Day 2: Planning Your Daily Meals

A Recap Of Yesterday

So yesterday we got rid of all of the foods that stress our body to make room for the foods that make . Sugar, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, alcohol, fast food, all processed grains, and vegetable oils…what did we actually leave in? Oh yes, as Mike pointed out, all of the real foods that you desire.

Building Meals

So today let’s focus on real food. You’re free to eat all of the fresh, clean, unprocessed foods that you want. That’s meat, eggs, poultry, seafood, vegetables, whole fruits, nuts, seeds, and healthy cooking fats.

Thursday I’m going to focus more on spicing things up in the kitchen. The initial stage of adopting new habits is always the hardest. With food, it’s even more so. You have to undo years of overly sweet and salty foods with the more subtle, but eventually more satisfying, flavors of real foods. Today, however, I just want to get your mind considering new ideas for your meals. The recipes below will ensure you don’t get bored over the next couple days if you’re coming up short on inspiration.

frittata 300x300 Day 2: Planning Your Daily Meals

Creating Healthy Breakfast Recipes

I find that, for most people, coming up with healthy breakfast and lunch recipes is the hardest part of coming up with a solid meal plan. Most of us are used to having a breakfast including at least a few of the following items: toast or bagel (processed grains), cereal (processed grains, probably sugar), juice (the sugary end result of processing fruit). If you’re on the healthier side, lunch is probably a sandwich from somewhere like Subway, or if you’re not quite as health-focused, something from McDonald’s, KFC, or Burger King.

Contrary to what General Mills would have you believe, a bowl of cereal with toast and juice is not the best way to wake up. It’s really just a good way to ensure you’re sleepy at 10am and reaching for another mug of coffee. There’s actually nothing saying that certain foods are “breakfast foods” or that something sweet is needed in the morning. Don’t be afraid to eat leftover meat and vegetables for breakfast. If it’s good enough for dinner, why not breakfast?

To answer the question, “what should I eat for breakfast,” let’s take a look at what I plan to eat today. (Or in the case of breakfast, what I ate today.) Adjust the quantities to fit you. The beauty of foods like this is that they are very filling so you don’t need to count calories, blocks, carbs, or anything else. Vegetables tend to be very bulky for the calories that you get from them, while protein foods fill you up from the hormonal effects of protein and fat.

To answer your question, no I cannot get tired of eggs. They are probably my favorite food and there are so many things you can add to them to change what they taste like. My favorites are onions, garlic, any number of herbs, and cumin. Throw in some spinach for a greens kick. You can saute chunks of squash or top them with olives or salsa or avocado.

Breakfast

4 eggs, over-easy (cooked in pastured pork lard) w/ sauteed onions and cilantro
Leftover pate from a friend
Apple
Total Cook Time: 10 minutes

Lunch

Leftover lamb kabobs
Leftover sweet potato casserole
Total Prep Time: 1 minute to package it last night

Dinner

Spanish-style tuna steaks
Sauteed onions and Brussels sprouts
Some form of squash yet to be decided
Total Cook Time: under 30 minutes

Cooking with Wine

Task For Day 2: Cook Dinner From Fresh Ingredients

For a lot of you, you’re looking at this and going “Whew! That was easy!” And lots of others are probably a bit petrified at the thought of not using at least a little something from a box to get dinner on the table. If your refrigerator is empty, you’re going to go to the grocery and pick up anything on this shopping list that strikes your fancy. You need a main protein dish and a side dish (i.e., vegetables!). If you have meat and vegetables already, start playing around and see what you come up with. It’s that simple. Don’t be afraid to experiment…even if the end result isn’t amazing, it probably won’t be inedible or deadly.

I really don’t care if you eat your vegetables raw or cooked (see Further Reading) or whether they are canned, frozen, or fresh. I’d rather you eat a can of green beans than not eat any green beans. Fresh or frozen are better, but do what you can do.

Don’t worry though, you’re not on your own. If you’re at a loss for ideas, check out these recipes that we’ve posted before that have proven to be both tasty and easy to make.

