Meal Plans I Like
Hi friends! How are ya?
Green is back!
It feels like it’s been forever since I broke out the juicer, but there is nothing in the world like fresh juice in the morning. [You can read all about juices vs smoothies *here*]
I feel the same way about juice as I do about yoga: if I skip out, I regret it, but when I just do it, I’m so glad I did. Cleaning the juicer is a slight pain (not too bad, but still an extra thing to clean), and driving to yoga is kind of a pain, but both: 100% worth it.
+ ch-ch-ch-chia pudding 😀
-1/2 C gluten-free oats (uncooked)
-2 T Chia Goodness
-1 C almond milk
-1/2 scoop Sun Warrior
*Set all in the fridge for 15 minutes to gelatinize, then added:
-Diced organic peach
-cinnamon
Perfect 😀
So this morning, I thought I’d write a little bit about eating plans that I actually do like, since mine has yet to be published 😉 There are hundreds of diet books and plan options out there, and 99% of them are garbage, but here are a few that I really enjoy and agree with most of the advice they advocate. The 3 books I chose are pretty different from one another, but main thing they have in common is that they can all be followed as a lifestyle– they’re not intended to be used to drop a few el bees and go back the former style of eating.
{Some of my fave cookbooks}
Raw Food Detox Diet or Detox 4 Women, both by Natalia Rose
Why I like it: the eating style emphasizes raw foods during the day, cooked foods at night (or raw foods all day). The idea behind raw foods is that leaving them in their uncooked state (or dehydrating below 118* degrees) preserves the nutrient integrity of the food, as many foods lose nutrients through the cooking process. [Only very few, like tomatoes, are actually more nutrient-dense after they’ve been cooked] These books also focus on “quick-exit” meals, which digest quickly and help the body eliminate excess waste, ie weight.
I love the fact that this book emphasizes whole, organic fruits and vegetables, raw nuts and goat dairy and eggs if you’d like to add those in, too. The recipes in this book are very simple, but extremely flavorful. I still make Natalia’s salads and raw soups on a regular basis.
The cons: I followed this style of eating for quite a while and really enjoyed it. I had so much energy, my skin looked amazing, but was turned off by the emphasis on food combining. When you food combine, you only eat certain types of food together (such as a starch with starch, a flesh with flesh, fruit alone, etc). Vegetables “combine” with everything, and some foods double as another type of food. *It’s not as confusing as I’m making it sound—my friend Gena has an excellent post on food combining if you’re curious. Also, I didn’t like the fact that it said I couldn’t have eggs in the morning or during the day, only for dinner. I like eggs for lunch a little too much 🙂
Also, her sample meal plans were a little too light for my activity level, but easy to bulk up or adjust according to the fuel I needed.
Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno
Why I like it: this eating style focuses on pure, unprocessed foods, including fruits, veggie, nuts, legumes, dairy, fish, meat. If it came from a plant in the ground, eat it, if it came from a factory plant, don’t 😀 The book has a heavy emphasis on protein and carbs and tons of recipes. It was written by Tosca Reno, who is married to the founder or Oxygen Magazine and entered her first physique contest at the age of 42, after totally transforming her lifestyle.
The cons: The recipes are pretty bland. If you’re a foodie, you will definitely find yourself adding spices and herbs or adjusting the recipes to make them taste better.
South Beach Diet by Dr Arthur Agatston
Why I like it: I’m still a big advocate of South Beach because it taught me how to eat. It was the jumping pad for my weight loss journey and I learned so much from reading this book. It helped me kick my focus from calories to the types of food I was eating (healthy fat, lean protein, smart carb, etc), and I still follow a Mediterranean style of eating to this day. I think it’s a great starting point for those who want to change their eating habits, and the author is a world-renown cardiologist.
The cons: Fake food. South Beach advocates quite a few processed foods in their meal plans, but are easy to adjust to include only whole foods. Like I said though, it’s a great starting point, and when I was eating 100% processed foods, this style of eating helped me transition to more whole foods.
Are there any eating plans or lifestyle books you love? I try to read as many as possible, so when I have clients tell me they’re following so-and-so eating plan, I know what they’re talking about 😀
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I really like In Defense of Food, after reading it it gave me a whole new outlook on the way I eat.
loved that book, too- the omnivore’s dilemma was great, also 🙂
Great books thanks for sharing, I like Naturally Thin and the idea of moderation although I feel she does not eat enough to sustain most active lifestyles I also really like the pH miracle its great and really emphasizes the importance of greens. I think books are all a great starting point to pick and choose what you believe in !
OMG! Those are MY favorite cookbooks TOO!!!! Every.single.one!!!!!!!
