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My Week In Food: Annie Clarke of Mind Body Bowl
For me, food is so much more than just fuel - it's a hugely important part of my life, my happiness and my expression.
Over the years I've come to find that fresh, wholesome foods do wonders for my overall wellbeing. Thankfully I genuinely love shopping for, cooking, and experimenting with, fresh vegetables, legumes and a wide array of grains - so eating well is an easy choice.
I have a balanced and mindful approach to food. By this I'm referring to balancing the sweet and savoury, educating myself on vital nutrients to ensure I'm get the full spectrum of the essential food groups, and also balance in the sense of allowing myself to be indulgent and enjoy food as and when I feel like it, rather than setting rules and restrictions.
I choose not to use labels around my lifestyle and diet and strongly urge others to do the same (more about this in Mind Body Bowl ). Whilst I usually don't include animal products in my diet, sometimes I go through phases of eating eggs and sustainably sourced fish when I feel like it. This is part of tuning into my body and recognising its individuality and ever-changing needs - something I strongly advocate.
What works best for one person is different to the next, whether that's diet, exercise, relationships or otherwise. Food should always be about eating what makes us feel energised and healthy from the inside, which means what we eat is likely to be a dynamic and hugely individual process
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Monday
Breakfast: I teach first thing on a Monday and then head straight to the gym. By the time I sit down to work through my emails at 9am I am definitely ready to eat! I go through phases of eating eggs and fish depending on how my body feels. At the moment my body is saying yes to eggs so breakfast was an egg white omelette with spinach, and a coffee with almond milk.
Lunch: I work from Shoreditch House every Monday and always order the raw vegetable salad, which comes with the most delicious baked chickpeas.
Snack: Before heading to yoga, I had a couple of rice cakes and nut butter as a mid-afternoon energy boost.
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry with tofu and a peanut sauce. It’s really simple to throw together - perfect after a long day. I also discovered a soy yoghurt without any additives so I mixed that with a spoonful of chocolate protein powder and topped it with frozen berries.
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Tuesday
Breakfast: I started the day with a green smoothie made with banana, spinach, kale and vanilla vegan protein powder.
Lunch: Summer rolls with peanut sauce for a light lunch as I was recipe testing and always tend to pick a lot. I’d also made a cabbage recipe for my blog so I ended up eating a bowl of that too.
Snack: I grazed on chickpea brownies throughout the afternoon after making them for my blog. Luckily my sister arrived and I sent her home with the rest before I could eat them all.
Dinner: I discovered my two new favourite things whilst recipe testing – the chickpea brownies and these super simple carrot and chickpea burgers with sweet potato fries (from my book). I steamed some broccoli to have on the side.
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Wednesday
Breakfast: Porridge with almond milk topped with frozen berries and almond butter. It never gets old!
Lunch: I’m loving poké bowls at the moment so I made one with edamame, raw carrots, cabbage and brown rice and a delicious miso dressing. There’s a recipe on my blog for something similar but I love that you can throw in pretty much anything and it makes such a colourful meal.
Snack: I saved a summer roll from yesterday to snack on.
Dinner: Chana masala – I can’t get enough of it! I always make it in a big batch so that I can have it over the next few days.
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Thursday
Breakfast: On Thursday mornings I’m on the go with back to back classes and clients. I made a quick smoothie (½ a banana, ground turmeric, chocolate vegan protein, almond milk and a spoonful of almond butter), which I saved until before my second class to keep me going through the morning. I usually grab a ginger shot and an almond milk latte along the way too.
Snack: Two Chocolate Orange Energy Balls (recipe from my book) - my favourite thing at the moment.
Lunch: I’ll often stop off for a yoga class on my way home, so lunch is usually mid-afternoon. I’ll either pick up a salad box or make something simple at home. I kept some of the chana masala from last night and had it cold with green salad today.
Dinner: Miso noodle soup – I made it with lots of chilli and brown rice noodles. It’s one of our favourite dinners as it’s light but still filling.
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Friday
Breakfast: As I was working from home in the morning I decided to make the black rice porridge from my book. The pear compote is really delicious, so I made extra to enjoy over the weekend.
Lunch: Homemade tomato soup. I also baked some bread (my farmhouse loaf which is a really simple gluten-free recipe) to go with it.
Dinner: I was cooking for friends this evening so I made kale, chickpea and coconut curry. It’s a bit of a crowd pleaser so I often serve it when I have people round. I also made a crumble which we ate with Booja Booja ice cream. It’s made of nuts but is even better than the real deal in my opinion.
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Saturday
Breakfast: We love to make a fuss over breakfast at the weekend so it was pancakes topped with candied pecans and some of the pear compote I made yesterday.
Lunch: Vegetable curry from the wonderful Broadway market right on our doorstep. The sun was out so we stopped and sat in London Fields to eat al fresco.
Dinner: Still full from lunch. As we were watching a movie I made some toffee popcorn and we ate it on top of leftover ice cream from last night!
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Sunday
Brunch: We got back from the gym and picked up the ingredients for a spicy shakshuka and dipped in some slices of the bread I made earlier in the week.
Snack: An extra large almond milk latte and a few spoonfuls of nut butter.
Dinner: An early dinner of sun dried tomato and roasted squash salad with some parsnip fries on the side.
Follow Annie on Instagram @mind_body_bowl and Anna @annyhunter