I'm a back to basics kind of Naturopath in Toronto. I feel that if people don't have the basic tools of eating healthy foods, getting adequate sleep, exercising, and stress reduction techniques, it's hard to achieve optimum health and feel amazing. One of the most basic ways to help your body feel better is to eat a healthy diet. In my last post, I discussed different ways of eating & fasting, but I'm going to go way more basic than that in this post. In my life, if meals aren't somewhat planned ahead of time then I've got little hope of eating a balanced diet because my motivation goes way down if I have to think & go to the grocery store every day - that and I don't actually have the time to go to the grocery store every day! Every Sunday I look at my calendar for the week to see what's going on in the evening so that I know to plan my meals according to how much time I will have to cook them (or not cook them!). I'll think about cook ahead meals, or quick cooking meals, or more elaborate meals depending on what's going on. Then I make a grocery list - this not only means that I will save money by not buying what I don't need, but it also means that I'm less likely to buy junky spur of the moment things because I'm following a list. Once I'm actually at the grocery store, my mean plan may change slightly depending on what's on sale or what looks fresh & delicious. So many people (me included!) get stuck on meal ideas when trying to plan so I thought I'd share some of the things that my family eats for dinner...
- Corn Chowder with Swiss Chard
- Homemade pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, broccoli, and mushrooms - with salad on the side
- BBQ fish & grilled veggies
- Whole wheat wraps with grilled veggies, grilled chicken, and goat cheese
- Hamburgers (both veggie burgers & beef burgers) on high fibre buns with salad or cut veggies on the side
- Frittata - usually just veggies and herbs and eggs in ours, sometimes we add some old Balderson white cheddar (we eat this usually once a week because it's so fast & easy)
- Grilled marinated tofu & veggie kebabs with brown rice or quinoa
- Butter chicken with cauliflower mixed in (I use the KFI brand of sauce and sometimes substitute chick peas for the chicken) over brown rice - not super healthy but at least it's got all the food groups covered!
- Tacos or burritos - either beef or black bean or fish
- BBQ fish with fresh kimchi salad
- Chili
- Stirfry curry tofu with veggies mixed with rice or soba noodles
- Black bean soup
- Zucchini noodles with pesto & shrimp (I just got a spiralizer from amazon!)
- Pasta Ponza - pasta with baked zucchini, tomato, capers, and breadcrumbs
- Spaghetti squash with a tomato meat sauce
- Steamed Korean dumplings with fresh kimchi
- Meatloaf and spinach salad
As you can see, they're not all perfect menu ideas but they're pretty balanced and that's what I strive for. I hope this gives you some inspiration to get cooking and optimize your health! And for those of you who don't cook - I'm happy to work with where you're at and provide some canned/frozen/restaurant ideas to help your health!
