It’s my birthday week! This year is a big one for me, I am turning 40! So to celebrate with all of you, I am giving you the whole meal plan for free this week!
Turning 40 is a big milestone. There were definitely moments in my party-girl era where I wondered if I’d ever make it here (joking… but also not really. IYKYK.) But like my mom always said, “Getting older is better than the alternative,” and I agree.
At almost 40, I feel more grounded, confident, and self-assured than ever. I’ve stopped wasting my fucks on things that don’t matter, gotten better at saying no, and fully embraced my weirdness in a way I couldn’t in my 20s.
But if I based my expectations on social media, I’d think turning 40 is a death sentence. Every other post is about perimenopause ruining your body and mind. And while perimenopause can be challenging (think reverse puberty with shifting hormones, energy, sleep, mood, and body changes) it doesn’t have to be life-ruining.
Let’s be clear: anyone claiming to have a “fix” for perimenopause is full of shit. There is no fix. It’s a normal physiological transition, it’s unavoidable, and it’s highly individualized. What works for one person may not work for another.
So today I want to share what I’m personally doing to support my body through this transition, and how you can set yourself up now to make it a little less chaotic when your time comes.
I am not skipping meals. The transition to menopause already increases cardiometabolic risk, and skipping meals- especially breakfast or delaying intake (hi, intermittent fasting)- can worsen cortisol, insulin sensitivity, lipids, appetite regulation, and weight loss. It’s adding stress to an already vulnerable time. Focus on a balanced, consistent diet over any trends or fads.
I’m getting in intentional movement every day, with a focus on strength training. Your metabolism doesn’t actually slow until around age 60, and even then it’s gradual (about 0.7% per year.) So why do things feel different in your 40s? Because we start losing lean body mass around age 35, which impacts metabolism and overall health.
If you want to maintain muscle, resistance training is non-negotiable. If you want to build muscle, you need a progressive overload plan. And on days I’m not lifting, I’m still moving…Pilates, dancing, walking… keeping my NEAT up.
This season of life is busy, so my workouts need to be effective, not just a wasted hour.
I am listening to what my body is telling me. Hungry? Eat. Tired? Rest. Burnt out? Do something that fills your cup. You can’t push through exhaustion like you used to. Rest isn’t earned, it’s part of the plan. Listen when your body whispers so it doesn’t have to scream.
I am not drinking alcohol. With everything shifting- sleep, hormones, stress, metabolism- alcohol is like gasoline on the fire. You don’t have to quit (but you could…) but being intentional about when and why you drink matters.
I’m relying on medical professionals, not influencers. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here. HRT, meds, GLP-1s, birth control, nutrition… these should be guided by someone who actually knows your health history and knows medicine.
I’m focusing on one thing at a time. Trying to do it all leads to burnout, and no results. I do one change, build consistency, then add the next.
I’m keeping an open mind. My biases don’t get to decide what works. I’m listening to providers, hearing other women, and respecting that everyone’s experience is different.
I’m laughing with friends. Because honestly… some of this shit is so ridiculous and you have to laugh
I am focused on getting enough sleep. It impacts everything, health, weight, mood. I’m strict about bedtime, working on sleep hygiene, adjusting my schedule when needed, and even using medication when appropriate. Sleep is not optional.
I’m saying no. SLOW DOWN. If it isn’t a “hell yeah, brother!” it’s a no. I am not stretching myself too thin anymore (or at least trying not to…) You can’t do everything everyone asks of you, so find out what is important to you and focus on those things.
One exercise I give clients is to identify their core values. Once your core values are clear, decision making becomes easier because you can start to make choices in alignment with your values (which also feels really good.) Here is a values-wheel I provide to clients to identify what is important to them. Take a look, pick your top 5, and start asking yourself if your choices are in alignment with what you actually value the next time you feel conflicted.
Bonus: I track my period. Track symptoms. Know what your normal is so you can know what is abnormal. I use my Oura ring, but there are lots of free apps to do this.
