butter/oat balls. I tend to make oat balls out of just anything I have at the moment. These were made from oats, mashed up banana, peanut butter, and maple syrup. I just mix everything together, spoon out some, roll it into balls, and stick them in the fridge. They are super easy to grab and go.
11:30am: It’s lunch time and today for lunch we had Quinoa Bowls. These bowls included quinoa which is high in protein, baked sweet potatoes, sautéed kale, and black beans. This reciepe was pretty simple. I just boiled the quinoa on the stove for about 15-20 minutes. I baked the sweet potatoes in the oven for 25 minutes. Then I cooked the kale with some lemon, garlic, and red pepper flakes for about 10 minutes. Then I just put it all in a bowl and added the black beans. It was so delicious and so filling. I even had two helpings of this. Being plant based is such guilt-free eating! I also drank another 32 ounces of water while eating.
Noon: It was time to nurse the baby again and I also pumped the other side.
2pm: Snack on the go. Before we left the house to head to the birthday party I made smoothies for Phillip and I to eat in the car on the drive down. The smoothies included kale, spinach, flax milk, banana, avocado, blueberries, and strawberries. I needed to get rid of some greens we had that were starting to turn bad so I just threw together this smoothie and it was so good and kept us full for hours.
3pm: Nursed the baby again, but no pumping this time since we were at the birthday party. I drank another 32oz between 3-5pm.
5:45/6pm: We were on the hour-and-a-half drive back home and found ourselves feeling hungry, so I had 4 more of the oat balls from earlier and also enjoyed some home-made oil-free hummus with some cucumbers, carrots, and celery. I drank another 16oz while eating this.
6:30pm: Nursed the baby and pumped the other side.
8pm: Dinner time. For dinner we had left over enchiladas from the night before. Inside the enchilada casserole there was corn tortillas, sweet potatoes, spices, kale, black beans, and sauce. I drank another 32oz between dinner and bed time at 10pm.
9pm: Pumped both sides and then headed to bed.
So this is one example of what I eat in a day. I have found that for myself eating lots of healthy foods, drinking lots of water, not limiting myself, and eating often works best for me. I always drink a minimum of a gallon of water a day. I also always include a protein at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For myself including lots of healthy fats in my diet really keeps me full and helps a lot with my milk production. There are a ton of different ways to eat plant based and/or vegan and my way of eating even varies from day to day, but I try to always keep it as plant based as possible. I hope this helps someone out there and encourages them to give vegan eating a try.
Baby Dust To All,
Cynthia
Joy Comes In The Morning 