One final step to this tip: cook twice as much as you need for dinner and have the leftovers for tomorrow’s breakfast or lunch.

Moran Bentzur on

Seems like everyone in the blogosphere is doing some kind of Paleo challenge for the new year. I’ve started my own Paleo challenge Jan 1st. I’m not only eating Paleo, but eating the same meal plan every day for the duration of the month. I know variety is important, but I need to challenge my self and attain 100% adherence. I’ve been mostly paleo for the past 2 years so that by itself isn’t challenging any more.

For any readers that who are on the fence about this challenge, I would strongly encourage you to go for it.

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Chris - ZTF on

If I am in a rush in the mornings I will often just hard boil a few eggs, grab a piece of fruit and hit the road. Boring I know but with a nice cup of black coffee its a great meal. Leftovers are great for the next days meal and are what I usually use.

If you feel like a sweet breakfast nothing beats a bowl of chopped up Apple, Blueberries and a sprinkle of coconut flakes and pecans. Great concise little series this week BTW

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Sarah Bacon on

Tonight’s dinner has become a recent staple for us: Whole chicken (organic free range, hopefully a happy one) poached in a stock pot for hours while I toil away for a paycheck.

To make it taste delicious and neither bland nor watery, I season the chicken with a ton of pepper & herbs + some salt, and add chopped carrots, celery, onion, parsley, whole rosemary & thyme and a couple lemons to the brew. Fill up with water to cover the chicken completely, set it to low, and take off for work.

Dinner is ready when we get home, so I just quickly saute up some veggies and we’re good to go. The chicken just falls off the bone. Since it’s just two of us, there’s always at least 2lbs of leftover chicken for use in myriad recipes over the next few days. It also freezes really well.

If you’re feeling extra adventurous, roast the bones & carcass for 1h & simmer the stockpot liquid. Add the bones to the liquid & reduce by at least 50% for some tasty, homemade & free chicken stock.

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Dave on

Did somebody say delicious London Broiled Top Round with a salad, and an apple with almond butter? I did! I did!

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Melody on

Yesterday went well, it was even easy, because I’ve been eating mostly this way, but with a lot of lattitude regarding sugar and grains, for a while. So, my meals were the same, but without the cookie desert.

As I ate my beautiful salad at lunch, though, it occurred to me to wonder about vinegar in dressings. Since alcohol is out, should vinegar be out, too? My salad dressings usually consist of oil and vinegar.

Oh – that first picture on this page, of some kind of egg fritata thing – is that easy to make? Any tips? Like, should the eggs be beaten until fluffy first, or what temperature it should be cooked at, or if oil should be added to the dish? It looked fantastic!

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Mike OD on

I’m an egg guy for the morning, so that is easy. Add in some fruit sometimes.

Broke out the steamer that was siting away for a while. Easy to stock up and grab a bunch of frozen veggies at the market, then just steam what I want with dinner (heck they even have some prepackaged to steam in the microwave even if you don’t have a steamer). Add a little butter and enjoy!

Rotisserie chicken at the local mart is also a quick and easy pickup for dinner on the go. Already cooked and just add your veggies with it!

Get a ton of spices (spice rack) and experiment to make things taste great! Plus you get all the health benefits of spices (anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal/bacterial, anti-oxidants, pro-immune function, etc).

Apples and raw/unsalted nuts (not peanuts) make for quick/easy/portable snacks when needed.

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Mike OD on

@ Melody – I would suggest using Apple Cider Vinegar (the cloudy not clear kind, still has the mother in it) instead of regular vinegar. Still has the great taste and much healthier!

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Jenn on

Another huge egg lover here…fried, scrambled, boiled – omelets, frittatas, deviled – breakfast, lunch or dinner….yum!

Ended up with a big salad last night (always think of Elaine from Seinfeld when I say that) – the rest of the fam had spaghetti, smaller salads and bread w/ butter. I really thought I’d be hungry by the end of the night, but I wasn’t…

I think I’ll really enjoy this challenge – seems like I know what to do, it’s just nice to have others on the journey (and a couple of guys cracking the whip – lol)

I plan our family’s meals a week ahead – it’s white chicken chili tonight…I may or may not have some (I have a weird hate love hate relationship with beans…) – it might be leftover pork ribs for me!