These are all kind of boring, yeah? Well feeling good isn’t boring, I can promise you that. Unfortunately, the boring advice is usually the right advice. Keep this in mind as you navigate the minefields of social media health and nutrition advice. ♥️
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 reduce decision fatigue and 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 balanced, satisfying dinners that actually taste good (make enough for leftovers if you can!)
You’ll see ingredients repeat, that’s intentional. These are foods that consistently deliver lean protein, fiber, whole grains, nutrients, and flavor.
These recipes are designed to be meal-prep friendly. No soggy lunches by Wednesday, and no four-serving recipes for a five-day workweek (unless we change to a 4-day workweek, which I fully support 😊).
The goal is simple: get you through the week well-fed and happy.
These are the kinds of meals I eat week to week as a dietitian who focuses on feeling good. There’s enough variety to keep things interesting, but not so much that you need a brand-new grocery list every week. If you like something, bookmark it and make it again. Building a roster of go-to recipes is how you start cooking from memory, riff on your favorites, and make healthy eating sustainable long-term.
Eat well. Feel good. Repeat next week.
Breakfast: Dubai Chocolate Chia Pudding
I haven’t gotten over the flavor combo of chocolate + pistachio even though it isn’t ‘trending’ anymore. It is so yummy, and this breakfast feels super decadent even though it is loaded with protein, omega-3-fatty-acids, fiber, and phytonutrients. And this breakfast is so good. Like dessert level good.
Speaking of perimenopause and menopause… Whole-food soy products are something every woman in this age range should be eating. This includes tofu, soy milk, edamame, natto, tempeh, and miso. Those last two also pack probiotic benefits too due to their fermentation.
Research shows that eating a diet in whole-food soy products (so soy protein isolates, protein bars with soy, or highly-processed fake ‘meats’ don’t count) can potentially reduce risk of breast-cancer and breast cancer recurrence and can help to mediate menopausal symptoms by helping to regulate our estrogen receptors.
Tofu is a really versatile, healthy, protein food to add to your diet. I promise you that you won’t taste any difference in this chia pudding, but you will be getting all the health benefits of starting your day with a polyphenol-rich, whole-food, plant-based protein source… so basically you’re better than everyone else. 💅 You’re welcome. 😘
Ingredients:
Please note: this recipe has been edited since its original release!
Chia Pudding:
2 packages (10.5 oz each) of silken tofu. It has to be silken. I linked the type I use here, it is shelf stable, and I have also seen it at many local grocery stores.
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup skim milk I recommend using Fairlife milk for extra protein, or unsweetened soy milk.
3/4 cup chia seeds
3/4 cup oat bran
Pistachio Cream Topping:
1/2 cup raw pistachios (you can use roasted/salted but it will change the flavor profile to some extent, I have used both raw and roasted they are both great) soaked in hot water for 30 minutes.
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp maple syrup (or honey)
Middle Layer and topping
3 cups non-fat greek yogurt (this is 1/2 cup per container)
3 cups raspberries (about 1/2 cup per container)
Directions:
Boil some water, place the raw pistachios in a bowl, and cover with hot water. Cover with a dish towel, and let them sit for ~30 minutes while you prepare the chia pudding.
Add the tofu, cocoa powder, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and milk to a high powered blender, and blend until completely smooth. (optional, you can also add 3 cups of greek yogurt at this time, or save it to make the layers)
Add the liquid to a large bowl, and stir in the oat bran + chia seeds. Get another bowl dirty, it is worth it for the right texture, the mixture also will become too thick to blend well. Mix well to combine.
Divide into 6 containers equally.
If you didn’t blend it in at step 2, Take the 3 cups of greek yogurt, put 1/2 cup greek yogurt on top of the chia pudding in each container. (note: if you have a big enough blender you can blend it in with the rest of the chia pudding, or you can mix this all in with the oat bran and chia seeds)
Go to the pistachios, remove any skins that floated to the top of the bowl, and drain the water. The skins are ok, but the more you remove the brighter and smoother your pistachio cream will be.
