I am not very good at receiving compliments. Without fail, if somebody says “I like your shirt” I say “oh this? It’s old.” I once had a friend who gave me a good lesson, she said “how about just saying thank you?” Of course she was right and for about a week I implemented her suggestion. The truth is that I love compliments, when they are genuine, don’t we all? Last week I received this at the end of an email complimenting my blog (which for me trumps any physical compliment):

Anyway, I have a suggestion (because I don’t think you have done it already). I have ALWAYS thought that you look great, have a great figure and flawless skin. Is there a reason why you don’t get specific about what you eat?
What’s a day in the life of Lauren? I could really use a jump start this March!

My reply to this was, true to form “does anyone really want to hear what I eat?” However, because this email was so sweet, I pledged to write about my food. Here it goes.

The alarm goes off at 5:45am. I love the hour I usually have before anyone else gets up. I don’t eat or drink anything until 7ish, well actually 7 on the dot. I’ll make a pot of coffee with either Caffe Mocias  (#1 coffee in NYC in my book) or Le Pain Quotidien beans. This coffee gets a splash of Horizon half and half and a squirt of agave. I don’t eat a lot of dairy after taking it and wheat out of my diet last year. I had been waking up with my eyelids puffy and scaly (so much for the “flawless skin” mentioned above) and after lots of experimentation found that wheat and dairy were the 2 probable culprits. Argh, this is why I didn’t want to write about me. I am not anti wheat or dairy but don’t eat a lot of it.

Most days I take breakfast to the office. It tends to be liquid a lot of days. I love my Breville juicer and will make a green juice (kale, cucumber, celery, lemon, ginger, and apple) or a smoothie. My smoothies tend to be a little weird. On some days I use hemp protein as a base, other days avocado and I may add acai or frozen berries, I love basil or mint and lemon zest for flavor, it’s really a matter of what’s on hand. Hard boiled eggs are another breakfast favorite of mine and 1-2 days a week I’ll have 2 Country Hen hard boiled eggs. Calorie for calorie nothing keeps you more satisfied than eggs. In the wintertime I’ll eat brown rice or quinoa as a warm breakfast option.

My day can easily get away from me when I see morning clients until 1pm. I have learned the hard way that I need to stop and eat a real lunch. I have no issue whatsoever with leftovers. Today I had leftover tilapia and veggies. Another day this week it was leftover scallops and asparagus. Spring vegetables have me so pumped that I’ve cooked a lot this week. Otherwise I always have prewashed greens, avocados, Zoe tuna, Eden canned beans (the only BPA free canned goods) to throw together a quick salad.

From here I’ll do one of two things. My favorite days, for multiple reasons, are the days I am home when the boys have dinner at 530 or 6pm. When I an “early bird” dinner, I feel the best. A few days a week I see clients until after 7 so this plan doesn’t work. On those days I’ll have walnuts or pumpkin seeds around 3:30. We have a ton of delicious snacks for our clients so I also may grab a small bag of Food Should Taste Good chips, a Zing Bar or a Kookie Karma.

I try to cook as many days as I can. We eat a lot of fish, generally with a seasonal veggie. We also love soba noodles, sweet potatoes and squashes and can make a “one pot” meal with some combination of these. One night during the week we’ll order sushi, Thai or Indian and Saturday nights we are generally out to eat. After dinner I may have a couple squares of dark chocolate or medjool dates.

OK, I told you now tell me (briefly) what your day is like.