Why I Ate Wednesday

When I first embarked on my intuitive eating journey a year ago, I had just decided to end my 20-year relationship with diet culture. I was terrified that when I gave myself unconditional permission to eat whatever I want, I would be overwhelmed by options and not be able to make choices that made me feel good. Because my relationship with food was so fraught since childhood, I had no idea what a normal day of eating and not obsessing about food looked like. In my search, I came across Rachel Hartley's series, "Why I Ate Wednesday" in which she chronicles and examines the intentions behind her eating choices. I found those posts to be incredibly helpful and thought I would share my own in case anyone finds them useful. 

​In the last year, what I eat on a daily basis varies greatly. Some days, all I want are hearty foods. Other days, I just want fruit for dinner. Mostly I have found that eating intuitively has resulted in me to barely even think about the foods that I was obsessed with in my dieting days, like bagels, croissants and donuts because I can and do have them whenever I want.

This is what intuitive eating looked like for me this particular Wednesday: 

​7 a.m. | A bowl of cereal because I need to eat something quick and small first thing when I wake up so I don't feel nauseated while I get ready and prepare a more substantial meal.

8 a.m. | Whole grain toaster waffle with peanut butter and honey because I was about to head out to the dentist for an appointment that I knew would take an hour and a half but I was already hungry and this was what I had time to make and eat beforehand.

12 p.m. | Turkey meatloaf, roasted potatoes and salad of tomato, cucumber and mozzarella from Urban Plates because it's delicious, will keep me full and satisfied for a long time and has freshness.

1 p.m. | Small mint mojito from Philz because I was craving it and needed my caffeine for the day.
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5 p.m. | A couple bites of banana cream pie from Urban Plates and a homemade Arnold Palmer because I wanted a sweet snack to hold me over until dinner and it's scorching hot outside. 

7 p.m. | Ravioli with zucchini tomato sauce because we had leftovers of it from dinner the night before. When I was trying to decide what to cook yesterday, I remembered we had a package of ravioli left from Costco and a couple zucchinis so I put them together with a yummy homemade tomato sauce with lots of basil and garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I try to add veggies into meals whenever possible because I like the way they taste and they make my body feel good.
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8 p.m. | Strawberry vanilla cake from Urban Plates because yum! I picked out the individual banana cream pie and slice of cake when I went there for lunch to enjoy later. I love their desserts.