Spring is coming, let's eat!
Don't let impending thoughts of your two-piece suit cause your diet to devolve into torturing yourself.
With spring break on the horizon, and the inevitable failure of extreme and unbalanced new-year’s-resolutions, I am seeing an influx of new patients in my practice. I think this is really just more proof that consistency beats intensity every single time, and that making behavior changes around eating is hard and requires support and guidance (heavy on the support!)
I want to be clear though, the best thing you can do to drive weight loss as we move forward into the warmer months (yay!) is by eating 3 balanced meals per day, fueling yourself adequately, planning ahead, keeping healthy nutrition principles at the forefront of your strategy, and being consistent as fuck with these behaviors.
As a registered dietitian, I had to un-learn a lot of the diet rules I created for myself when I was younger during my 8+ year education. The unlearning of diet culture rules, and the application of science and evidence-based principles with a health first emphasis sounds easy, but it isn’t. It isn’t easy to eat more food when weight loss is your long term goal, but is is important if you truly want this to be the last time you ever try to lose weight. Weight loss and long-term weight loss maintenance isn’t about
“What is the least I can eat and survive?”
it is actually about
“What is the most I can eat and still reach my goals?”
This is a huge mindset shift, and it takes time and evidence that it actually works to truly believe this. That evidence is when you see and feel it working on yourself. With this kind of work, it doesn’t happen right away either, there is a foundational period for these behaviors where you are learning how to eat, what to eat, what works for you and doesn’t, and building trust in your body and it’s cues. This is why support is so important. Most people quit before they can reap the results, but I promise if you stick with these behaviors, your health, energy, weight, and life will improve.
I promise.
Eating is supposed to be fun, feel good, and make you have more energy! If food isn’t feeling like this for you lately, reach out and schedule a free call with me. I am still taking on new clients currently, and I am happy to help you create a plan that feels realistic, doable, and is rooted in evidence (and by evidence, I don’t mean “my co-worker did keto and lost 20 lbs in a month” because that ain’t evidence, thats an anecdotal “n=1” experience). This meal plan is on the path to this goal. Try following it to the best of your abilities for a week- you might not lose weight immediately (you also might lose weight immediately, everyone is different!) but I can promise you that you will feel better, sleep better, and be focusing on your health from a place of compassion and care for yourself, not a place of hatred or fear.
On to the plan for this week…
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How to Use This Meal Plan
This is a guide, not a rulebook. It’s here to help you build balanced meals, not lock you into anything rigid. Swap ingredients, make changes, take what you need, and leave the rest.
This plan follows my OKP Signature Method, designed to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Here’s the structure:
• One breakfast you prep once and eat through the week
• One lunch you prep once and eat through the week
• One snack or dessert
• Three dinners that are balanced, satisfying, and actually taste good
You’ll see ingredients repeat, that’s intentional. These are foods that deliver lean protein, fiber, whole grains, nutrients, and flavor. If you don’t love something, change it. This is meant to be flexible.
These are the kinds of meals I eat week to week as a dietitian who focuses on feeling good, with enough variety to keep it interesting, but not so much that you need a brand-new grocery list every week.
There’s room for dinners out, pizza night, and the weeks when life happens. Follow it exactly, or use it as a template and make it your own.
Simple. Sustainable. Balanced. Delicious.
Breakfast: Chocolate Raspberry Baked Oats
Breakfast is a simple baked oatmeal. I always go back to these recipes and ingredients because they provide
lean protein
fiber
high quality carbohydrate
produce
Baked oats are endlessly riffable, and super quick and easy to throw together. I have talked at length about why I don’t love protein powder all the time, but in a dish where we are getting the powder alongside whole-foods and whole-food based protein, it can be a simple way to increase protein intake in the morning. This is especially helpful if you workout in the morning before breakfast (that’s what I do typically!) My favorite protein powders are….
Naked Isolate. Great ingredients, no sweetener, isolated whey protein (no casein or lactose) and a meaningful amount of protein (30 g for 2 scoops). This is the brand I recommend using in your recipe to get the maximum result from this addition.
Naked Whey. Another great option. Lightly sweetened with coconut sugar, this has high quality ingredients with minimal additives. There is casein present, but this can keep you full a bit longer.
Garden of Life Sport. Tastes great, meaningful amount of protein for a plant based product which can typically be a bit lower.
Clean Simple Eats. Not the most minimal ingredient list, but this one has a ton of flavors, blends well in foods, and tastes great. This is the protein Starbucks uses for their drinks.
