Happy What I Ate Wednesday, friendly faces! 😀
Before we get to the food, I wanted to take a sec to explain the title of today’s post. See, as much as I love sharing my eats with you guys, I realize that the pictures don’t tell the whole story. In fact, they don’t tell much of the story at all seeing as my 90% of my meals don’t look the way they do in these posts. That’s not to say that I’m making them up, but there’s definitely a lot more time, effort, and consideration that goes in to meals that I know are going to show up on the internet. No one likes to air their dirty laundry.
I mean, you’re looking at a girl who probably eats half of her food standing over the kitchen counter or sitting at her desk with a box within arms reach, so actually having to plate and photograph my meals and snacks feels somewhat forced and fabricated in itself. That’s not to say that I’m complaining, but I know that comparison and judgement have a tendency to rear their ugly heads in the blog world, and I just wanted to remind you that: a) you don’t have to feel bad if your food doesn’t look as pretty/good/healthy as “mine” (read: Spoons’) because most of the time, neither does mine, and b) you only see 2 or 3 days out of my entire month, and they’re usually days that I consciously plan to show for WIAW, so they’re not exactly the most accurate representations of how I eat.
That being said, maybe I’ll do a more real and uncut version of WIAW one of these days, but for now, more pretty pictures with a little backstory behind them…
Breakfast…
What you see: a green smoothie in an artsy mug/jar with two cute straws sitting in the sun.
The reality: I almost never transfer my smoothies into any sort of glass — I just eat them straight from the blender jug with a very long spoon. That and I’m sitting in the blue glow of a computer screen 99.9% of the time — not in a warm and cozy patch of sunlight.
. – . – . – .
Coffee…
What you see: a homemade almond milk latte with a splash of date sweetened dairy-free coffee creamer and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
The reality: Actually… this is pretty much what my coffee looks like every day. Thank God for fancy milk frothers is all I’m saying.
. – . – . – .
Snack…
What you see: a bowl of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest mixed with Love Grown frosted Mighty Flakes and some Silk soy milk.
The reality: If I had to guess, I’d say that 80% of my cereal doesn’t actually see a bowl — I’m usually just grabbing handfuls straight from the box. I seriously need to stop doing that, though, because I keep forgetting how good it tastes when it’s been softened by milk.
. – . – . – .
Lunch…
What you see: a mixed veggie salad and a Rudi’s multigrain bagel with Justin’s maple almond butter and Crofter’s mango jam.
The reality: I’m not really big on bagels and I’ll almost always choose toast or English muffins instead. Unfortunately, I’m not really big on having foods hanging around in my freezer for extended periods of time either, so there are times where sacrifices have to be made. I’m kidding… [kind of]. It was still tasty.
. – . – . – .
Snack…
What you see: a [blueberry] banana oat bar, a couple of dates, and a handful of Love Grown chocolate Power O’s.
The reality: While this is technically what I ate, it’s not exactly what I ate — it’s a picture of the-same-but-different things that I picked away at through the course of the afternoon. Whaaaa? See, I’m snacky between lunch and dinner, and I very rarely sit down and eat something concrete — I just grab something here and there [whenever I walk past the kitchen]. And because I didn’t want to take a bunch of different pictures, I went back and put together a representative plate after the fact. Oh, and the cereal? I literally just grabbed a handful and threw it on top 😆
. – . – . – .
Dinner…
What you see: a bowl of coconut basmati rice with chickpeas and avocado.
The reality: Completely cold leftovers that I dug out of my fridge and threw together in about 2 minutes flat… and also one of the rare occasions where the entirety of my dinner actually made it into a bowl. Most of the time I end up eating half of it while I’m standing at the kitchen counter, or I just eat it straight from the pan that I cooked it in. This is the reality of living on your own and only having to cook for one.
. – . – . – .
Snack…
What you see: a simple bowl of blueberry banana oats.
The reality: I actually rarely eat oatmeal these days, which is crazy considering I used to eat it everyday for years. Heck, there were even a few stints where I was eating it twice a day. But a warm bowl of oats (which turned cold before I could actually eat them) sounded good on this particularly gloomy evening, so a [luke]warm bowl of oats it was.
Happy Wednesday, friendly faces! 😀
Which do you prefer? The real or prettified version?
Do you prefer eating cereal dry or with milk?
Bagels, toast, or English muffins?
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I prefer my cereal with milk (almond or cashew milk), but I will grab a handful if I’m in a hurry or wanting a quick snack 🙂
Oh so true, Amanda! I mix all the things I eat up into a mush no matter what, but take a nice picture before that happens. I prefer to see the altered food. Everyone knows what real eating looks like, but when you have the talent to take a nice staged picture – share it with the world heheh! 🙂 Happy WIAW!
Loved this! 99% of the time, I drink my smoothies straight from the blender too. I don’t want an extra glass to wash afterwards.
😆 That’s exactly my reasoning behind it.
I love that you keep it real by giving the version of what really happens by the scenes vs the perfect representation in the picture. I’m guilty of eating over the sink too, especially breakfast. I shove it in my face as fast as possible and fly out the door!