I don’t know if it’s considered a meal plan but I do love French Women Dont Get Fat…she really advocates eating seasonally and learning to really enjoy food!
I agree! I love the fact that I can still eat bread and drink wine and stay in shape. I love all foods and will never give anything up. It’s all about moving your booty more, looking at portion sizes, and balancing it all out (if you eat a chocolate donut for breakfast, pass on dessert that night). 🙂
You should check out the Paleo diet 🙂
It’s big on gluten-free 🙂
i’ve heard a lot about it, but haven’t read it yet. isn’t it big on animal protein?
A bit, which I suppose is a problem if you are more on the veg-side – oops! I enjoyed reading The Paleo Solution. It was very science-y, which makes it a hard read for some. It talked a lot about how we ate back in the paleolithic period (i.e. we weren’t able to process grains in to bread therefore no bread). It talks about how grains are actually harming your body as their own natural defense system (because grains, unlike berries, do not leave their seeds in human waste to be replanted and therefore cannot continue their lifecycle if they are eaten).
Anyways pretty interesting read, whether followed or not I think :))
The raw foods books sound interesting, though I feel like I’d starve lol
There’s interesting stuff along these lines in my current favourite book, Eat Fat, Lose Fat, by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. I’m finding it more realistic than Paleo for me, and eating traditional foods is so wonderful.
Paleo Diet and Paleo Solution are both awesome – I’ve been paleo for 2 years now and have never felt better and stronger in my life. Since the whole paleo plan can be a little daunting for some, I recommend Primal Blueprint (Mark Sission, author of marksdailyapple.com), which outlines the same kind of paleo eating plan, but in a much more readable format. If they do okay with that one, then I recommend Paleo Solution. 🙂
Love Tosca Reno!
I really got a lot from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters. The focus is on eating mostly plants, with smaller quantities of really good quality animal products. He’s a chef so the food tastes great. Plus most of his recipes require just a few good ingredients and are easy to prepare.
This is fantastic Gina! I am really trying to clean up my eating habits (have fallen off the bus sadface), but was SO overwhelmed at where to start. I am not a huge fan of beans though, can chicken, lean beef or fish be substituted instead? Not quite a veggietarian yet 😉
of course!
I lost a majority of my weight with South Beach, but just recently started combining those principles (though skipping the processed food of the diet and sticking to whole foods) with the Eat Clean Diet. I don’t have much more weight to lose, but I really feel myself getting stronger and feeling more balanced – emotionally and physically. YAY for an eating plan that is easily maintainable and doesn’t leave me feeling ravenous!
I’m a big fan of Tosca Reno’s books as well. The newer Clean Eating Cookbooks have some really flavourful recipes in them (I tend to kick all food up with more spice but that’s just me!) and the photos are gorgeous. I also read a bit of Ani’s Raw Food Essentials on the weekend and loved her approach. Browsing turned to buying, and I ended up purchasing The Complete Book of Raw Food – it’s a thick one, but so full of information!
i have that one, too and LOVE it 🙂
Thanks for the tips. I tried the food combining thing for a while and it just gave me a lot of anxiety about my meal planning and I never felt truly full.
Love love love all the Eat Clean books. I’m currently working with Eat Clean Stripped to see if it can, in fact, drop the last 10lbs. So far I’m down 4lbs and am loving the increased muscle mass from the book’s direction to hit weights harder than the cardio.
I wish there was an Eat Clean book for vegetarians/vegans, that would be helpful!
i totally agree!
This is an awesome post, Gina! I love the balanced outlook you have on eating, and you never feel bad for not giving up my beloved cheese 😀 Although I do eat a LOT more goat dairy now because you’re always having it and it looks so darn good 😉
I would loooove to see a sample meal plan if you ever put one together! 🙂
Thanks for the Review! I don’t really have a specific plan I stick to but may look into your recommendations. I once did the South Beach diet and found it quite effective…. maybe I should try it again!
I lahhhhhhve Crazy Sexy Diet and Thrive! Hands-down, those are my fave.
ooooh love thrive!
I love these ones too – anything by Tosca Reno and Natalia Rose, I have so many of their books on my bookshelf. Nicholas Perricone has an amazing eating plan (or rather, loose meal suggestions, all unmeasured ie: no specific quantities) in one of his earlier books called “The Wrinkle Cure”, which I actually still use to this day to base my meals around quite often. It’s really realistic and packed with nutrient rich high antioxidant wholefoods. Plus any plan that recommends oats, cantaloupe melon, blueberries, green leafies and veggies and salmon will get two thumbs up in my book…they’re some of my favourite foods, lol! 😛 xyx
I’ve always big on the Mediterranean diet- it’s just how i was raised, but I recently (read: yesterday) started a 30 day Paleo challenge with my boyfriend… I’m sure you’ve heard about it before, but this is more a lifestyle type meal plan, and focuses on meat, veggies and fruit, and eliminating dairy, sugar, and grains. I love grains, but have had the feeling they upset my tummy a little bit (as dairy sometimes does), so I was interested in giving this a shot. I’ve never been a huge meat person, so it’s going to be an interesting experiment! I hear your energy levels soar, though, so we shall see! 😉
What are your thoughts on Paleo, btw?
