I get people asking me often enough, what and how much they should be eating in a day. I obviously can't answer that 100% - we're all different; only you can answer that by experimenting and finding out what what works for you.
However, I can show you what works for me and what I do, to give you some sort of basic understanding.
So, here is a play-by-play of everything I'm eating today!
Breakfast - smoothie (1L):
—4-5 bananas
—2c OJ
—¾c strawberries (or other berry)
Blend everything until smooth.
I always start my day with a smoothie! I sometimes experiment with different foods for breakfast, but in my experience, a smoothie for breakfast is the best! It's hydrating, flavorful, easy to digest, and full of healthy carbohydrates to fill you up and energize you for the day.
I've found that it's very important to get enough calories in my breakfast meal, and that eating a lot early in the morning provides excellent energy levels and a positive mood for the whole day - plus I'm not hungry all the time for the rest of the day.
This size smoothie normally fills me up until lunch - but some days I'm hungry earlier, so I often bring a small snack of whole fruit or extra smoothie to school with me (it almost always gets eaten up, either before lunch or as a snack in the afternoon).
Snack - extra green smoothie that wouldnt fit in my lunch jar. Aha
Lunch - green smoothie (1L):
—2c romaine
—¼cilantro
—1c water
—½lemon, juiced
—3bananas
—1.5c pineapple
Blend greens with water and lemon until smooth. Add fruit, blend again until smooth.
This is probably my favorite green smoothie! I love pineapple with greens.
For lunch, I normally have either a green smoothie or a monomeal of whole fruit.
I like the fruit monomeal because it is convenient and easy. Recently, my monomeal has been about 10 oranges. There're super easy to transport and don't go bad fast, so it's nice.
I'm out of oranges now, though, so I've been doing green smoothies instead. I really like the way they are sort of savory and sweet at the same time. I think this is awesome for lunch, because you're not looking for something quite as sweet at lunchtime as you had for breakfast, but you still need a good amount of calories to get you through the rest of the day. Making smoothies take a little extra prep time in the morning, but they are also a nice, convenient way to eat at school (or work).
Dinner - 2 heads of broccoli dipped in maybe ½c sundried tomato paste, with ¼ avocado and a sprinkling of curry
This may sound like a wierd meal, but I thought it was super good! Lol, I have really been loving broccoli the past few days! (And, it was on sale at the grocery store, aha.)
I've noticed that at different times, I'll crave different types of greens and fruits. (I normally can't stand broccoli or cruciferous veggies, but I sometimes go through phases of like a week, where I just can't get enough of them. Wtf?) I can't imagine this is anything other than my body telling me what it needs, which I think is pretty cool! ...I used to try and eat the things that I knew were *good* for me....but I've found that I feel and do a lot better when just eating the fruits and veggies I'm wanting to eat at the time.
Previously to my broccoli kick, I was doing a cucumber "pasta" just about every night, with a sauce that differed from day to day. I posted a few of these sauce recipes. Basicalky what I would do, would be blend up a base of about 1c water and 2 - 3c greens, then add spices, herbs, other veggies, to to taste, and see what worked. This was super fun, and made for awesome flavor variey - even when using basically the same base ingredients every day, hah. (:
I like having a savory, green meal for dinner. I often throw in a few dates or some dried fruit to sweeten the meal up. The sweetness helps to satiate better than if it were just a low-calorie green meal. The fact that I eat more carb calories earlier in the day, makes it possible for me to have and enjoy a green/salad-type meal for dinner.
I also had about 2½ cups of water today. I don't force down the water like I know sme raw foodists do. I just drink when I feel I need it. Many days, I don't actually drink water by itself (though I normally blend some with my smoothies), and this seems to work just fine for me.
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So, thats my intake for the whole day! Keep in mind that I am a small-boned, 5'2, 100lb female. I don't do huge amounts of excersize, especially being winter - just some walking and about an hour of yoga every night.
So, obviously most people are going to need more food than this. The best way to figure out just how much food you need is to listen to your own body and experiment: there is no one size fits all answer.
If you are just beginning a low fat raw vegan diet, theres a good chance your tummy won't even be able to fit all the food you'll be needing! This is because cooked food is a more concentrated source of calories - a lot of the fiber and water that is present in raw foods is normally removed in cooked food. So it will take some getting used to, just do the best you can - and if you must, don't be afraid to maybe supplement with some rice for dinner, if you must. It's better than not getting enough food, in my opinion!
Hope this was helpful to you!
-Peace!
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Hehe.