Blend the pistachios, milk, vanilla extract, maple syrup/honey until smooth.
Divide equally to top each of the 6 chia puddings.
Top with 1/2 cup raspberries (or whatever berries you enjoy!)
Nutrition: 6 servings, 438 kcal, 16g fat, 52g carb, 16g fiber, 31g protein
Lunch: Spring Orzo Salad with Caramelized Shallot and Dijon Dressing + Mommy’s Special Chicken
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat orzo (you want 2 cups cooked)
5 oz arugula (one clamshell)
2 bunches of asparagus (~2 lbs) trimmed into 1-inch pieces, woody stems removed
1 cup sweet peas
8 oz package of Mozzarella Pearls (or goat cheese crumbles would also be so good)
Dressing:
4 shallots, thinly sliced (I will use a mandolin to slice them, they cook faster this way)
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp Olive Oil, divided
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1 tsp kosher salt + fresh ground black pepper (more to taste)
Directions:
Bring a large pot of very salty water to a boil, and cook the orzo, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick together.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium/high heat, add 1-ish tbsp of olive oil. Once that is shimmering, add the thinly sliced shallots. Let them brown a bit, but not get crispy. Stir them until they turn a deep brown color. If they start to stick, turn the heat down a bit. This should take around 10-15 minutes.
Wipe out the pan, and use the other scant tbsp olive oil to sautee the chopped and trimmed asparagus. Don’t stir too frequently, we want it to get some blisters and a little bit of char.
Bring another small pot of very salty water to a boil. Cook the peas in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, and then transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Allow them to dry.
Combine the orzo, peas, asparagus and mozzarella pearls in a large bowl or container. Store in the fridge.
To make the dressing, take the caramelized shallots, and mix with 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, a juiced lemon (add the zest too if you want extra credit), 1 tsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp honey, and salt and pepper. Shake or whisk well to combine. (if you like a smooth dressing- add to the blender. You do you!)
Serve topped with 2-3 oz of Mommy’s Special Chicken, or rotisserie chicken. (The salad alone has 17g protein!) All the notes on how to make the best meal-prep chicken are in the recipe card, but you can also watch this Instagram Reel to learn how to make it!
Store the dressing and salad separately, arugula will wilt if dressed all week. You can dress it in the morning if you’re taking it to work. Another option (what I’m doing) is dressing the orzo, asparagus, mozzarella, and peas, and adding arugula and chicken right before eating.
Nutrition Info: 5 servings: Salad: 268 kcal, 9.7g fat, 30.5g carbs, 8g fiber, 17g protein
Dressing: (scant 2 tbsp- weigh out 25 g/serving): 75 kcal, 7.3g fat, 2.4g carb, 0 fiber, 0 protein
Chicken: (approx): 2 oz serving: 58 kcal, 12g protein //3 oz serving: 87 kcal, 18g protein //4 oz serving: 116 kcal, 24 g protein
*I would make my lunch with 1/5th of the salad, 2 scant tbsp dressing (25g) and 3 oz (84g) of chicken for a total of 430 kcal, 17g fat, 34g carbs, 8g fiber, 35g protein. Weigh out the dressing and chicken on a food scale for accuracy.
The goal with your dinners is that you cook one night, and eat leftovers the next, then cook again. If you don’t like leftovers, try to learn how to like them. It is not sustainable to cook every single night for most people. You shouldn’t feel like you have to cook every. single. night.
If you are serving 4 people, you may need to double the recipe for two nights. I usually make my kids something different on the second night (like a kid dinner! Think mac + cheese with fruit, chicken nuggets with carrots + ranch and some crackers, pasta with marinara.) and I eat leftovers. This keeps me from cooking 24/7, makes room for my kid’s favorite foods, and gives me room to live (and drive carpool)!
