Meal plans are a great way to reduce waste, make food shopping faster and easier, and help you make healthy choices. But where to start? What constitutes a healthy meal plan for the week and how do you know what to include? How to create one that meets your nutritional needs? Read on to learn how to create a healthy meal plan for you and download your free nutrition guides.
First, there is no one healthy eating plan that works for everyone. At different stages of your life you will need different levels of nutrients, but you can follow some general principles and then adjust them as necessary. Here’s how to create a healthy meal plan for the week.
The Backbone of Your Healthy Meal Plan
For the vast majority of adults, these practical tips should form the basis of your eating plan:
- A range of fruits and vegetables
- Unsaturated fats such as extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, avocados and nuts
- Whole grain carbohydrates (brown rice, brown bread, millet, bulgur, etc.)
- Fermented foods like kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut
- Two servings of fatty fish like salmon per week (or nuts and seeds if you don’t eat fish)
- A handful of nuts and seeds per day
- Aim for 30g of fiber per day
- Eat a range of beans and legumes (like chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans and lentils)
- Drink until you are no longer thirsty (about 8 glasses of water per day)[1]
Calorie counting
One calorie is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 g of water from 14.5 to 15.5°Celsius. This is calculated in the laboratory, by burning the food. However, food is not “burned” in our bodies, and people’s metabolism and energy expenditure vary, so this is a very rough estimate.
Absorption, and therefore the amount of energy you can use, is also affected by how the food is processed. An example of this is sweet corn. If you powder it and make a tortilla, you’ll absorb many more calories than if you eat whole sweet corn kernels. Instead, you’ll see most of the grains intact, down the toilet!
Another concern about calories is that instead of thinking about nutrient quality, it promotes prioritizing quantity. For example, there is a huge difference in the amount of nutrients you could consume in 500 calories of fruits and vegetables, compared to 500 calories of ice cream.
Additionally, the number of calories you need varies based on so many factors, such as age, gender, lifestyle and activity level, that it’s difficult to accurately predict the amount exactly what you need. Instead, I prefer to recommend a general principle for how to balance your plate and a reminder to eat mindfully when you’re physically hungry, not because of an emotional trigger. See here for more information on metabolism and dieting.
How to balance your plate
When thinking about your healthy meal plan, for each meal, your plate should contain approximately:
- Fruits and vegetables (1/2 plate)
- Whole cereals (1/4 plate)
- Lean protein (1/4 plate)
- A spoonful of unsaturated oil
This will help you, as you think about each meal, to determine what to include and approximate portion sizes.
The day of example
Breakfast
- Overnight oatmeal, with chia seeds, quinoa and milk or fortified vegetable milk
- A piece of fruit
snack
lunch
- Grilled tofu with mixed salad and bulgur
- A piece of fruit
snack
- Apple slices with nut butter
Dinner
- Chicken/Tofu/Salmon with Miso Brown Rice and Spring Greens
- OR vegetable curry, daal and brown rice
- OR eggplant stuffed with mixed vegetables and millet or quinoa
- A piece of fruit
How to Adjust Your Meal Plan
There are certain phases where more or less nutrients are needed, so it is important to consider your changing needs.
I have designed a range of meal planners and nutritional checklists available for free download. Choose from:
When you are pregnant
During your pregnancy, limit fatty fish to once a week, and only 2 tuna steaks or 4 medium cans of tuna per week, due to the risk of pollution.
You should also avoid the following food groups:
- Raw or undercooked eggs
- Unpasteurized cheese
- Raw or undercooked meat
- Skull
- Swordfish, shark and marlin
- Homemade raw egg ice cream
- Soft ice cream from vans or kiosks
- Vitamin A supplements
- Licorice root
- Alcohol
I have a meal planner and nutrient checklist for pregnant women available for free here. For more information on what to eat during pregnancy, my Eating During Pregnancy ebook has everything you need to know.
When you breastfeed
While you are breastfeeding, your body needs more calcium (1,250 mg), selenium (70 mcg), and iodine (200 mcg). Make sure to include them in your meal plan. My meal planner and checklist for breastfeeding mothers has been specially designed to ensure you meet these requirements and is available for free here. For more information on what to eat during pregnancy, my book Postpartum Nutrition: An Expert’s Guide to Eating After Baby has everything you need to know.
Going through menopause
Menopause changes your risk of long-term disease, so it’s important to focus on things that contribute to bone and heart health. The framework above already sets out a diet to support long-term heart health, but for bone health, aim for:
- 1200 mg of calcium per day
- High-quality protein in every meal
- Foods rich in vitamin K
- Foods rich in phosphorus
- Foods rich in magnesium
I’ve designed a meal planner and checklist specifically for women in menopause and beyond, available for free here.
Once you’ve completed your healthy meal plan for the week, you can save the ingredients you need regularly in an online shopping list, making repeat ordering easier. Some recipe books also now have a QR code so you can easily sync the ingredients needed with your online purchases.
Try to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables when possible, but canned beans, frozen, dried and freeze-dried fruits make excellent substitutes for fresh fruit, retaining most of the nutrients.
Your healthy meal plan
Creating a healthy meal plan for the week can be intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will become a fun addition to your weekly planning and ultimately improve your overall lifestyle. Try using the general framework above or one of my guides and adapt it to your own specific needs. Enjoy finding new and exciting recipes to include in your plan!
Video lessons
Having helped hundreds of clients, I have now designed a video course to give you the knowledge and confidence you need to optimize your diet and improve your health. This course contains science-backed nutritional information to help you improve your health.
My online course is very easy to follow, with a series of easy-to-watch videos. I hear about the impact of my course every day and I can’t wait to help you too.
Learn:
- Macronutrient Guide
- Guide to micronutrients and how to get enough of them
- How to balance your plate
- How to Design a Personalized Meal Plan Just for You
- What are antioxidants and why are they important?
- A guide to dieting, including how to achieve a healthy weight
- What are metabolism and metabolic rate?
- What to eat for healthy bones and joints
- What to eat to reduce your risk of high blood pressure
- What to eat to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke
- What to eat to reduce stress and improve your mood
- What to eat to support your immune system
- What is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and practical tips to help you
- A Guide to Intermittent Fasting and Time-Restricted Eating
- What is emotional eating and practical tips to help you.
- What supplements do you really need?
- How to choose honey
- What is the best oil/fat for cooking?
- Is organic worth the cost?
This course includes:
- More than 3 hours of short videos to watch at your own pace
- Downloadable course guide
- Range of nutritional planners and checklists to suit most needs.