What A Nutritionist Eats in a Day | Brenna Thompson, MS, RD, LD

By Jackie Cartier
May 24, 2017

 So far, we’ve tagged along with two different nutritionists sharing what they eat in a regular day. Alyssa shared her bulk baking idea, while Britni inspired our entire office to make egg roll in a bowl and try “pancakes” as a bedtime snack.

Today we’re back with Brenna, a Nutritional Weight & Wellness nutritionist, sharing a day of her meal ideas and answering questions about how she cooks. Here's a typical weekday from Brenna to inspire an idea or two in your own kitchen! 

Before we get started, what goes into your daily meal prep?

Saturday is usually my meal planning and grocery store day, because then it’s DONE and I get to enjoy the rest of the weekend. That’s my favorite part. When I cook and how much bulk cooking I need to do depends on my work schedule.

We also try to keep our favorite staples on hand to take some of the guesswork out of making the grocery list. At our house you can always find pickles. Bubbies is our current favorite. On top of that, we always have deli meat or a can of tuna, salmon or sardines for fast protein options. Frozen broccoli or frozen asparagus is also always in the freezer. We bought half a cow and half a pig recently, so there’s always meat in the freezer to pick from, and then we just pull out the frozen veggies and sauté in butter. That fast and dinner is set!

Breakfast

Chicken sausage with sautéed kale and asparagus, topped with Sriracha. Not pictured, an orange I ate right away! 

This was a simple and quick meal because everything was already in the fridge, and it is a typical breakfast at our house. I use chicken sausage or a frozen turkey burger, then throw some greens into a pan. An option instead of greens is a bag of shredded cabbage and broccoli slaw. I sauté the greens or cabbage slaw in coconut oil and butter, then add the burger or sausage into the pan at the same time. I have it timed so that I can throw it all in, run and take a shower and come back in time to stir it. I finished my meal with an orange so I had sufficient carbohydrates.

On days when I’m in a rush, I’ll have yogurt with protein powder and fruit stirred in. Other days it’s a slice of Ezekiel Bread topped with cream cheese, deli meat and maybe a pickle. That’s the easiest breakfast when I need to be able to walk around the house, eat breakfast and get going!

Lunch

Salad topped with chicken salad, eggs, pecans and veggies.

Lunch is usually a salad with leftover meat on top. Today it was leftover chicken salad, but I didn’t have quite enough, so I cut up two hard-boiled eggs for more protein. I added that on a bed of tomatoes and arugula, topped with chopped pecans for extra fat and some pickles because I love the bite they add to a salad.  You’ll notice the veggies are whatever I have in my fridge; it varies every day. For the dressing, I used a mix of olive oil and vinegar, which is super-fast, tasty and provides another source of fat from the olive oil.

Afternoon Snack

Ginger and peach protein shake.

I’ve been developing new smoothie recipes for Nutritional Weight & Wellness, which leaves me with a lot of leftovers!  I started putting them into half pint jars and freezing them for an afternoon snack. This smoothie was ginger and peach, and you won’t be seeing that recipe shared here because it wasn’t a favorite!    

Dinner

Beef pot roast.

My mom gave me this simple crockpot recipe for beef pot roast. Take a three- or four-pound chuck or rump roast and add three cans of stewed tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and a couple of bay leaves on top of the roast and that’s it! Cook for 8 hours on low. When it’s time to serve, I add a dollop of sour cream on top of half of a potato (I eyeball it!).

I love the crockpot, and we probably use it once a week, even in the summer. It’s just so easy, plus if I’m not home for supper, I know that my husband will have something to eat and I’ll have leftovers the next day.  

Bedtime Snack

Small apple and peanut butter.

It doesn’t get much easier than this, or tastier in my opinion! A balance of fat (peanut butter in this case) and carbs (a small apple) help keep blood sugar balanced through the night which helps me sleep better and stay asleep.

Before we go, what are the five most-used items in your kitchen

Frank’s RedHot Sauce, my Wüsthof knife, our anodized nonstick skillet that literally gets used every day (If you want to learn more about cookware, check out our cookware article, and my ZEROWATER pitcher - learn more about water quality by listening to our podcast on How Clean is Your Drinking Water?) are my top four. Last, but not least, our glass Pyrex set; it’s so versatile, it works for hot food, cold food, can go in the freezer, microwave, toaster oven, wherever!