Plain Jane Meal Plan

CLEAN EATING & MEAL PLANNING:
What is it? Is it for you? and WHY you should plan your meals.

Diet is 80% of your wieghtloss. Without a healthy well balanced diet, your efforts..i hate to say it..are pretty much for none. Before Beachbody I had NO clue what I should be eating, how much and WHY.
So I want to shed some light on the subject and help you get your eating IN CHECK.
If you want to succeed in leading a healthy lifestyle then this post is KEY!

Ok let's get started!
You might be used to eating 3 times per day or maybe your a breakfast skipper, late night binger...whatever the case, this is probably going to be the BIGGEST change!
You should be eating within ONE hour of waking...and eat 5-6 SMALLER meals every 2-3hrs depending on your schedule. IE 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm (10pm)
This is WHY planning is so essential.

CLEAN EATING:

*Food consumed in its most natural state, or close to it.
Which means nothing processed.
*Fruits and veggies.
*Nuts, legumes, natural nut butters, nut oils. (no additives)
*Whole grains over white enriched flours
*Lean proteins. (chicken, ground turkey, fish, lean beef).

General rule of thumb for clean eating: If your great, great grandparents didn't eat it, you shouldn't either!

When shopping at the grocery store, you may have been conditioned to look at the Cals, Fats....what you want to focus on is your INGREDIENTS!
LESS is more. You don't want to be putting a wack load of artificial junk in your body ..and if it reads like a science experiment then its NOT going to be natural or CLEAN.
(Corn Syrup, Soy lecithin, sodium phosphate, methylcellulose, mono-and diglycerides = What?! Do you know what the heck that stuff is??? then why would you put it in your body!?)

Here are some easy substitutes in your diet to make for an easy transition without having to cut out your favorite foods:

*Love pasta? ME TOO! Switch out your white enriched pasta for a 100% Whole GRAIN pasta
* fruit on the bottom yogurt is filled with sugars (sugar gets stored as fat) switch out your yogurt for a 0% plain yogurt and add 1 packet of Stevia OR 1/2 tsp of honey = YUM
* White enriched bread ---> Whole grain bread or even better eiziekel bread
* Chocolate!!!! This one was HUGE for me! Switch out your late night chocolate cravings or curb your sweet tooth with chocolate  SHAKEOLOGY!
* Potatoes ---->Sweet Potatoes! You can even cut up a potato and make sweet potato FRIES!
*Cereals are loaded with sugars - its next to impossible to find one that is under 10g of sugar! Switch out your cereal for rolled oats (oatmeal) and add some honey, greek yogurt or 1 pack of stevia! Dont forget to add fruit!! mmmm
* BUTTER or Margerine! Did you know that margerine is made with plastic? Nice eh.
Switch out your butter for avacado or COCONUT butter!

Next were going to touch upon MEAL PLANNING!
This takes time, effort and comittment. If you truly want to succeed and stay on track, making a weekly meal plan will do you SOOO much good! It takes the thinking out of your day and deters any QUICK bad decision makings when it comes to snacking. Write out a list of your favorite meals, make the healthy changes with the substitutes above where needed and make a PLAN! Which day is your best day for prepping? For me, it is SUNDAY. On your prep day you will PRE COOK anything you can to make your PLAN effectively play out.
IE: You can pre cook your chicken, hardboil your eggs, precut some fruit and put it in a container for quick grabs! reduces the chances of you making rash snacking decisions. AND saves you cooking time during the week!

I know this is a lot of info to take in! But keep in mind, this is your GOAL! and with practice it will become HABIT or second nature!

Like the Title says...I am a PLAIN JANE. I find that I am able to succeed more if I stick to what I know I love..and usually that is pretty simple meals. It's okay if your adventurous...correction..its GREAT if your adventurous! In fact, im abit jealous! ...But for those of you that are more of a picky eator...here is an inside look into MY fridge & pantry....Here I will show you the meals that make me successful in making healthy choices:

                                                                         1. EGGS

Eggs, eggs and more eggs! Eggs are high in protein and make for a great addition to a meal (breakfast)OR they are the perfect snack! They provide you loads of energy and they are QUICK and effortless to make!

