Fewer people are more well-known for their efforts to help people eat healthy and balanced
diets than Michelle Obama, the former first lady of the United States.
What she's doing clearly works, so here's what Michelle Obama really eats in a day.
For a long time we were told to eat three square meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
However, as Healthline reports, consuming five or six smaller meals is also popular with some experts.
As it turns out, the latter approach is the one Michelle Obama adheres to, rather than
chowing down on three large meals.
According to HuffPost, at a book roundtable in 2012, she revealed,
"I try to eat - when I'm being good - five meals."
That starts with breakfast, followed by a snack of vegetables or fruit, as well as a protein shake.
Once the clock hits noon and she's not having her famous chili, Obama makes lunch a priority.
She continued,
"This last year I've tried to change it so my lunch is my biggest meal... like today,
I had fish and vegetables, stir-fried vegetables.
And if I'm going to have a carb, like a brown rice or a potato or something, I'll have it at lunch."
"Can we take a second to appreciate the versatility of the ava-
NO!
Marvin, you are the pits."
There's no more wholesome place to get life lessons than Sesame Street, so it's no surprise
that Michelle Obama appeared on an episode to drop some knowledge.
In the clip, she's served oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt, and a glass of low-fat milk.
She's just about ready to dig in when Grover shows up, hilariously disrupting the process.
In real life, what Obama eats for breakfast is not too different from her Sesame Street meal.
Brierly Wright, the nutrition editor for EatingWell magazine, told NBC New York that on the morning
that the federal government replaced the food pyramid with the food plate system, Obama
dined on scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, and fresh grapefruit.
That is a pretty healthy selection, although Wright noted the meal could use more fresh fruit and veg.
Obama doesn't reach for produce and reduced-fat milk 100 percent of the time though.
She informed The New York Times that she also enjoys waffles and grits for breakfast on occasion.
"Am I living the dream?
I don't know.
Did I also just walk past a food truck and buy myself a waffle sundae?
Yes!"
Apparently life does gain a semblance of normalcy after eight years in the White House - at least, somewhat.
According to People magazine, Michelle Obama packs her own lunches these days, and one
of her favorite, go-to meals is turkey chili.
She also dines with her staff for her afternoon meal, and together they watch viral videos.
That sounds like lunchtime at any office.
When it comes to the chili, chances are she is using the same recipe that her husband
made famous some years ago.
On Community Table, she is quoted as saying,
"I borrowed this recipe from my husband - it's now the President's Chili Recipe.
When we lived in Chicago, we loved to invite our family and friends over to our house,
make a batch of chili, and enjoy the evening together."
Not surprisingly, the recipe is healthy and contains plenty of vegetables.
Normalcy for Obama also means she likes to take spin classes at a local gym, which would
explain why she's in such killer shape.
If there's one thing people know about Michelle Obama's food choices, it's that she is a huge
fan of fresh fruit and vegetables.
According to an interview she gave the Food Network's Healthy Eats, that's the one thing
you can't skip at her kitchen table.
She said,
"As I tell my kids, vegetables are something that has to be a part of your diet so we'll
find a few that you like, but there has to be a vegetable, and you have to finish it.
You can skip the pasta, but you've got to eat the vegetables."
Some vegetables are more popular than others at the Obama home.
She continued,
"Broccoli is a winner in our household.
So we do a lot of broccoli.
And it works.
Malia doesn't like snow peas, but they will appear because I like them."
Frozen peas are another one of her popular produce picks as well.
Obama practices what she preaches, too.
According to Politico, she is a, quote, "careful eater" who orders vegetables with every meal,
even if she has to go off-menu.
"Eat your green vegetables.”
“That's what my mom is always saying, I just never actually believed her."
On top of snow peas, broccoli, and frozen peas, Michelle Obama is a fan of other vegetables as well.
In an interview with Healthy Eats, she mentioned that fresh salsa made with fresh tomatoes
is delicious, and suggests sweet potatoes as a healthy side dish.
She even encourages sneaking some cauliflower puree into your kid's mac and cheese so they
can, quote, "get the taste of the cauliflower" early on, and make the taste of concentrated
cheese less palatable.
But the produce queen, surprisingly, admits there is one vegetable that she honestly just doesn't like.