i haven’t read all of the details but have heard a lot about it from my crossfit friends. i know it wouldn’t be a good fit for me, since i don’t do a ton of animal protein and love goat cheese a little too much 🙂
Keep it up Joelle, it’s not easy at first, but if you teach yourself to learn how to cook a little and use yummy spices, paleo is anything but boring – I’ve been paleo for 2+ years and feel amazing. Good luck!
Those cookbooks sound interesting! I’m interested in the raw food one, but I don’t think I could ever commit to that- I like hot food! But the clean eating one might be the one for me. I’ve really transformed my eating over the past year and try to stay away from packaged goods, so I’d love some new recipes!
I love the 5 factor diet books especially the world diet 🙂
The Sonoma Diet was to me what SBD was for you. It’s a lot like SBD but without the fake food — she discourages use of fake sweeteners and processed meats. It’s a really good plan, though a little light in the calories for active peeps. It also has one of those introduction waves that ban fruit for 10 days. I had a hard time with that, physically and philosophically. But I tell ya, eliminating fruit for 10 days makes eating an apple feel like absolute HEAVEN when you can eat them again.
I also like that it doesn’t rely on protein powders. A lot of the “Eat Clean” recipes out there rely on making brownies out of protein powder, which plugs up my works if ya know what I mean…
I didn’t care for the South Beach Diet approach. The low-carb diet never really jived for me. But to each their own!
I’ve never read the South Beach Diet book but have heard good things about it. I think I have the book at home so I should make an effort to read it sometime soon.
heyy i just brought out my juicer yesterday too! for green juice! i put some on ice tray last nite, froze em and popped them in my smoothie! so good! i would like to read the eat clean diet book…i love fish and don’t want to give it up.at all! so would love to read about this!
I was reading the Beauty Detox Diet and Food combining is so intimidating to me. I felt like it was bad for me in that I started to feel guilty when I would eat a healthy breakfast with fresh fruit, toast and nut butter or something similar. More food guilt is NOT something I need, especially when my meals are 95% healthy. One of my favorite dinners is some sort of veggie, some sort of grain, and some sort of legume. A meal like that goes against food combining, and that just doesn’t seem right to me.
I understand the concept, but I just don’t think it is for me.
I just started reading the Beauty Detox Diet and am having the same feelings about food combining. I’m just not sure it’s for me.
I just finished the Beauty Detox Solution, too. I am not too keen on the food combining either, but I think her recipes are good.
I like the Eat Clean cookbooks and I have a South Beach Diet cookbook — I haven’t used it much since it seems they have so many recipes with fish (that I don’t make often) and ricotta cheese (which I don’t eat either). But as a whole, I like that eating style.
I’ve been reading more Michael Pollan books because (to me) caring more about the quality of food makes eating healthy so much easier.
I have all 3 of these books and love each of them! 🙂
Lately, I’ve been mostly following the Tone It Up meal plan. It focuses on real foods, not counting calories, etc. Plus, the authors are awesome at giving personal feedback, something you won’t find with most diets/meal plans. I really love it!
I agree with the Eat Clean cookbooks, I love the concept but yes your have to spruce up the recipes a bit with added spices etc! I typically tend to follow a eat clean diet most of the time.
The “diet” book that made the biggest impact on me was “Intuitive Eating.”
It doesn’t really talk about nutrition, but rather your eating habits and your relationship with food. I think it’s possible to eat healthy food but still have an unhealthy relationship with it, which I definitely did. This book really opened my eyes.
I love Spark- The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey. It’s the neurological perspective of exercise and the brain- why working out helps do more than boost our butts and burn calories.
Is Babycakes one of your favorite cookbooks? Can you recommend any lifestyle/dessert books you swear by? Would love to hear your input on that because I’m all about the (healthy?) sweets over here
Lately I feel like the more health and diet books I read the more confused I feel. I have started to fear foods I would normally deem healthy and feel like I end up eating worse because I’m afraid of food combining, fruit at the wrong times ect. I think it’s key on finding our own balance with all of these diets- like you say- but it’s challenging when they all deem themselves as having the best way.
I love Tosca! I would really like to read her book, I’m sure I would like it. Really I don’t read a whole lot of diet books because I like to do my own thang. But they are good for recipes!
