FULL DAY OF EATING | healthy, high-protein meals (48 years old!)

Hello, my friends. It's Dani, and today I am back with some more high-protein, whole-food, eat-in-a-day inspiration. Now, as I've shared before, I am 48, almost 49, and I'm working on some personal health and fitness goals with the intention of building more lean muscle so that I can feel more fit and more strong and more fabulous as I round towards 50. But I do want to mention that I am a big believer that eating well can and does look different. This is going to depend on your personal goals, your preferences, your belief systems, your lifestyle, and your chapter of life. So I am by no means trying to tell you that you should eat the way that I am eating. I'm simply somebody who loves food, who loves to cook, who loves to eat, and really wants to demonstrate that eating well really can be easy, healthy, fun, delicious, and doable. But first, I'd like to thank Element for sponsoring this video. Element is a delicious electrolyte company that was specifically created for people like myself who want to focus on a more whole-food, less processed approach to healthy eating. It contains a science-based balance of sodium, magnesium, and potassium that can help you to balance the electrolyte levels in your body. And personally, I am a big fan, and I'm going to be sharing more about them throughout the video. Now, this day of eating is based on a day where I would be doing a workout and working to get 10,000 steps a day. And I find on days like this, I tend to lean towards more of a five-meal-a-day approach. So that's what I'm going to be showing you today. And the goal is to hit 140 grams of protein, or somewhere in that ballpark, by the end of the day. Now, I'm an early riser. I'm usually up by about 5 a.m. And the first thing I do is I pour myself a big glass of ice water. I've shared this before, but I find it to be a little bit tricky to drink enough water throughout the day. So adding lots of ice and fresh lemon, to me, just makes it more enjoyable, which then of course makes it easier for me to drink. Now, I also start my day with two cups of black coffee. Now, if you watched my last Eat in the Day, you know that I was making my morning coffee with both creatine and collagen and a little bit of heavy cream as well. But thanks to this amazing community, I learned that putting creatine into hot coffee actually denatures the creatine. So thank you very much for those tips. So now what I'm doing is I'm getting the creatine and the collagen later in the day, which you're going to see, and I'm starting the day with black coffee, which is a sentence I never thought I would say, but I am actually enjoying it. So I spend the first few hours of my day just sipping water, sipping coffee. I read, I journal, I walk the dog, I do whatever I need to do for the family and the kids. And then around 7.30 or so, it is time for breakfast. So what I've been enjoying lately is a sweet and savory toast combination. So I will toast up two slices of sprouted grain bread. Ezekiel is my personal favorite. And then for the first slice, I'll top it with a spread of nut butter and then some fresh raspberries over the top. It's kind of like a fresher peanut butter and jelly. Then for my savory slice, I will whisk together one whole egg with a splash of egg whites and then a dollop of cottage cheese. Give it a little salt, a little pepper. And then I scramble that up and layer some arugula right on the toast and then put the egg mixture right on top. And I have just been finding this breakfast to be so satisfying. Not only does it pack in 30 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber, but there's something about that sweet, salty, savory combination that just hits the spot. Shortly after breakfast, about an hour, an hour and a half later, I'm ready to leave the house and I go out to do a workout. So what I will do is I'll grab a water bottle, I'll fill it with water and then I add a half a pack of Element to the water. This electrolyte drink mix can really help to prevent headaches, muscle cramps, sleeplessness and fatigue, which if you didn't know, are all signs of electrolyte deficiencies. And all of that aside, I just feel great when I drink it. Not only do I feel hydrated and energized, but I really love the flavor. And as I mentioned before, drinking water can sometimes be a tricky task for me. So this is another tool that I use to help get plenty of water in throughout the day. So then off I go. I go to the gym, I move my body, I do my workout and I mean, come on, just look at me go there, getting all fit and fabulous. Then once I'm back home, my next two meals tend to be a little bit smaller. After I work out, sometimes I really enjoy making a protein shake, specifically in this warmer weather. So what I've been doing lately is right into my blender, I'll add one cup of frozen strawberries with a handful of baby spinach. Now quick side note, baby spinach is a great beginner green. So if you're trying to get more greens into your diet, baby spinach, it's very sweet and it's very mild. So you don't even know that it's in there. Then I add in a scoop of protein powder. You could use any kind of protein powder you love or prefer, along with five grams of creatine and then a cup of either unsweetened almond milk or water. Blend that all together, you get this beautiful, thick, creamy, strawberry milkshake-like protein shake. It hits the spot and it delivers 25 grams of protein. Then I'm off to shower and get ready for the day. So fast forward, fast forward, fast forward. The next thing I really like to do is pour another big glass of water. I really try to drink water all throughout the day. I just find spreading it out is very helpful. And this is when I'll add the second half of that Element pack, which again, I really look forward to drinking because it tastes so good and it makes my water a lot more enjoyable. I also love that Element contains no artificial flavors, no artificial coloring, no sugar, no gluten, and no