In an interview with Food & Wine, she said,
"I know that I'm known for eating my vegetables, and there really isn't much I don't enjoy.
But I'm just not a fan of beets."
So chances are you won't catch the former first lady digging into a bowl of beet soup
anytime soon, or adding beets to her salads, despite their health benefits.
According to the The New York Times, Michelle Obama admits that she's not above satisfying
her fast food hankerings when she gets them.
According to Politico, she's taken her staff out to meals at Five Guys in the past, and
has also been spotted eating a burger and fries at Shake Shack.
She also mentioned how bomb the fries made by White House chefs were in an interview
with The New York Times, saying,
"They can also make a mean batch of French fries when you want it done."
Of course, she only ever eats these foods in moderation.
Obama also has a fondness for the comfort food she dined on growing up.
In an interview with Food & Wine, she revealed,
"My favorite dish growing up was my mom's mac and cheese.
She didn't make it often, so when she did it was special.
It was creamy, delicious, warm and cheesy... very, very cheesy."
According to an interview with Cooking Light, Michelle Obama had a regular, working-class upbringing.
In her home, her mother did the cooking, not a private chef like in the White House.
On Sundays, dinner was either lemon chicken or roast beef, and leftovers were eaten for
lunch the next day.
Regular weeknight meals included lasagna, liver (which she did not enjoy), fish Fridays,
and the occasional takeout pizza.
She also noted that the evening meal was a very important time in her household growing
up, and she continues to honor that time with her family today.
According to The Hill, in a speech to government employees, Michelle Obama revealed that of
all of the foods out there, pizza is, quote, "hands down" her favorite.
She said,
"Almost every Friday I'll eat, like, a veggie pizza on wheat."
She also acknowledged, however, that this style of pie is not everyone's first choice.
She said that it may not be something that others like but she likes it.
“What if we put the string beans on the pizza?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea…”
“NO!”
She went on to praise pizza, celebrating its diversity, and said,
"You can have dessert pizza.
You can do anything with pizza.
It's a very versatile, universally loved food."
Seeing as it involves bread, cheese, and sauce, that's not surprising.
When it comes to the great pizza battle of New York-style pizza vs. Chicago deep dish
pizza, Obama does not hesitate to say what she prefers.
She told People magazine,
"Chicago deep dish, are you kidding me?
Gino's East, to be precise."
And it actually wasn't her first time sharing her love for the Chicago restaurant.
"There's a Gino's East.
It's not the stuffed pizza, but it's got sort of a cracker crust to it..."
That makes sense, given that she is a Chicago native.
When it comes to cooking philosophies, Michelle Obama advocates for keeping it simple in your kitchen.
She's aware of how tough it is to juggle cooking along with everything else.
In an interview with the Food Network's Healthy Eats, she revealed that she had discussed
this issue with her sister-in-law, a parent to two girls.
She said,
"She is a teacher and doesn't have much time to cook.
I was trying to tell her that you can cook a simple meal."
"Eight minutes, I can’t wait that long!"
But like many novice home cooks, her sister-in-law was trying to do way too much.
She continued,
"Well, what she's trying to cook is these complicated Asian dishes that require many
pans and chopping."
She noted that that's only feasible if you have a sous chef, which her sister-in-law did not.
So just how does she keep it simple, then?
She shared that one of her go-to family meals is broiled chicken legs with rice or couscous, and steamed broccoli.
She revealed,
"I could do that in 15 minutes, and then we'd have leftovers.
Now my family is sick of that meal!"
If you're a human being with a metabolism, you know that snacks are an essential part
of your dietary regimen.
After all, how else can you get through the lull between lunchtime at noon and dinner
at 7:00 p.m., right?
Well, when it comes to the former First Lady Michelle Obama, snacks are definitely on the menu.
However, unlike those of us who are tempted to reach for a cookie in the break room or
a bag of popcorn from the vending machine, Obama makes sure to keep her snacking habits super sensible.
In a chat with Rachael Ray, she revealed,
"If I were to give you five sort of favorite healthy snacks let's just say that I'm eating
lately... nuts, veggies and hummus, I'm into Ezekiel toast with almond butter, and I would
say any kind of juice."
Honestly, that tracks, as we all know Obama has made healthy eating a priority for both
herself and her family — as well as the country.
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