While I was out galavanting around NW Iowa this weekend with my two closest girlfriends from college (what a fun weekend I had!), my husband was back home working the whole weekend on house projects, cleaning up our kitchen from our kitchen demo project (sorry, no pictures…yet! It’s almost done!), and even taking care of my blog for me. Isn’t he great?!

While I was exhausted each night from chatting late into the night (well past my bedtime), my husband was exhausted from working late into the evenings. To add even more to his work list, I asked if he’d be willing to write the majority of today’s blog post for you all. You’re in luck, he said yes!

I’m starting a new series entitled: What We Ate Today. As a dietitian, people often think I must eat perfectly all the time. And this means my family (husband) is roped into eating “health foods,” too. Let’s be honest, this is real life. Our meals and snacks are not always the picture-perfect diet. While we try to eat healthy most of the time, we follow my rules/guidelines I base my blog off of.

So, without further ado, my husband, Philip, is first to show you what he ate one day last week (I’ll be up next, don’t worry):

Breakfast

Monday’s are oatmeal day for breakfast. While we usually have cereal most mornings, we mix it up a bit and have oatmeal as a warm way to start the week. For me, it helps that I doctor it up a bit. I’m a big fan of cinnamon, so there’s regular cinnamon and cinnamon sugar added to a half-cup of quick oats. Today, I also added some dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, and JIF dehydrated peanut butter. Kara usually prefers real peanut butter in her oatmeal, but the nice thing about the dehydrated peanut butter is I can get the peanut taste without having to worry about trying to mix in the sticky peanut butter after the oatmeal is out of the microwave.

I usually include nuts and definitely cinnamon sugar. Oatmeal by itself doesn’t appeal to me, but if you gussy it up enough, it makes for a nice, warm breakfast, especially as the days get colder.

Oh, and don’t forget a glass of orange juice (100% juice, not from concentrate). For some people, it’s coffee. For me, I don’t feel like it’s breakfast without OJ.

Morning Snack

I moved offices at work today, and in the new break room, they had a lot of food leftover. For my morning snack, I’ll usually have some snack from my drawer of goodies, usually nuts. This morning, they had a large container of mixed nuts, so I filled a paper cup of nuts and ate them throughout the morning as I was setting up my new desk. I also added a few pretzels, because peanuts and pretzels go well together.

I also drink water throughout the day. I’ve found that I drink more water if it’s cold, and one of the easiest ways to have cold water all day is to fill a large water bottle about 2/3 full every night and stick it in the freezer. Then, in the morning, I fill the remaining part of the bottle with water and keep refilling it throughout the day, giving me full day of ice cold water. I use a 24oz Tervis tumbler that is double walled, which helps with insulation and prevents condensation from building up and leaving a water ring on my desk. I don’t really drink any coffee or tea.

Lunch

I’m a creature of habit. 9 times out of 10, I’ll make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I prefer crunchy peanut butter to smooth, but most any kind of jelly (just not the preserves kind with large lumps of fruit). Oh, and no thank you to cherry or grape flavor. I am not a fan of cherry or grape flavored anything.

And so, today, it’s rare that I’m doing something other than PB&J. Again, with the change in offices, I’m finally moving to a place where I can go to our company’s amazing subsidized cafeteria. I had been craving some turkey pastrami, so I assembled a turkey pastrami sandwich at the sandwich bar, with honey wheat bread, a generous helping of meat, a slice of pepper-jack cheese, lettuce, dill pickle slices, and mayo.

In addition to the mixed nuts, there were a lot of other fruits and veggies leftover. Now, let me explain. This isn’t a call to eat healthier, or a doctored photo just because my wife is a dietitian. I do normally eat a sandwich with some kind of fruit or veggie, even before I met Kara. Now, I’m just more conscious about it. So today, in addition to the sandwich, I added: grapes, carrots, snap peas, and a slice of mango (which, I at first thought was pineapple, and was disappointed by the mango, both because it wasn’t a pineapple, and that it wasn’t ripe). I didn’t finish the mango and saved half of the grapes for snack. Also, the cheese stick wasn’t very good (also leftover), and I didn’t finish it.

Let’s talk about the remaining item on the plate. Chips. I have a weak spot for chips. Most any kind of potato chip will do, all but the most spicy (or vinegar, blah). But, chips. I could eat an entire bag if I didn’t stop myself. Cooler Ranch Doritos are a special treat. Other favorites: Nacho Doritos, Lime Tostitos, Sunchips (original), Pringles (original, green onion), Triscuits (original, fire-roasted tomatoes, garlic), Baked Lays, Wavy Lays, Original Lays, NutThins, Wheat Thins, Goldfish (original, pizza), Fritos, and the list goes on. Really, anything salty, crunchy, “chip”-y. My lunch doesn’t feel complete without something crunchy.

Plus a glass of water from my Tervis tumbler.

Afternoon Snack

My lunch was a bit big, so I didn’t end up finishing all of the grapes. I had another half-plastic-cup filled with mixed nuts (no pretzels this time) and more water.

Dinner

Can I just say how amazing it is to be the husband of a dietitian who cooks amazing healthy and tasty dinners? Kara does a wonderful job planning our meals, buying the groceries, and, after working a full day of work, prepping a warm meal. Tonight was no exception. Tonight’s Kung Pao Chicken was fresh, flavorful, and just the right blend of ingredients for a simple, home-cooked meal. My dinner was a heaping helping of the kung pao chicken, plus carrots and snap peas with lemon zest hummus, glass of water to drink. As per our deal, post dinner cleanup is on me.

Evening Snack

One Dove Mint chocolate. I often need just a little bit of something sweet to end the meal. We have leftover Halloween candy, but I just wanted some simple chocolate tonight.