fillers. And on this particular day, I went with the mango chili. So good. But honestly, I love all of their flavors. The watermelon, raspberry, mango chili, grapefruit, citrus, chocolate, and even unflavored. They are truly all so good and if you want to give them a try, Element is offering everybody in the Clean and Delicious community a free eight-serving sample pack with any purchase. All you have to do is visit drinkelement.com forward slash dannysfees. And you can only get this with my link. So again, that's drinkelment.com forward slash dannysfees. And I'm going to leave that link for you down in the description box as well. Okay, so after I've done a couple hours of work, it is time for lunch. And I've been eating this seriously simple two-minute lunch on repeat. All I do is toast up a slice of fruit and nut bread. This is a cranberry pecan bread, so delicious, but any combination would work. Then I spread a wedge of laughing cow cheese right over the top. I have to tell you, somebody on Instagram influenced me to buy these little cheese wedges and I love the texture. I've become a big fan. Okay, then on top of that, I add some mashed avocado. Just slice your avocado, mash it right on top of the cheese so we have like a double layer of rich, delicious creaminess. And then I layer on my arugula. And then I just top that with a couple slices of turkey breast, which is a super convenient source of protein. And when possible, I do try to look for all-natural, organic options. This is so simple. It's like a two-minute meal and it is delicious. And then I'll usually just dip into my crudités, which are my pre-cut veggies for the week. And I'll just take a handful of veggies out to munch on along the side. There's just something about that crunch factor. But I'm telling you, this Sammy is so good. It's quick, it's delicious, and it hits the spot. And I need to know if you do this too, right? You like get hooked on a meal idea and then you have to make it every single day until you're just sick of it. That is what this sandwich has been for me. Okay, so then lunch is pretty light, it's pretty quick, and then this next stretch of the day is go time for Danny Spees. This is when I get the bulk of my work done. And then after that, it's time to eat again. And often, not always, but often, I like a little something sweet with another cup of coffee at this point in the day. So just to give you an idea, it's usually around 3, 3.30 at this point in the day. And what I've been really enjoying is a slice of my homemade protein banana bread. So good if you have not tried this recipe yet. It is beautiful and it is delicious. And I pair that with a cup of collagen coffee. So you remember I used to do my collagen in the morning, but now that I've been doing the black coffee, I just look forward to my collagen coffee in the afternoon. So I will brew up some coffee. Sometimes it's regular, sometimes it's decaf. It just depends on how I'm feeling that day. I'll add about 10 grams of collagen to that along with about a tablespoon of heavy cream. And then I enjoy that with the protein banana bread. Now what's so cool about this meal is because this banana bread recipe was protein focused, each slice has 13 grams of protein. So very different than say a traditional banana bread. It's much better balanced. It's great for blood sugar. And again, we're getting that pop of protein. And when I pair it with the collagen coffee, this meal ends up with nearly 30 grams of protein. So it's really delicious. It satisfies a sweet tooth and it keeps me in alignment with my personal goals. Then I roll into kind of like the family and errand part of the day, which is lovely. We do the thing, we do the thing, we do the thing. And now that we're really in the throes of summer, the activities in the evening have slowed down a bit, which has been really nice because we've been able to eat dinner as a family a little bit more often than we usually do. And I was very excited to discover that our entire family likes my cottage cheese pasta alfredo recipe. So that's been something that I've really enjoyed making lately and it's really easy to customize. And what I mean by that is like my husband and I really like to enjoy it with a chickpea pasta because it's got more protein and it's higher in fiber, where the kids like it with a traditional pasta. So that's easy enough, right? I can just boil up two different pastas at the same time. Everybody pick your party. Then what I like to do when I serve it is I bulk it up. I add a little more fiber, a little more protein, a little more volume by serving some shredded chicken on the side. And then I also like to do a big bowl of like steamed and really well seasoned broccoli. And then again, you can kind of build your own plate. And this is what mine ends up looking like. It's simple, it's quick, and it's really delicious and so satisfying. And this ends up being another meal that has a baseline of 30 grams of protein. So there you have it. Another high protein, whole food, eat in a day video with a 48-year-old woman who is doing her best to try to get fitter and stronger as she heads towards 50. So for those of you who are curious, because I know some of you are going to ask, this day was about 1600 calories, 140 grams of protein, and 25 grams of fiber. So it's really a great example that when you focus on real whole foods, most of the time, you really can eat a beautiful variety and abundance of food when trying to eat well without feeling restricted or deprived. I would love to know what other types of videos you might like to see that would help to support and encourage you on your healthy eating journey. So come on down to the comment section below and do share. And thanks again to our sponsor, Element. Remember, you can check them out at www.drinkelement.com forward slash dannyspees. And I have that link for you down in the description box as well. As always, I appreciate you watching and I will see you back here next time with some more clean and deliciousness. Cheers.