I thought it would be fun to do a post of mostly photos of meals that I have eaten recently. This will let you get a better idea of the way I think about diet and use variations on standard recipes and cooking techniques to get a wide range of whole foods into my body every week. If you can master oven-roasting meats and vegetables, steaming, cooking rice and pasta, sauteing/skillet frying and maybe clay-pot cooking, there is a never ending number of healthy whole food meals available to you with just a little prep and cooking time.
What I try to do for my personal daily diet is eat some cooked vegetables, some raw vegetables, some fruit, and enough complete protein to maintain bodily repair needs. Most of the time the protein comes from an animal source: eggs boiled or fried, chicken, pork, beef, fish or shellfish. At least one day per week and often two days will be meat-free. Most of my vegetables provide complex carbohydrates(bell pepper, onion, zucchini and/or yellow squash, beets, carrots, fennel, etc…) but I still eat potatoes occasionally because I really enjoy them. I eat whole grains once or twice per week, often hulled barley, brown rice, red or black rice, kamut or quinoa, and also regular old durum semolina pasta a few times each month because just because I like it and don’t like whole wheat, corn or rice pasta.
I still drink a cup or two of coffee in the morning. I like the flavor and have not yet been convinced by any evidence of bad health effects caused by caffeine or coffee. The same goes for tea. I generally drink tow or three cups of different green and black teas in the afternoon and a few cups of various herbal teas in the evening. My thinking is that all of the anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds in coffee and tea have to outweigh the negatives(if there are any).
So here are some pix of what I have been eating lately with ingredients. These meals are in no particular order and only represent what I had a chance to photograph before eating them, but are representative of my style of eating.
Grass-fed beef Stroganof over egg noodles with lots of mushrooms, onions, bell peppers and garlic. The pasta was made with whole eggs and grass-fed milk was used for the sour cream.
Thin sliced herb roasted pork loin with buttered spaghetti squash and hulled barley.
Grass fed ground beef and buffalo burger deluxe(stuffed with blue cheeseand green chile and wrapped in all-natural bacon) with avocado, Boston baked beans, roasted garlic, steamed vegetables, fresh tomato and raw yellow bell pepper.
A boiled egg, roated whole red potato, sweet potato, red beet and golden beet, avocado, fresh figs, marinated artichoke hearts and stuffed mushrooms.
Raw vegetable salad made with locally grown organic tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and raw-milk grass-fed cheese with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Purple potato salad, buttered torcetti pasta, fresh tomato, Boston baked beans and avocado.
Clam and parmesan stuffed cod filet with steamed vegetables and roasted baby sweet potatoes.
Ingredients for a large smoothie: grass fed yogurt, multi-whole-grain cereal, cantaloupe, plum, peach, berries, ginger root and I will add a small spoon of spirulina powder, a dash of ground nutmeg and cinnamon and a whole egg.
fried pasture-raised eggs, lamb sausage, avocado and fresh mustard.
Turkey and grass fed beef meatloaf with steamed carrots and purple potatoes and kimchi.
Herb roasted chicken with roasted whole vegetables(red potato, purple potato, Brussel sprouts, sweet potato, carrot and garlic) over greens.
Red chile chicken enchiladas in organic sprouted corn tortillas with maple roasted corn and sauteed squash and mushrooms.
Fresh whole fruit: peaches, pears, apples, black and red grapes, mango, papaya, pineapple, banana, kiwi, melon fig, date – whatever I can get that is ripe.
Wild local shrimp wrapped in coppa, roasted chicken, avocado, bell pepper, cucumber and fresh tomato drizzled with mead vinegar and extra virgin basil-infused olive oil.
A delicious bowl of vegan miso soup with mushrooms and tofu.
Herb roasted chicken with steamed carrot, parsnip and sweet potato and sauteed mushrooms, peppers, onion and garlic.