And blueberry banana oat bars? Damn it, just when I thought that recipe couldn’t get any better!
What you see is not always reality, so true! I definitely eat out of a tupperware container most nights!
I love all bread! I do not eat it on a regular basis, but definitely treat myself when on vacation, because life is too short to not eat bagels, pizza, and crispy English muffins with a delicious brunch! 😉 I honestly like both versions of WIAW, because it shows us that you are real. I know you take beautiful food photos, so I’d love to see you eating your smoothie out of the blender jar with a long spoon. LOL!
I have a feeling it’ll end up making an appearance one of these days 😉
Okay, even the “real” food pictures are pretty! If I took pictures of my meal it would probably look like throw up. Although, they taste delicious… just do.not.look.pretty.at.all. Lol The times food pictures come up on my Instagram are 90% baked goods. hahaha
……as I eat a bagel right this moment. Cliche much?
This answers your question too 😉
Was it one of those famous New York bagels? And what exactly is it about them that makes them so famous?
I love that you normally drink your smoothie straight out of the blender. Saves time and dishes!
I want to see the real stuff! We all eat messy and “fun”. Pretty pictures should be left for the recipe posts 😉 I don’t have time to make my real meals pretty! Haha!
I’ll have cereal anyway…as long as it gets to my belly 😉
And…I’m dying for a bagel!
This is great. I definitely tried to make my WIAW posts wonderfully presentable (most times). I really like the spin you took on it; it made the post more interesting than just a rehashing of your meals like most of them are. I am totally the same way about my eating and I definitely stop by the kitchen for a snack whenever I am near it.
I love your reality posts because grabbing handfuls is 100% how I eat too! But nothing beats pretty pictures of food!
I love this post. It is so true. I did my first WIAW post today and I often found myself being like “hmmm I guess I should put this in a bowl…” I’m so guilty of eating my meals standing at the counter/at my desk at work/having my nighttime snack in bed.
Totally team English Muffin and Cereal with Almond Milk (although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t just eat it out of the box too….)
I was thinking the same thing when I typed up my post yesterday for WIAW. Not because my pictures are pretty (I am definitely not a good photographer like you) but because they are not an accurate representation of what I usually eat. I like the idea of doing both types of WIAW – the other side too where you’re eating out of a box at your desk!
Love seeing the backstory to your meals! It’s a big part of why I stopped doing WIAW. I didn’t like having to think about photographing my meals. I just wanted to grab whatever when I got hungry. Participating every week 1) opened me up to a lot of judgment and 2) wasn’t good for me mentally because it put an unnecessary focus on food. So it’s really great to see the other side to your meals 🙂
I definitely hear that! I look back to my early days of blogging where I used to post every.single.meal, every.single.day and I can’t help but wonder how the heck I did that…
I like both versions, to be honest…but the reason I don’t do WIAW is that my real looks a lot like yours. Which I don’t have a problem with, I just hesitate to make it look otherwise, but I might jump in and try it out to see 😀
I’m a dry cereal person…and I eat a ton of it. Though when I do have it in milk, I’m like you – I remember how tasty it is!
Mmmm I just really like bread. Toast, English muffins, and bagels all have their merits 😉
I don’t mind prettifying my eats every once in a while since people seem to like seeing them, but it’s definitely not something I could do every day!
Love this twist on WIAW, Amanda- totes all over that lunch! I didn’t even know mango jam existed. Like you my eats are rarely as they are photographed. They are a heck of a lot messier and likely to be served in mis-matched crockery- whatever I can get my hands on first! As much as I love all 3 forms of bread, I feel obliged to ick toast as that’s what I eat every morning of late!
Great post Amanda, I do think it’s important for people to realize the reality of blogger world. It’s very easy to compare yourself but we only put “perfect” things out there.
I seriously adore you so much. I love how honest and NORMAL YOU ARE!
I love the “real version” but do love your pretty pictures! Everything looks so great, especially your fancy coffee 🙂 I might have to invest in a frother!
Seriously one of the best kitchen investments that I made! I even stopped going out to Starbucks because I can make better coffee at home 😛
Love a good English muffin with peanut butter. As much as I love Ezekiel toast, I think I prefer an English muffin.
Their English muffins are crazy good… especially with [almond] butter 😛
Haha, thank you for being so candid and sharing that your dining rituals are not as gorgeous as portrayed in the pics. I feel human again. Or at least not so ashamed of my un-attractive plate-ware and backdrops. That said, that Banana Blueberry Oat Bar looks absolutely delish.
I would pick a bagel over an english muffin, but I still do love english muffins too! And I do the same, I try to make my food pretty before I take a picture of it. I mean, only if I plan on putting it on some form of social media haha society must know I eat pretty food haha.
I almost never do WIAW because I’m never really photographing what I eat. Half of what I eat in a day is in tupperware/glass containers at school. I don’t think people need to see my pictures of grapefruit and blueberries. Also, sometimes I eat things like McDonalds.