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Jedidja on

Great stuff..keep up the articles

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Justin9 on

Anybody getting a headache due to lack of processed sugars? If you are, how do you fight that? I ate two apples but it didn’t work. Am I allowed to take a multi-vitamins?

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lel on

@Justin9 – I hear you. No headaches, but try finding something that don’t have sugar in it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I was waiting for today’s article and never got it so I don’t know what happened. Good thing I came out to the site.

For those of you who are craving for snacks, I found a good recipe for almonds to snack on the Food Network channel – look for Ginger Almonds.

We had leftover beef and tomatoes tonight and am planning on making my version of taco salad for tomorrow night, all home made minus the shredded cheddar cheese, of course.

The most difficult meal for me has been breakfast. I have been having eggs the last 2 mornings but I don’t think I can keep that up. I miss my sprouted bread and raw butter terribly. For a change up, I’m going to have a smoothie with almond milk tomorrow morning.

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Mike OD on

@ Justin – Yes sometimes the sugar withdrawl headaches can suck (hence I call sugar “legal crack” sometimes). Best thing to do is drink a ton of water and it should hopefully start to ween down. If you are noticing more blood sugar crashes (moody, low energy) then have some more fruit esp berries (strawberries, blueberries) to help stabilize your blood sugar. Multi-vitamins are of course fine to take daily (as your body still wants vitamins and minerals).

@ Lel – The posts will be up daily (or M-W-F for the following weeks of the challenge) in the AM, so you can always stop by here to read them. Might want to check your junk mail folder to make sure it didn’t get sorted into there by mistake (as it’s an auto service by Feedburner that is sending out the emails). I got mine today so I know they should of gone out.

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mandy on

i love the IF,and even though i know you said we should forget about that for now,i just can’t!am i addicted?i think it works really really well for me as i work in a nursing home and keep weird hours.but i did eat fish with stewed tomatoes tonight.and i had no bread (but a small glass of milk:/) or sugars.the sugar part is fairly easy for me,as i don’t really crave it very often.is it wrong that im trying to do this and stay with my IF program?thanks again,guys,and good luck to all!

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01/06/10 – Wednesday Whopper on

[...] Planning your meals [...]
Thania on

@MiKE OD , that kabab recipe looks real good, will try it once I get hang of some decent beef or lamb.

Day 2:

B- herbal tea ( missing my only and v.light coffee)

L- Spanish style cod + steamed artichokes and carrot

S- few walnuts

D- challots,spinach and walnut fritada + avocado , tomate and parsely salad

Probably very low cal day since I am not calorie counting, I dont know. I feel great , today is the 3rd day and my middle is trimmer , I can feel it in my skirt , YEY…

work out: 1 hr walk ( crossfit was planned so #fail)

The difference btw what I eat now and my usual eating are: Morning coffee, whey protein, some dairy, Hmm and I feel better , something to investigate in the future.., somehow I feel the guilty party are the whey protein that I started with Dr Eades 6WC, but it feels wrong on ME though.. we´ll see..

Have a great day all , here in Spain we are still on holidays , today is when the oriental kings come and bring presents, so another eating day, but I am firm I promise.

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Alexandra on

I have a freezer full of pork,but real pork ( not from a shop) brought up with love and natural food.
I ate chicken and pork liver + a cabbage salad … It was delicios..

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skustes on

Chris, that sounds like a nice snack too. I’ll have to try that next time I get ahold of some blueberries.

Sarah, that sounds like a good crockpot recipe. I love coming home to a crockpot full of delicious smelling food. I’m with you on boiling the bones for stock. When I make a chicken, I save the carcass and boil a couple of them for a few hours with some apple cider vinegar to make a huge pot of stock.

Dave, what did you do to the top round?

Melody, I wouldn’t be too worried about a bit of vinegar. I use probably a tablespoon of either balsamic or red wine daily on a big salad. Not a big deal, but you can try lemon juice if you want to avoid vinegar too.

