I am a fairly veggie-challenged person, although I know I really need to eat them. At the doctor's office today, I picked up a magazine that had an article touting whole foods, superfoods and eating a plate that was 1/4 lean protein, 1/4 whole grains, and 1/2 veggies and fruit. That got me thinking, and what I'd like to do is try, for just a few days to start, to eat meals made of whole foods that are mostly vegetarian (even vegan), and give me all the nutrients I'm supposed to be eating every day. I'd really like to see how full I am and how I feel after a few days of eating the way I know nature intended me to eat.
While we cook from scratch all the time, and I could come up with meals that meet these criteria out of stuff we already have in the house, I'd love to make this easier on myself so that I follow through on my plan. I would like to have a complete menu plan already created (that also lists calorie counts). Does anyone know of such a plan on the web or in a book? The ones I've found so far either throw in some processed foods, or aren't specific enough in terms of exactly what to eat.
I searched to see if anyone else had asked this specific question; if you know of a thread that I missed, please point me to it.
Hello, I bought the Eat Clean diet book which was very helpful for me when starting to eat clean. There's also a Clean Eating Magazine. I know it can be difficult to think of what to eat when starting a new lifestyle. When I changed my eating, I experimented with different veggies and even developed my own recipes. I can give you a sample day on what i normally eat if that would help. One thing i swear by, herbs are your best friend and season everything with herbs for taste...not salt.
Breakfasts
-Egg white omlet with spinach/red peppers/tomatoes/goat cheese/feta inside
-Scrambled eggs with turkey bacon and brown rice toast or 1/2 brown rice eng muffin
-Bobs Red Mill Rolled Oats with Almond/Rice/Soy milk sweetened with Truvia topped with chopped pecans or mixed berries
Snacks
-Apple/Pear with all natural peanut butter or almond butter
-Lundberg brown rice cake with peanut/almond/sunflower butter
-Cut up veggies (peppers/cucumbers/carrots dipped in hummus (i make my own, so easy!)
-Celery sticks stuffed with goat cheese or pb/almond butter
-1/2 red pepper smeared with goat cheese
-Sauteed onions seasoned with herbs (i eat them in a bowl)
-Handful of almonds/cashews/walnuts/pecans
-Cup of mixed berries
Lunchs/Dinners
-Grilled Chicken/turkey burger/steak/salmon/tuna salad loaded with veggies (cucumbers/peppers/squash/zuchini/onions topped with some organic valley shredded mozzerella/feta/goat cheese....can sprinkle some chopped nuts on top with balsamic or apple cider vinegar seasoned with herbs.
-Grilled turkey burger with 1/2 cup of quinoa and side of brussel sprouts/brocolli/cauliflower (i normally eat them raw, frozen if i'm busy and limited on time)
-Grilled pork chop/steak with side of baby carrots and cooked spinach
-Salads made with different greens are awesome. I love Kale and make kale salads with veggies all the time.
-Tinkiyada Pasta (a pasta made with brown rice) with homemade tomatoe sauce
-Homemade chili with turkey meat
-Sweet potatoes sprinkled with cinnamon, truvia and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (so good when you want something sweeter)
These are just a few things I thought of real quick. I normally average 1300-1500 calories a day. The nice thing about whole food/clean/healthy eating is that you can eat more and alot of veggies and things in lower calories. When i'm starving, I'll eat a huge plate of veggies and it still only was probably 100-120 calories. If you start to feel that your lunches and dinners get boring thats why using different herbs can make it fun. Plus the way you will start to feel with be worth it! Good luck!
There is a Superfoods Rx diet book although I've never read it. Also, the Worlds Healthiest Foods website has a book/cookbook but they also have tons of stuff on their website www.whfoods.org.
Personally, I think South Beach Diet is pretty decent to follow and fairly easy to adapt to a whole foods type approach. I know some people have said they follow the Eat Clean diet but I've never personally looked at it although some of the foods recommended in that diet are processed. Although many 'whole foodists' eat some processed foods or some level of processed foods.
If you want vegan, then I recommend the macrobiotic diet. There are tons of websites and forums with recipes that you can try. It's a lifestyle change, more than a diet, however.
Actually I personally wouldn't recommended macrobiotic. It just didn't mesh well with me. I actually like Eat to Live for a whole foods based vegan diet. Some people like McDougall but I like beans more than grains.
Xtremesteph - I only know what people following the Eat Clean diet have said is on the plan. Things like protein powder and from your list, you mentioned truvia along with pasta/bread. Again, what someone chooses to eat is personal and very few whole foodists avoid processed foods completely.
Hey! I just started the Cinch! diet, a book written by Cynthia Sass. (She co-wrote the Flat Belly Diet and writes for Shape magazine, I think.)