I like the made for camera pictures but I enjoyed reading the actuality! that was fun and then I don’t feel pressure to try to make it exactly ‘as shown’. This was a great post!
Thanks Anne!
Cereal is my favorite breakfast, always with either milk, yogurt or both!
Thanks for sharing this – I too find the plating a little unnatural, because I eat so many tidbits while making my food in the kitchen, and often eat with my plate atop a newspaper or near my computer at breakfast/lunch (dinner is with friends or family mostly, which is its own difference, because I try not to snap photos of food with my family around since they hate it!) I talked about the importance of ‘you doing you’ in my post today as well!
Great idea – #formorerealityonWIAWs 😉 ?! I’m torn on the topic. While yes, I do like seeing nice to look at pictures of food – we all know the same dish can look unbelievably good or ugly depening on lighting and props or the likes – I personally end up stressing too much about them. Technically, I’d have quite a huge backlog of food pictures for WIAW but none of them were pretty enough to make the cut for me. And why? Because they show my reality: I prepare food, then eat it. No time or patience to arrange it picture perfect. That’s why I appreciate you taking the effort even more. But I’d definitely be interested in you doing a ‘real’ version of WIAW one day, too. Real life – that’s what all of us are living after all.
I’m a weird one. Or maybe just wise? But I sort of “knew” that there’s always more -sometimes- than meets the eye… the aim is to lose the judgement. And just enjoy the chance to be nosy and inspired if you will.
I…. have never had a bagel. Yes sir you heard that right. Come to think about it, I can’t say I’ve laid my eyes on one in real life either. Warm buttery croissants are the popular dudes around these parts, and yeah I do love me a good doughy English muffin. Smoothies straight from the blender with a long spoon? You’ve just described my first 30 odd times downing a smoothie. Until I got myself a really pretty smoothie jar that is 😀 .
I like what you said about losing the judgment. It’s way too easy to get all judgey if you forget that there’s so much more than meets the eye, and that there’s no way you can tell everything about a person from a few words and pictures in a blog post… especially since what people show is usually pretty edited. And As much as I love pretty jars, what I don’t love is having to wash them later 😆
Cooking for one definitely means eating out of pans or Pyrex containers in the fridge haha… you aren’t alone 🙂
I gotta say I lurrrve this version of WIAW – I know the pictures are still pretty, but I love your candid response behind each one! One day it would totally rock to see WIAW – uncut, or in the raw, or the real deal – whateva you wanna call it!
Now, I have a revelation that might actually help our blend-ship – I am not a huge fan of cereal – you’ve wondering how on earth that’s supposed to help our blend-ship – well, it just means there’s more cereal for YOU! 🙂
And more peanut butter for you 😛
Ha, my post needed a little disclaimer too. Fact is, I eat Ethan’s leftovers all the time. It’s not too big a deal since they’re always healthy, but it really adds up!!
LOVE THIS! I’m all too guilty of the handfuls of cereal straight from the box while the chickpea eats a perfectly plated breakfast [and smears half of it on her body – haha!] Oddly enough I do fancify my smoothies even if no photo is being snapped because I’m super weird like that 😉 And I’ll eat your bagels if you eat my oatmeal. Deal? 😉
Definitely a deal <3
I appreciate your pretty pictures, because my WIAWs/Day in the Life photos are of the “dirty laundry-aka-I-took-them-with-my-iPhone” variety. Goals. ;).
I always wonder how people take perfect pictures of what they eat, because often I will just grab a handful of chex mix, or a couple bites of ice cream straight from the carton or box, so I have to admit I do the same thing haha
My meals for WIAW are really just what I eat, the way I eat it (there is crumpled aluminum foil in one of my pictures today I think!) I know it’s not pretty really, and I have made more of an effort to present my food in more appetizing looking fashion! It’s funny how you realize how the same food can look SO different depending on how it’s photographed, lighting, etc. It’s bizarre really! Your food always looks great to me, you definitely know how to make anything looks amazing! I’m certain I could not make my tupperware leftovers look as pretty as your rice 🙂
You could! Believe me… it’s all about lighting and dinnerware. Like you said, the same thing can look SO different depending on those factors.
I love posts like this! Blogging makes things look so beautiful, but it’s fun to see what’s going on behind the scenes!
hahahaha I LOVE this!! I am exactly the same. People say that to me all the time, and I am just like you….cereal out of the box, handfuls of nuts (half of which fall onto the floor) and smoothie juice all over my hands as I scoop out the bottom with a spoon! Thanks for being you, I love it 🙂
I absolutely love bagels, but after eating at least one every single day, I got soooo sick of them. I haven’t had one in at least 3 months. Crazy!
That happened to me with Nutrigrain bars. And Eggo waffles. And Rudi’s tortillas. And Ezekiel English muffins. Clearly I love to love something until I hate it 😆
I think I prefer a mix of the pretty and real versions of pictures. Sometimes it’s not pleasant to look at ugly food but other times it’s refreshing to see that other people don’t always eat perfectly plated meals. I like that you included the “reality” behind the photo…that’s the best of both worlds!