Meal Planning

This amazing Mama has helped me so much along vegan meal planning for myself and the kids, her instagram is an endless source of inspiration and pure love:

https://mamaeatsplants.com/tag/meal-plan/

So, most of you know that Eric usually cooks in our house and I usually bake. Often my baking ends up on the floor or as a total disaster…I am a fabulous combination of a perfectionist and a rebel who doesn't like to follow instructions!

But my daily meals usually follow this structure:

• 4.45am lemon water
• 5am coffee + medicinal mushrooms
• 8.15am tofu scramble with spinach, tomato, mushrooms on one slice of avo toast
• 8.30-9.30am another coffee
• 12pm lunch is usually a salad wrap with sauerkraut and roast pumpkin on the side, for additional protein we add lentils
• 3pm kombucha
• 6pm dinner (sometimes at 4.30pm, sometimes as late as 8pm) usually rice and stir fry or curry

Each day I drink between two and three litres of water and sometimes I will snack on fruit or have a smoothie bowl instead of a lunch or dinner meal.

I’ve been baking something for River to take to school, and will be preparing some fritters and additional savoury snacks for energy at school. All of the kids eat like this:

• First Breakfast is oats with chia seeds, frozen berries, cinnamon, coconut milk and peanut butter
• Second Breakfast is usually a slice of avocado toast
• Fruit and chopped vegetables make up snacks
• Lunch and dinner is the same as us with some popcorn, nuts and dried fruit for an afternoon snack

When we are organised, our weekly shop has minimal waste, costs less than $300 and is all organic and seasonal.

For gut health we eat fermented foods like saurkraut and kim chi, drink kombucha and use pre and probiotic supplements. None of my children have ever had antibiotics. For anti-inflammatory benefits we add cinnamon and turmeric to our food, as well as chia seeds. For aditional calcium we add sesame seeds and we snack on different nuts daily. We take B12 supplements daily and I take iron with my moon cycle, I also take Biocueticals Ultra Muscle Ease daily to help with training and sleep.

I was reading through last years food journal, I don't keep one often but it is so great to see how far I have come. Last year, Eric and I were eating chips EVERY.single.day. I was also eating a twilight (vegan mars bar) almost every day and having between 3-4 large lattes. I don't eat chips or chocolate anymore, opting for some popcorn instead, and limit myself to two coffees.

The biggest challenge as a CrossFit coach, athlete and mumma is to maintain energy levels and nutritional requirements while balancing my attitudes towards food and body image. Eric wants me to gain a few kilos of muscle mass to help my strength, while I refuse to put on weight! A little bout of exhaustion//burn out saw me lose 6kg in two weeks and this had a major effect on my performance in the CrossFit Open...not that I'm looking to compete...I've still done so much better than in previous years and had a LOT of FUN competing within our box community.

I have been the nutritionist that teaches people HOW to eat, and I am looking into creating some more structured nutritional guidance for our athletes, especially those that are REALLY looking to compete in CrossFit and those athletes that are looking to lose a few kilos to help with their performance, as well as breastfeeding mummas and you know...everyone else ;)