A Day of Eating with Chris Zinn
By Chris Zinn
I really wish I could come to each of your houses and cook the ideal meals for you every day, but I can’t. So, I had to come up with another way to show you what healthy, sustainable eating looks like in practice.
I figured I’m already eating food every day, why not just snap some pictures of what I eat and share my day of eating with you?
Hopefully, I can inspire some of you with some recipes you’ve never tried, a food you haven’t bothered to try and cook, or just a new way of making the same old dish.
That, and you’ll be able to see what a healthy, structured day of eating looks like in practice.
At the very least I want to inspire you to think about how you can try something new, or how you can improve just a little bit with some of your daily eating.
Whenever I share a day of eating, I’ll show you pictures, give you the recipe and the ingredients list, and explain WHY I’m eating this food. I won’t always have a solid nutritional reason I’m eating something besides “it tastes good” but usually there will be an element of health in each of my meals.
I also plan to give you some insight on HOW these meals are cooked and strategies for cooking. Because let’s face it, you need a strategy every now and then if you want to be successful.
I’m busy just like the rest of you, (sometimes away from home for 12 hours at a time) so it’s crucial that I have a plan.
Finally, I want to show you that eating healthy on a busy schedule IS possible. If I can do it, so can you.
Alright, let's get into it…
Meal 1: Super Oatmeal & Black Coffee
Super oat blend (steel-cut oats, pearled barley, long-grain brown rice) 1/4 cup each
2 1/4 cups of water
4 pitted dried dates
1 handful of golden raisins
Sprinkle cinnamon
Sprinkle brown sugar
Splash of milk
Combine oat blend and water and cook. I've been using my new pressure cooker for anything I can so I just throw all the ingredients in, set it, and forget it. Takes about 20 minutes on high pressure in the pressure cooker.
You'll have to experiment with the stovetop but I would wager it would be similar to the cooking time of steel-cut oats (~25-30 min).
I really like the variety of the oat blend. It gives the oatmeal more texture and... helloooo fiber! The dates and raisins provide natural sugar sources and the cinnamon spices it up a bit.
Black coffee for caffeine without calories.
The oat blend can be made in bulk for multiple days and stored. Scoop out a serving and add the rest of the ingredients for quick assembly.
Meal 2: Arugula Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich with Egg
Makes two servings
2 sesame bagels
2 aged white cheddar cheese slices
1 handful of arugula
2 tomato slices
4 pieces of turkey bacon, chopped
2 eggs
1 handful of fresh basil
1/2 avocado sliced
Fairly quick and easy to make, just cook the eggs and turkey bacon side by side, and assemble the sandwich.
This is a solid way to get in some colorful veggies, healthy fats, and protein. 2 sandwiches may be too much, so half the recipe for 1 sandwich.
In hindsight, sprouted grain bagels may have been a better choice... but the sesame bagels aren't completely out of line with my goals. I'd categorize them as an "eat some" food rather than an "eat more" food.
Experiment here, find your favorite variation. You can remove things as needed. For example, avocado will increase the fat content substantially. So, if you want to keep the avocado, you could substitute egg whites for whole eggs to reduce some of the total fat content.
Meal 3: Sweet Potato Bison Shepherd's Pie
Full recipe at https://www.precisionnutrition.com/encyclopedia/food/bison
I get a TON of my recipe ideas from here. I've never ended up with a bad meal thus far.
This is an interesting play on a traditional shepherd's pie. Bison and sweet potato add some interesting flavors as well as some nutrients that are not found in a traditional shepherd's pie.
Meal 4: Banana
Nothing crazy here. I needed a pre-workout snack and I will die on the hill that a banana and coffee are better than any nutritional/pre-workout supplement on the market.
Meal 5: Protein Shake
My weekly plan didn't quite hit the amount of protein I wanted per day, so I throw this in at the end of the day when that's the case.
Notice I don't start my day with this or plan around it. I use it as a backup (or a substitute as a treat). If I can get all my protein through whole foods, I do it. Otherwise, protein powder saves the day.
Also, this tastes exactly like hot chocolate so I don't even really feel like I'm drinking protein.
Now... the amount of food in these photos/recipes may not align with your nutrition goals so you can adjust them as you see fit. However, these meals still hold up in their nutritional value, and macronutrient content when you scale the meals down. You could probably half everything that is shown here and it would be a better fit.
Or, just play around with the portions and your mindful eating and decide how much is right for you personally.
So that's it, a typical day of eating for me. It really ends up being a week of eating, because I like to make food that lasts about a week. I might change up small things here and there but for the most part, it looks like this.
All-in-all this day allowed me to:
eat things I enjoyed
get a few servings of fruits and vegetables
eat some quick and convenient meals
Stay tuned for more “days of eating blogs” for healthy culinary inspiration!
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