Even if you don't follow it exactly, she really puts emphasis on whole/unprocessed/organic foods and all of her meals are built around produce. (If you follow the plan, you're guaranteed to get all of your fruits/veggies for the day.) She also has vegetarian/vegan meal ideas. I'm only on day 2, but it seems like a very logical healthy eating plan. I think I may start a threat about it in the General Diet Plans forum to see if others are doing it too!
I've also been wanted to check out the Eat Clean diet by Tosca Reno, but haven't been able to find it in bookstores here. I may just have to order it online!
I looked at a lot of these titles, and some others that I found at my library, and I think the one that came closest to what I was thinking of is Joel Furhman's Eat to Live. I just thought I'd mention it in case anyone has the same questions later.
it is a great book, but waayyyyyy too much food and salads for me....but it is definitely a good book and sort of a guide to a way you could eat, whether or not you're going to completely follow his plan and stuff your face with greens all day...not that there is anything wrong with that..but he suggests a LOT of it...like a lb of raw greens and a 1lb of cooked a day :O ...isn't that right? i forgot..my husband and i followed it perfectly for a week..we felt AWESOME..but it just wasn't livable for us considering the price of groceries..perhaps we are just not savvy shoppers though...eating a mini version of his plan is ok with me...but it is one of the books my therapists recommended to me, along with Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole<--great book as well especially for anyone with or recovering from an ED
I don't remember if calorie counts are listed but if you're looking for more whole food vegan ideas have you ever looked into marilu henner? I know this is late but maybe someone else reading it might find the information valuable.
Here's what I'm doing, and it's working for me. I'm vegan and have been for years, so I'm comfortable with creative vegan cooking by now. I pretty much just made this up.
Breakfast - usually porridge with soya milk, a couple of chopped dates, and a teaspoon of protein powder. If I don't use the protein powder, I don't bother with the dates either, they're mainly to hide the flavour, although they can be handy if you get the constipation common with dieters. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of chopped toasted seeds, I'm experimenting with my fat ratio at the moment. If I don't have time or aren't in the mood, then either I have some cereal (Dorset cereals are fairly healthy), or something like a couple of slices of bread with basil pesto and a sliced tomato on top.
Lunch - soup and/or salad. If it's miso soup, I make it with 1/4 cup red Thai rice (any wholegrain rice would do, I just like that one), some chopped veggies, bit of wakame seaweed, couple of slices of diced tofu, sprinkle of sesame seeds, and of course fresh miso paste. If it's standard vegetable soup, e.g. butternut squash and lentil, I have a slice of bread and almond butter to go with, and often a smallish salad, e.g. cucumber and tomato. I make up the veg soup in big batches and freeze the portions, so lunch is always quick and easy. Alternatively, I might make up a big bowl of salad alone, say with a small tin of chick peas in there for protein.
Supper - whatever I'd eat normally, so that I can share it with my partner. For instance, 3 oz wholegrain pasta (fusilli is usually best) with a sautéd red onion and courgette (extra virgin olive oil for the sautéing), a tablespoon of pine nuts, and some fake parmesan (ground almonds, nutritional yeast, miso and salt) on top. Or stir-fried veg and cashew nuts on 1/3 cup rice. The nice thing about calorie counting is that you can have loads of veg in a meal and they add up to very few calories, so they bulk out a meal beautifully.
Snacks - may or may not occur depending on how many calories I have left and how hungry I am, but fruit, very small pieces of dark chocolate, rice cakes, chopped veg with houmous. My partner and I like to curl up in bed watching TV last thing at night with a bowl of strawberries, grapes or similar.
Bear in mind that I'm small and inactive, so I'm only on 1100 and losing a pound a week. It's easy to scale up, though. My protein/fat/carbs ratio are neither particularly high-carb nor low-carb, but fit nicely into the recommended ranges, and beyond that I don't think it's worth worrying about unless you have a specific medical condition that mandates a certain type of diet. Just find something you can stick to comfortably where you feel healthy and energetic on it.
If you're truly eating a wholefoods diet without any processed foods, you may need to add some salt depending on any medical conditions. All humans need some salt, and while most in the western world are getting too much, that's from processed foods. I happen to be one of the people who isn't getting enough, though that puts me in a minority. Check with your doctor if you're in any doubt.
a few simple ways to choose food are as follows: The closest way it came from the earth.... so literally whole fruits, whole veggies, nuts... i try to eat most of those things. If i am going to eat a processed food i look for a short ingredient list (less then 5 ingredients) and i look for ingredients that i can read & understand i limit my "veggie burgers" and if i have one processed fake-meat i try to keep it at 1 for every other day (ie, boca vegan burgers). i also limit white carbs and white potatos, i do eat them, but i expect some cravings afterwards, i try to limit them and chose whole grains over white. i am still very much experimenting on what i eat, but hopefully that helps a bit. It's hard to know how much processed food is acceptable-i have a hard time not getting bored and feeling bad ONLY on the whole foods. fm
Whole foods specific diet plan
