It’s time to talk about food again! But before we get to The pictures I feel like I should open up more again. As long-time readers will know I’m in recovery from an eating disorder and have been for far too long already. While I’ve made noticable progress since starting my blog these past months have shown me how much I still need to work on reestablishing a healthy relationship with food. It’s only become that much more apparent in my current situation. Traveling has proven to help once before and it did again this time. That realisation alone is huge for me because it was leaving my routine that scared [and still scares] me the most. Yet it’s true that growth occurs outside our comfort zones. And it can be delicious growth as today’s What I ate Wednesday will [at least partially because we know I never manage to take pictures of every meal and snack I eat] show. Thanks to Jenn as well the Vegan Wednesday team for coming up with awesome parties catering every blogger’s food curiosity.
Breakfast went unpictured and not as planned. The reason? My train was leaving at shortly past 8 AM with a 45 minute drive to the station. Safe to say that being the polar opposite of a morning person I wasn’t keen on getting up even earlier than I already had to rush down breakfast. The solution? Trusty old Tupperware. While not really meal-prepping I’ve been pre-cooking brown rice to have on hand for quick meals lately. So short-grain brown rice with shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas and fresh parsley it was. Only it wasn’t a timely breakfast. Thanks [or not] to a major soccer game taking place in Berlin that day – and me obviously being completely unaware … – the train was more than crowded. Long story short: I spent 1 1/2 hours standing and NOT eating.
[No picture of my actual breakfast but it was similar to this recent lunch]
Luckily, everything was forgotten when I arrived at my aunt’s appartment. And here’s where relaxation set in out of the blue again. Unexpectedly, my aunt and her boyfriend hadn’t had breakfast yet, either, so invited me to join them. Previously: anxiety! This time, I ate my prepped meal plus some of their spread, too. Because that’s what intuitive [read: normal] eating includes. For somebody like me used to control just about every morsel the change was incredibly freeing. I’ll admit I still roughly track my calories in my head – it’s not as easy to give up as macros – throughout the day. However, by far not as strictly as in previous years.
Whenever I take a trip and leave my daily grind, though, I’ve noticed myself naturally becoming more intuitive in the way I eat [hence the title]. Whatever is the reason for this, I’m embracing it because regaining an intuitive way of living is my ultimate recovery goal.
After strolling around on a flea market, sharing a pint of blueberries [served up in a bowl] and chatting we set out to have lunch. Inspired by somebody on Instagram I’d taken notice of a new restaurant that had opened up just a few weeks ago. The Bowl – as the name suggests – serves clean [I don’t like to associate this term with food but it’s their self-description] vegan food exclusively in bowls. No sugar, gluten or any other nasties. Just delicious real food.
Needless to say I was in from the very first moment. I wish they provided their full menu online because the descriptions of every item sound too good to be true. Picking a bowl*proved to be way more difficult than expected because trust me you’d have wanted to order everything, too! How could you not with items like cashew cheese – covered Brussels sprouts, beet carpaccio or pink kimchi?
Clearly, going to Berlin means breaking out the bowls for me.
Ultimately, I reminded myself I could come back again and chose the Mexican Bowl Just a funny recovery note: I dismissed one bowl right away because it sounded like it was lacking carbs.Not too long ago that exactly would have made me pick it. These days? No way. Even not working out I know I need my grains for energy and – despite not counting macros – they are packed with wonderfully satisfying carbs. My bowl containing a brown/wild rice blend, Mexican beans, grilled corn on the cob, guacamole, homemade tomato cilantro salsa, some kind of unknown dip [delicious!]. As well as a side of [refined sugar-free] ketchup and mixed greens with a creamy avocado dressing.
No dinner picture because we just kept having random bits and bites – including an impromtu tomato soup [another meal from eaten from a bowl], crackers, chocolate and fruit – throughout the evening due to our fairly late lunch. Instead, I’m offering you my aunt’s choice at the restaurant: the Falafel Bowl. Beet falafel, cashew cheese sauce, raw tabbouleh, turmeric chickpeas with miso hummus, fried eggplant and carrots as well as the complementary mixed greens.
[Snacks escaped the camera again, too, but be assured there were plenty. ]
All in all, this short trip enhanced my happiness level to the max and got me excited for recovery. Which sounds a little ridiculous typed out but oh well. I’ve already written half a novel of a WIAW post here so if you’re curious to hear more recovery rambles be back tomorrow.
Happy [What I ate] Wednesday!
Ooh I love all your bowls! I love anything sweet potato, so I’d say a sweet potato bowl – sweet potato topped with everything and anything (guacamole, beans, cheese, etc.).
Don’t hate me: I’m noz a fan of sweet potatoes. But I’d use all those toppings for a bowl of grains, too – good choices!
That bowl looks so good. I am a fan on sweet potato bowls…add some protein, veggies, and some salsa…such a tasty easy meal. I have recently starting traveling for work each week. I am having to eat out or eat grocery store meals more often and am still adjusting to having to go with the flow more.
Changing routines isn’t easy and eating out more often would be an adjustment.
Those bowls look FANTASTIC!
… and they tasted more than fantastic, too! (:
Congratulations to all your progress! Good for you to see how far you’ve come and see what behaviour you still have to monitor a little closer.
Travelling is always such a good oportunity to question our estabilshed habits. I had sort of an epiphany on my London trip and ever since I am so calm and relaxed about food. It’s like magic. And I seem to tolerate some food way better now, too. Just the though of ‘I can’t have this’ and the panic included makes the body react a certain way sometimes. So just eat as we go might sometimes be the key.
And I can’t get over this bowl! Drooling!
Thanks, Juli. It’s amazing what traveling can do, right? Some of those days I wonder why I struggle so much at home when I can loosen up rather easily elsewhere.
A quick idea: Maybe we should stop by The Bowl for our meet-up?!
Absolutely 😀 Count me in!
Then it’s a deal!
Yum! I’m loving fresh blueberries these days!!! All of your bowls look delicious 🙂
Irresistible, right?! I’m so glad blueberry season is about to start over here, too. These were the first packages I picked up and I’ll surely eat half my weight in them this summer again.
That corn on the cob looks AMAZING. It’s my favorite veggie so it always catches my eye when someone features it in a blog post. I love how you are incorporating some intuitive eating into your life! So much progress girl. 🙂
I’ve been eating more intuitively lately and find that’s when I do the best. As long as I don’t OVER do it.
I’ve been throwing together the BEST BOWL EVER recently….. While it’s not 100% vegan (there is tuna), it’s so friggin’ good and you could swap in some tofu for the tuna!
Basically it’s just loads of spinach and butter lettuce, tuna canned in extra virgin olive oil, maybe some oysters (he he) and roasted and salted edamame!!! Mmmm 🙂 And I wrap it all up in nori sheets. THE BOMB! Oh and then on the side… Roasted winter squash but of course!