I shared all my current food restriction in this blog post, but essentially I eat a strict paleo diet minus eggs until Z can tolerate them. Here’s what I ate in a 24 hour period which I hope will give you a few ideas if you eat similarly to me and also, spoiler alert: my salmon recipe is included as well so get your bookmarking finger ready, friends.

I’ll be honest- figuring out what I’m actually going to eat each day can be a bit difficult and I was in a bit of a rut there for a while but I’m in a bit of a better groove now. My day starts between 6 and 6:30 every morning.

After feeding Z and changing her diaper, it’s time for a cup of tea. I’ve never been a coffee addict, but I used to enjoy a cup of decaf coffee every now and then and cherished it. In order to help my thyroid heal, I’ve avoiding coffee completely for about six months now. Herbal tea is something I’ve loved and looked forward to first thing in the morning and just before bed for years. Now that it’s October, I’ve switched to Cinnamon Apple tea in the mornings and I’ve already gone though two boxes. All of that said, I don’t have a picture of my morning tea because it was pitch black outside. Moving on.

Fake Breakfast: It’s a little early to turn on the blender for my smoothie so this morning, I had a Soozy’s Paleo Egg-Free Bagel. It tastes how it sounds, to be honest, but with a smear of cashew butter it really does the trick.

Second Breakfast: My next meal and my real breakfast is an enormous smoothie. I add as much coconut water as possible so it’s extra hydrating. I follow Kelly LeVeque’s Fab 4 Smoothie method which requires a Green, a Fat, a Protein and Fiber. I call this my “Almond Butter & Jam” smoothie.

Loose Recipe:
A ton of frozen spinach + chia seeds + acacia fiber+ collagen + coconut water + a bit of almond milk – BLEND – add frozen blueberries + frozen strawberries + half or whole banana + 1 tbs or so of almond butter – BLEND – enjoy. I’ve used the “blend the greens and supplements and liquids first” method for a decade and it’s the only way I’ve found to get the perfect smoothie texture.

Snack: I can never make it to lunch without a snack or two and my cycle is coming quite literally any minute (I never say “cycle” in real life, but it feels like the most appropriate thing to type?) so snacks are more necessary than ever. Paleo puffs and MCT oil Keto Cups to the rescue.

Lunch: I can usually eat three tacos no problem but today I couldn’t hang. I made some ground beef over the weekend for just this reason: a quick, clean lunch in no time at all. I used Almond flour Siete tortillas, organic ground beef with spices, Happy Tomato salsa, and Yellow Bird sriracha (best ever and super clean) to make quick tacos. I also had a bit of Siete queso blanco with a couple cassava chips as the tortillas cooked. Frozen peas scream, ” I didn’t prepare a vegetable and am thankful for my freezer.”

Dinner: Again, I cooked a few salmon fillets at the end of last week so the kids and I would have a quick meal without me needing to spend too much time preparing meals over the weekend. A quick kale salad topped with my salmon is a go-to i’ll never tire of.

This salmon is my most requested recipe so let me give you a little bit of backstory: I used to despise salmon. I just couldn’t do it. I stuck to the most boujee of fish- black cod and halibut. Everything else just tasted too fishy and was too way too oily for my liking. I played around with a few different cooking techniques and last year, this became my best friend. If you’re the person ordering raw salmon at the sushi bar, this likely isn’t for you. If you like your salmon well done and/or are convinced salmon isn’t your favorite-just trust me. I can’t even count how many salmon converts message me about this recipe converting them.

Recipe: pat the salmon dry and season it with paprika + garlic salt + pepper + dried basil. Preheat the oven to 400. Pan sear the salmon in a few tbs of olive oil with the skin side up first until it’s browned with a nice crust (personal preference will determine the time. Mine take about 5 minutes total to sear.) An important tip-sear the top and the sides. Place it in the oven either in a cast iron skillet you used for searing or on a parchment-lined baking sheet. bake for 12 minutes. Enjoy!

Dessert: Being egg-free makes paleo baking a bit interesting but my favorite paleo cookie recipe tasted just as delicious despite it looking like ground up granola. I use these vegan and paleo chocolate chips because they’re the absolute cleanest on the market. I used an egg replacer and extra coconut oil rather than a flax-egg and they were so perfect.

To close out the day, always, a cup of tea in my favorite mug. I can’t imagine crawling into bed without one at this point-I imagine this is how people feel about closing out their day with wine. It’s just so comforting and a splash of almond creamer makes it a treat in itself.

I don’t always have prepped meals in the fridge. I don’t always fit in three square meals. My health is my top priority but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. I do wish I could make a quick sandwich or just have a bowl of cereal sometimes. I often long for the days my food was more accessible and simple. But taking care of my thyroid means square meals with limited ingredients are key-so this is my day. Again, not every day, but a day.