In part 1 of How to Eat When You’re Exhausted, I provide some tips to make meal planning easier and to help boost overall energy. In this blog, I’ll provide ideas for quick, yet nutritious meals and snacks for those days when you’re feeling completely pooped-no pun intended. 

It’s important to recognize that the types of food you choose to eat will affect how you feel. It can be tempting to choose convenience foods that are frequently high in added sugar and provide an immediate spike in energy. However, over time they can cause a crash and will end up worsening your fatigue. Instead, keep a well-stocked kitchen so you’re able to quickly assemble nutritious meals whenever you’re lacking energy. Check out these simple, minimal-effort meal ideas below:

Quick Meal Ideas:

• Scrambled eggs & spinach w/ toast
• Sheet pan salmon & well-tolerated veggies
• Avocado toast w/ a sprinkle of nutritional yeast & salt 
• Hard-boiled eggs with microwavable rice & frozen well-tolerated veggies
• Unsweetened yogurt parfait w/ gluten-free oats, ground flaxseed, & well-tolerated fruit (banana, persimmon, blueberries, etc.)**
• Sweet potato & spinach chicken quesadilla w/ mashed avocado
• Almond butter & banana sandwich *
• Rice pasta with steamed, well-tolerated veggies (zucchini, spinach, green beans, etc.) and lean chicken breast tossed in olive oil or a no sugar added marinara***

Quick Snack Ideas:

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Hummus, peeled cucumber, & rice crackers
• PB & B Pinwheels (peanut butter & banana rolled up in a large tortilla) *
• Tuna with plain unsweetened yogurt, peeled cucumbers, & rice crackers **
• Peanut butter toast & unsweetened applesauce *
• Pre-roasted sweet potato drizzled w/ almond butter & cinnamon *
• Pb & j smoothie (peanut butter, berries, & banana) *
• Banana-blueberry-spinach smoothie w/ ground chia seeds and/or peanut butter *
• Pineapple-banana-spinach smoothie w/ ground flaxseeds and/or almond butter *

*For a nut-free option, substitute sunflower seed butter or pumpkin seed butter

**For a dairy-free option, substitute unsweetened, plain non-dairy yogurt 

*** Feel free to substitute your best-tolerated protein source (tofu, fish, lean turkey, eggs, etc.)

One final tip...

Keeping a well-stocked pantry, filled with nutritious, shelf-stable foods can really come in handy on low-energy days. And having an IBD-friendly grocery list can help you figure out what to shop for. Have you grabbed your free IBD & Flare-Friendly Shelf-Stable Foods List yet? This list can be used as a guide in creating your own shelf-stable, well-tolerated foods list or just download it and use it as is. 

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Click here to download your free grocery list now!

Which meal idea will you try? Share your recreations with me by tagging me on Instagram @brittanyb_theRD ! Have additional IBD-friendly quick meal ideas? Share them with us in the comments.