2. FETA CHEESE
A yummy addition to a egg omlet! (The hubby loves his omlet with feta, spinach & tomato!)

3. ALMOND MILK Original Unsweetened 30 cals
I was ALWAYS an avid milk drinker..I could drink milk with EVERYTHING. I had no idea the sugars that were in whole milk...Now I've switched out my 1% completely for this great alternative.

4. SPICY HUMMUS
Not gonna lie...Im kind of addicted! It makes for the perfect dip for some peppers, raw brocoli and baby carrots! Another quick and easy snack..especially while at work!

5. COCONUT BUTTER
Switch out your butter or margarine for coconut butter. It tastes almost identical, serves the same purpose..but its all natural

6. WHOLE WHEAT PITA
This I just cannot live without. I LOVE tuna sandwiches, so when I decided to switch out my regular white enriched bread for something healthier and lighter..a pita was the perfect substitute. I take it for lunch almost everyday!

7. WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
I don't generally eat a whole lot of bread myself, but my kids LOVE their PB sandwiches!

8. TILAPIA/FISH
This shows you that we always like to take out our dinner the night before to defrost...PLAN ahead!
Fail to plan, plan to fail.

9. WHOLE GRAIN PASTA
Another great lunch! I keep my pasta intake to a minimum but when I do have it (usually on a long work day - to give me the energy for the day) I try to have it earlier on..no later then 1pm

10 - 12. FRESH FRUIT
And LOTS of them! Fruit is HUGE for us in our home! We love them for bulking up breakfast or for snacking!

13. PEPPERS!
I NEVER ever would touch a pepper a year ago! This just shows you how you can adapt your tastebuds..because now I LOVE them. They are one of my daily snacks! I add some hummus for dipping and tada! Perfect snack!

14. MUSHROOMS

15. ROMAINE HEARTS
Salad...that word would have never been spoken in the past..now I love to make up a fresh salad with some PRECOOKED chicken cut up into pieces and thrown in...a small handfull of tex mex cheese and 1TBSP of cesar dressing.

16. BABY SPINACH

17 - 26. FRESH VEGGIES
You can NEVER have enough veggies. No explanation necessary!

28. 0% PLAIN GREEK YOGURT
Throw in 1packet of Stevia (and some fresh fruit to bulk it up) OR a sprinkle of honey in substitute of fruit on the bottom yogurt which is high in sugar. Follow the rule of no more then 9g of sugar per snack.

29.  Balsamic vinegar & Roasted Red Pepper Dressing
Used Sparingly just for flavour

30. ALL Natural Organic Peanut Butter!
HUUUGE in our house! We LOVE our PB! Compare your regular (skippy/kraft PB) with an all natural organic pb and you will see a WHACK load of artificial additives in the consumer brands. We made the switch to all natural (ingredients:Organic peanuts - THATS IT!) For our kids, we just sprinkle a little bit of honey to add some sweetness for their PB sandwiches (a popular snack in our house ;)  We use PB in our Shakeology EVERYDAY as well as in our Oatmeal Egg breakfast Recipe (found in the recipe tab)

31. Hellmans OLIVE OIL Mayo
I LOVE Tuna! Use sparingly.

32. Marble Cheese
This is a favorite snack for our kids. I do cut up a few blocks and add it to my snack of Hummus and Peppers

33. Organic Apple Sauce

35. FROZEN VEGGIES!!
YES! Stock up on frozen veggies! Whenever we see a 2/$5 sale on frozen brocoli & Brussel sprouts we STOCK it up! Saves you from having produce going bad in the fridge :)

36. Tilapia

37. Boneless CHICKEN breasts!

38. Salmon

39. Turkey Burgers

40. 12 Grain Wholegrain bread
Switch out ALL white enriched flour for a whole grain! Check the ingredients on the back label! If it sounds like an experiment it is NOT meant to be put into your body!

41. MORE All Natural Organic PB

42.