What Emily Eats! A Day in the Life.

I get asked a lot of questions, but none more than “what do you eat?” Since diet plays such a main role in weight loss or weight maintenance or weight gain (wherever you are on that spectrum) I will tell you exactly what I eat and what I don’t eat. But I want to preface this by saying that it has really taken me 30 years (I am 38 now) to sincerely only eat when I am truly hungry and stop when I am truly full. For a very long time I was an emotional eater and would teeter totter between periods of extreme restriction and extreme binging. I struggled for the early part of my twenties with an eating disorder and after therapy and ending an abusive toxic relationship, came out on the other end genuinely healed. I know many people suffer forever in recovery without ever truly being recovered. That was not the case for me. I got better and just catapulted myself as far away from that part of my life. I also have found that when I am religiously doing SCULPT I really can eat with a real sense of joy and balance. Basically I can have whatever I want as long as I don’t have the entire box/package/tub!

I sincerely feel so connected to my body where I can hear what it’s craving and give it that. Whether it’s a giant fruit smoothie after a workout or a juicy hamburger at my favorite restaurant. My kids love sushi and so that is another staple in our diet. I always have dark chocolate after lunch and dinner and I won’t say no to treats, as long as it’s something I really want. I won’t have a piece of candy just because it’s in front of my face. I really do a mini inventory before I eat something, if I am truly craving it I have it, if I’m not I don’t. I am not a sugar junkie, I don’t reach for pastries or bagels. My cravings are in the form of protein smoothies, giant kale salads and egg omelettes (with the yolks!) with millet bread slathered in coconut butter. So basically real, whole, organic food. I also don’t drink booze. That is because since I got pregnant with my second baby I have developed a real aversion to alcohol that I can not explain. The only thing I know is that the thought or smell of alcohol makes me nauseous. This is coming from a person who absolutely lived for an icy glass of chardonnay on a summer afternoon. I can only associate it with my pregnancy and giving birth and then being super tapped into my body. Going alcohol-free in addition to my daily workouts has changed my entire body, my skin, and my mental health. In my opinion being sober is the holy grail of game changers.

So a day in the life of Emily Tyson...here it is! No detail will be left out. I wrote down an entire day and here is a sample. 

Morning. Wake. One mug of warm water while I wait for coffee to finish brewing. I also at this time will take a Triphala supplement and a probiotic. Then, coffee! With non dairy coconut creamer. I savor a mug while I slowly wake up and get ready for work. If it is the weekend I will be getting ready to teach SCULPT. If it is a weekday I will make a smoothie before work and drink throughout the morning. If it is a day I am teaching SCULPT I will make this same smoothie but have it after I workout.

Smoothie: 1-2 bananas, 1 ½ cups of frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries and mango), 3 tbsp hemp protein powder, ½ tsp L-Glutamine, ½ tsp Glucomannan (thickness and fiber) 1 scoop Joint Vibrance OR collagen powder, 1 cup walnut milk (or some version of a non dairy milk) water. Blend that all up and it makes a lot! I drink this all morning.

Lunch- Either sushi salmon and avocado rolls OR chicken and rice soup with bread and coconut butter OR Kale salad with roasted butternut squash pumpkin seeds and avocado with lots of oil and vinegar. Also dark chocolate. I have at least 3 or 4 bars of good deep dark chocolate in my fridge at all times. I can’t stress enough how I DO NOT COUNT CALORIES, WEIGH OR MEASURE FOOD or KEEP TRACK of anything I eat. I eat real food when I am hungry. 

Snack- I snack on millet lavash with coconut butter or with peanut butter and seasonal fruit. I love apples in fall and peaches in summer. If you really are in tune with your body, you will find that you want the produce that is in season. And always EAT ORGANIC! That is non-negotiable. I won’t eat a conventional apple, not because I’m a stuck up food snob but because I refuse to put pesticides in my body, or in my kids’ bodies. I also think conventional produce tastes really bad. They don’t burst with flavor. To me eating a non-organic apple tastes like biting into jicama. Have you ever tried jicama? It tastes like dirty water. My daughter and I also really enjoy baking together so my snacks can be in the form of homemade banana nut muffins or oatmeal cookies.

Dinner. The dreaded meal as a mother. I am super lucky to have a husband who shares the cooking responsibility, but dinnertime can feel a little like F*@# ok let’s do this. So dinner is where I have a ton of time saving hacks. Such as, I always have a freezer stocked with American Flatbread vegan frozen pizzas, frozen organic spinach and broccoli, organic chicken breasts and organic grass fed beef. Once or twice a week I will sautée spinach, garlic and mushrooms in a pan and then load that mixture onto a few frozen pizzas then put in the oven. My kids love it and it takes 4 seconds to make. We also will do tacos with sautéed onions and beef and cut up some lettuce and tomatoes and BAM dinner! Nothing is every overly complicated. Ben does an amazing chicken soup chock full of fresh vegetables and chicken thighs, or a chicken curry with kale and coconut milk. Another hack of mine is getting a big container of turkey chili from my local gourmet market and then coming home, sauteéing an onion, a green pepper and some garlic, then adding the store bought chili and then throwing in a can of dark red kidney beans. We will eat the chili with some Jasmine or Basmati rice delish! I am grateful that my husband will frequently request a big salad for dinner in which case I’ll fill a HUGE bowl with mixed greens, tomatoes, chopped apples, walnuts, avocados, red peppers and top with some dried cranberries and an olive oil based dressing. If Ben barbeques chicken or sausages on the grill I will roast a pan of butternut squash and brussel sprouts coated in olive oil and some light salt and pepper. 

If you followed me around the grocery store every week, you would see the same things in my cart! Organic grass fed beef, chicken and sausages, lots of organic produce, hummus, peanut butter, frozen cauliflower pizzas, coffee, a big bag of avocados, bars of chocolate, rice milk and walnut milk, boxes of LARA bars, Kombucha, eggs, oatmeal, bags of frozen fruit, chickpea pasta, and snacks like sweet potato chips, and popcorn. I guess my biggest piece of advice would be to not be afraid of good fats and also don’t buy crap. If you want ice cream, get the best with the least amount of unidentifiable ingredients, eat the yolks of the eggs, eat an entire avocado (or two) on your salad, eat until you are satisfied and then just stop. I know it’s easier to say than do, but I find when I am working out daily, either doing my SCULPT routines or Cardio Jump routines, I don’t really want anything all that bad for me, and if I do I’ll have it but not in excess.