Jenn, I kinda plan at a high-level for the week as well. I know fairly well what’s going to leave me leftovers and what won’t and even though I don’t know exactly what vegetables I’m fixing each night, I make sure to have several choices on hand.

Justin9, do you normally drink coffee? It could be caffeine withdrawals too. Yes, you’re allowed to take multis.

lel, thanks for the recipe. I’m going to have to play with that some.

Thania, great work! Glad to hear things are improving already.

Alexandra, getting bulk pork isn’t really an option for me, so I just pick that up by the cut from my local guy. He won’t sell in bulk cause he doesn’t have enough pigs to do so. But I have a freezer full of beef and lamb! Your dinner sounds awesome. I haven’t had liver in awhile…I should remedy that.

Cheers
Scott

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Mike OD on

@ Thania – That is the purpose of any elimination, is to take away and then slowly reintroduce to see what makes you feel better. Everyone is different in how they react to things (it can even vary down to the brands of whey protein). Find what works best for you is the main goal.

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lel on

@Scott – let me know what adjustments you make to the Ginger Almond recipe.

I have another recipe for nuts that I like better but it has the no-no sugar in it. Can you think of anything I can substitue in place of sugar?

Here it is:
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp all seasoned salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg white
3 cups of mixed nuts, preferrably raw (cashews, pecans, and almonds)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk the egg white and add the nuts to coat. Sprinkle the dry mixture to the egg coated nuts and toss. Bake in 250 degree oven for 1 hour, stirring after 30 minutes.

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Thania on

@MIKE OD,

I use Isopure zero carb, maybe I try egg protein, si how it goes once the challenge is over. Also with the challenge have elimnated cold meats, which I mainly snacked on.

I wil add one at the time the foods I have eliminated in this detox phase in the future , to see as you said what works best .

Thanks

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skustes on

Melody, meant to answer your frittata question too. Here’s how I do it:
- Cook ingredients like bacon, sausage, onions, spinach, spices, etc.
- Beat eggs with any herbs or cheese.
- Add to cooked vegetables/meat and spread out. Cook over low heat till the eggs start to set, then throw in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.

Hope that helps!

Cheers
Scott

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Kevin on

Scott and Mike,

Based on the meal plan listed here, it seems to me that fats are being neglected. Any reasoning behind that? Or am I jsut missing something (sorry if I am)?

Thanks,
-Kevin

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Mike OD Reply:
@Kevin – Not sure there was any intention, as we love our healthy fats around here. Enjoy cooking with the good stuff and using it with your meals! (I think we also linked to a healthy oil article already in the comments above)

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Kevin on

Mike, ok just checking

How do you feel about having walnuts with your meals?

I generally will have a can of tuna, a bag of frozen spinach, and some walnuts for lunch. Would I be better advised to drizzle olive oil over the spinach instead?

Thanks!
-Kevin

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skustes on

Kevin, definitely not intended. I just didn’t list it, but I pretty much cook everything in pastured pork lard or butter and I add some butter to most of my vegetables as well. My diet ends up at about 55-65% fat.

As for your spinach, you can add some butter, olive oil, or coconut oil. I have no issue with walnuts with your lunch. I find they taste a bit like cardboard, but if it works for you. =) Some people have digestive issues with too many nuts though, so just make sure you don’t.

Cheers
Scott

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Kevin on

Excellent, thanks!

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Michãel on

I didn’t notice if beans/lentils were okay to eat? For some reason, I assumed not, but my husband thinks lentils should be fine. I’m on day 4. My sugar-withdrawal headache was gone yesterday!

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skustes Reply:
Michael,
This isn’t a strictly Paleo challenge, so beans/lentils are up to you. Just make sure you prepare them properly with soaking and cooking.

Cheers
Scott

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Dana on

Well, I made it through Day 2-excellent. Today I didn’t miss coffee but I missed soy milk. Apparently I have a habit of drinking soy milk after meals and after swimming. So water was both delicious but boring. I also made a beef and broccoli dish for dinner and it tasted well awful. I have miles to go on that front. Alas, I’m exhausted but appreciate your support.
Thanks!

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