mindful menu plan – 1.3.2010

This week’s menu is going to be a bit different. Actually for the next 3 weeks my menu will be quite boring.

I have decided to follow a 21-day eating plan. You will see that it is a very healthy eating plan but there is little variety.  I need to do this as a way to jump back into healthy food choices and also as a way to purge some of the Holiday gunk I have built up in my body! Oy, have I been lazy!

Here is the plan:

Breakfast:

3/4 cup cooked oatmeal (steel cut preferred)

5 unsalted walnuts

1 orange or banana

Snack:

1 apple

Lunch:

1/2 cup whole wheat brown rice

4 oz skinless chicken breast or fish grilled

1 cup steamed or grilled squash

Snack:

2 cups of celery

1 tbsp. natural almond butter

Dinner:

6 oz fish, grilled

1 cup steamed or grilled zucchini

1 cup steamed or grilled asparagus

3 cups salad (greens, tomatoes,cucumbers), season with lemon juice

Snack:

1 cup mixed berries

Also have 2 of the following snacks during the day:

12 raw almonds

1 tbsp almond butter

1 medium sized fruit any kind

1 hard-boiled egg

1/4 avacado

2 oz water packed tuna

1 jar of fruit baby food

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce with half a shredded biscuit.

Thanks to my girl, Shannon for hooking me up with this info!

And my most exciting news: The Big Man has agreed to follow this meal plan.  He is going to add soup into his day and probably some potatoes to dinner but he is ok with chicken every night! The kid is easy enough to please as long as she has raw veggies.  I will probably switch up the plan a bit and have a variety of vegetables – but I will steam them and only use lemon juice.

**complete honesty – coffee is not mentioned on this plan but I will be drinking my coffee. However, I will be cutting my coffee consumption in half! Maybe at the end of 3 weeks on this plan I will be down to 1 cup of coffee!

So, even though this is not really a menu plan I still have to ask:

Menu Planning, are you doing it?

I cannot believe how many benefits there are to menu planning?!?! It has helped my family stay on budget and it has helped to lose weight. I never realized how much we ordered out… I had no idea how often we were scrambling with the “what are we gonna make for dinner?” … I have since learned that the grocery store is not as evil when you really have a plan and a list!

Planning my menu has helped my family in many ways and I owe it all to Jenna (@chivetalker) and her Mindful Menu Blog Roll.

What?!?!

You haven’t joined Jenna’s menu roll?

What are you waiting for?

Check IT out and I am sure you will not regret it!!