I read diet books as a hobby but I find that about 99% of them have a lot of good ideas, not that 99% are garbage. My “SBD” is probably closest to Volumetrics by Barbara Rolle. I think because of that I can’t do juices (psychologically). She’s all about the fiber. I tend away from the ‘raw’ plans because of reading that the enzymes argument is kind of bunk.
I’m also a big fan of Natalia Rose. I like how she isn’t totally rigid in what she recommends, but yes, that lifestyle is hard to maintain. My new favorite book is by Kimberly Snyder called The Raw Beauty Detox Solution. I’ll be honest- parts of it are a bit extreme and she’s way into food combining. However, the general principles are great. I literally read the entire book from cover to cover in a few hours. I just couldn’t put it down!
I have a friend that is following the eat for your blood type plan. It has helped her acid reflux so much that she no longer has to take medication. Do you know anything about this “diet”?
My knowledge of nutrition and diet has really improved over the years (former Atkins dieter) – but the internet can be a blessing and curse – information overload! What do you do when client comes to you and indicates they are following an eating plan that you aren’t so keen on? Good post – it’s interesting to see how your diet has evolved . . . thanks for sharing.
Mo
Love the Beauty Detox Diet and Crazy Sexy Diet. Both are too restrictive for me to follow to a T but have opened my eyes to so many new foods and health tips. Such a fan of your blog!
I love Natalia Rose’s books! The Raw Food Detox Diet totally changed how I looked at food, and I’ve never felt better. I actually trained with Natalia Rose in NYC last month, which was incredibly fun and enlightening. 😀
Other books I loved reading were UltraMetabolism, by Dr. Mark Hyman, and CLEAN, by Dr. Junger. I love getting perspectives from doctors, and both of these books are jam-packed with useful information and advocate a whole-foods approach.
I love the Eat Clean Diet! The only problem for me is that her cookbooks don’t do me a lot of good being a vegetarian. Most of her recipes include meat and I’m just not skilled enough in the kitchen to figure out substitutes 🙂 I love the idea behind it though and in the past couple months her book has really helped me clean up my diet!
Her new Eat Clean Stripped has a chapter on Vegetarian and there are several veg. recipes.
Thanks for letting me know! I’ll see if my library has a copy and check it out!
I love Rocco Dispirito’s “Now Eat This” – he healthifies some favorite comfort foods and makes them fit almost any meal plan!
I am cooking out of the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook (2) and don’t find the recipes bland — however, some are kind of cumbersome — like, making your own tomato sauce…. not feasible for me, but I don’t need to be perfect, I guess!
This is a GREAT POST!!! Changing diets or meal plans can be so intimidating and this list helps weed out the junk information! THANKS!
I’ve never really followed a specific eating plan from a book… but I like to eat fresh, whole foods that are in season whenever possible. So I love cookbooks that are organized by season because it makes it so easy to eat this way!
Hi Gina, for the first time I ordered Chia Goodness (not for sale in the Netherlands). I saw you made Chia pudding, do you have more tips/suggestions for using it? X
it’s also great in oatmeal and smoothies 🙂
I like a little bit of everything,south beach/atkins,veg/vegan,whole foods but I do like yogurt and whole grain bread 😀
Have you read the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss? I live his 4 Hour Work Week book, and am curious about 4HB.
i’ve skimmed it but haven’t read the entire thing. i really like his concept of having a cheat day- i try to do the same, but call it a “treat” day 🙂
I like to eat a Mediterranean type diet too, and I also love Tosca Reno and her Eat Clean philosophy. Haven’t read that book yet, but I love all of Oxygen’s Clean Eating magazines!
“but main thing they have in common is that they can all be followed as a lifestyle- they’re not intended to be used to drop a few el bees and go back the former style of eating.”–
AMEN GIRL!
I have Tosca’s book, and I could have been sent Natalia’s book but I was worried it was going to be just another raw food book, same concepts, same thoughts, and so I passed. Now I wish I had tried it.
As for food combining and Gena, she recently said in a recent post (maybe a month or so ago) that her thoughts on food combining have totally changed…and although she doesn’t totally ‘recant’ her previous statements, she puts far less stock into food combining.
Because I know *exactly* the post of hers you are thinking of; it’s an excellent!! one.
Eating plans. Yes, just trial and error and experiment and dont be afraid to keep making changes over and over and over til you find something that works.
And what may work today may not work in a year. So dont be afraid to change things up then either!
funny that you brought up juicing today. my hubs and i just watched fat, sick and nearly dead last night. it is amazing! i recommend it if you have not see it. anyway, i feel the Body for Life changed my life. it taught me how to eat and how to work out. life changer for sure!