NuZest Pea Protein. This type tastes great, but keep in mind that plant based protein comes with more carbohydrate than animal based protein. It is also more prone to cause stomach upset. This one is not chalky at all!
Drink Wholesome. This is an egg white based protein. It can be a little salty when used on it’s own as a shake, but works well in baked goods!
You will almost always see a combo of rolled oats, egg whites or eggs, hemp, flax, and chia seeds, berries, and greek yogurt at breakfast. This is a high quality combo that provides healthy fats, high-quality carbohydrates, lean protein (meaning protein without a lot of saturated fat), and flavor, color, fiber, and antioxidants from berries. Again, there are a million ways to combine these ingredients to keep it exciting, but we will keep coming back to these combos over and over.
Lunch: Street Corn Chicken Salad
If you were here this summer, you probably remember my obsession with corn. It remains. Corn is something I avoided for years because I was told it is wasteful to eat, too high in carbs, doesn’t provide any nutrition, blah blah blah. This was all false. I don’t know why corn is weirdly demonized when it is actually so delicious and healthy. While corn is considered a starchy vegetable it does provide a lot of health benefits!
Corn provides…
Soluble and insoluble fiber. For a healthy microbiome and great poops.
Resistant starch which helps with blood glucose management and feeding our gut microbes
Lutein and Zeaxnthin which support eye health
plant sterols which might contribute to lower LDL-cholesterol levels (the “bad” cholesterol)
Provides necessary carbohdyrates which support thyroid health and overall hormone balance. If all of your protein is being used for energy (which is not protein’s primary job) then we don’t have enough protein to build hormones. You need carbs for hormone health, energy, and health. Periodt.
I will be eating this with blue corn tortilla chips and a smile on my face, but it would also be great as an open-faced sandwich on whole grain bread, in a Joseph’s Lavash wrap, or served over crispy romaine lettuce, with brown rice or quinoa. If you are someone who needs more variety, change up how you serve this day to day to keep it interesting!
What’s for Dinner this week?
Snap Pea and Beef Stir Fry with Brown Rice
I made this last week for my family. Both my kids refused to eat it, and my husband said it was “fine” but I swear it is so good. And I know this because I obviously made a double batch, so I have been eating it for days. 🙃
The recipe is in the comments, but I also attached it as a file to the name up top. I use an app called ReciMe to store all my recipe from social media and friends, let me tell you, it is a game changer! I get lots of my inspiration (and full recipes) from Instagram and TikTok, but all those saved videos aren’t helpful if you aren’t actually using them. ReciMe is a really helpful tool to actually be able to browse and categorize your recipes. 10/10 recommend!
One Pan Spinach + Artichoke Pasta Bake
This is one of my creations for Carbe Diem! This recipe is super easy to throw together, bakes in one pan so no messy dishes, and my whole family liked it (especially my husband). You can make this using Carbe Diem High Fiber Orzo (plus about 4 oz of regular orzo) or use all regular or whole wheat Orzo. I actually prefer the whole wheat because I am getting a reasonable amount of fiber (instead of a shit-ton), and also getting some carbs, because we actually need non-fiber carbohydrates to provide energy.
Fish Tacos!
This recipe from FitFoodieFinds is delicious and simple. Easy clean up, and we are getting in some seafood! While tilapia doesn’t count as your serving of fatty fish, it is beneficial as it provides a lot of lean protein and is a great way to expose your family to new flavors. I also just love fish tacos.
The only change I am making to the recipe is to reduce the amount of butter I put on top of the fish. I am choosing to use 1-2 tbsp of butter. Butter actually isn’t “bad” for you, but it does add a lot of calories and saturated fat to your diet. Butter provides Vitamin A, a fat soluble vitamin which means that you need fat to be able to absorb the butter. It also has butyrate which is a short-chain-fatty-acid that supports colon health, and is also a byproduct of fiber being digested by certain gut microbes too. Butter isn’t the superfood that it has been touted as lately online (don’t start eating a stick for a snack, or blending it into your coffee) but it also isn’t all bad.
This week I’m sharing a dessert instead of a snack. For your snacks, make sure you are pairing a protein/fat source with a carbohydrate. Some of my go-to’s are
Greek Yogurt and berries
Cottage Cheese and apple
Beef Stick and Triscuits
String Cheese and Apple
Don’t overthink it, seriously. The less you stress about food, the better.
on to dessert…
I hope you enjoy these recipes and that this meal plan helps to set you up for a nourished and happy week ahead!
xo
Kate, your dietitian bestie
Love how you put the recipes into the post!