Crock-Pot BBQ Chicken Thighs with Mango Salsa
For this recipe, I recommend making the salsa over the weekend because the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it tastes. I hate raw onions, so letting them marinate in the lime juice helps to reduce the bite, and makes the flavor so much better. You can use frozen mango, which saves money, just thaw it in the fridge overnight, or on the counter in a colander for a couple of hours. Costco currently has a big container of fresh, pre-cut mango, so hell yea to that, brother. (You can also sub in pineapple instead of mango)
You could make this recipe with chicken breasts or chicken thigh, I prefer thighs at dinner TBH because they are a little bit more filling and flavorful with the extra fat. I try to trim the fat with kitchen shears to get rid of any weird bites but I don’t always have time to do this.
I recommend using a low-sugar, or sugar free BBQ sauce in this recipe (I know this is blasphemous to say in KC, the land of BBQ) but the salsa brings a lot of sweetness so you don’t need it as much in the sauce. The G-Hughes Sugar Free Sauce trio is great to have on hand, this one does contain artificial sweeteners. Another option is Yo Mama’s BBQ sauce, which has no artificial sweeteners if you are sensitive to the taste (just want to clarify- artificial sweeteners, used in moderation, are perfectly safe and an easy way to reduce refined sugar intake. This is simply a taste preference comment)
You’ll serve this bowl over rice, I like to do 1/2 to 3/4 cup brown rice, and it’s my birthday week so we are having brown rice! Brown rice takes longer to cook on the stovetop as compared to white rice, so I like to use the microwavable frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s. I always have a couple of boxes of this in the freezer. By using frozen rice, you are also harnessing the power of resistant starch. This is a type of ‘fiber’ that is created when you cook and cool certain starch foods, including rice. Since the rice is precooked and then frozen, good old Trader Joe did the hard work for us. Thank you for your service.
Nutrition Info: 6 servings with 1/2 cup brown rice: 487 kcal, 12g fat, 56g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 43g protein
Avocado Mojo Bowls with Sweet Potato with Rotisserie Chicken or Meatballs
This recipe is so great because it makes some store bought meatballs or chicken taste great, adds some color, and the oven does a lot of the work for you!
Adjustments:
Cut down the avocado oil in the sauce to 2 tbsp instead of 1/3 cup.
Leave out the mayo for the sauce, unless you love mayo and want it to be super creamy.
Leave the peel on the sweet potato. It is good for you. Period.
If using a rotisserie chicken, pull the skin off your portion and weigh out 4 oz of breast meat. (4 oz 155kcal, 3.2g fat, 0g carb, 32g protein) The skin is where the majority of saturated fat lies in poultry, and we are getting plenty of healthy fats in the sauce, we don’t need to add more saturated fat. This is the higher protein option.
If using meatballs, I recommend Amylu Pineapple chicken Teriyaki Meatballs (4 meatballs: 150kcal, 7g fat, 7g carb, 14g protein) or Amylu Cranberry and Jalapeno Meatballs (4 meatballs: 160kcal, 8g fat, 8g carb, 14g protein) Aidells Teriyaki and Pineapple Meatballs (4 meatballs: 150kcal, 8g fat, 7g carb, 14g protein) Kidfresh Chicken Meatballs- these have extra veggies blended in! (6 meatballs 140 kcal, 6g fat, 6g carbs, 10g protein) You can use whatever type you have access to, but these are just some options. It will be higher calorie to reach a 30g protein level with meatballs than it is with rotisserie chicken.
Nutrition Facts: 4 servings: Bowl with sauce, potatoes, and onion: 249 kcal, 15g fat, 28g carbs, 6.4g fiber, 3.2g protein
Peking Style Beef with Rice and Cucumbers
Ingredients:
Sauce:
4 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for GF)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp Chinese 5-Spice
Beef:
1.5 lbs 90/10 ground beef (I wouldn’t recommend going leaner than this- higher fat tastes better with this recipe, but will add fat. It’s still healthy even with a higher fat beef)
1 tbsp avocado oil (or canola oil)
1 tsp minced garlic (I use the frozen cubes from Dorot at Trader Joe’s, stock up on them!)
1 tbsp minced ginger (also comes in a Dorot cube)
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water
2 english cucumbers
2 cups cooked jasmine rice
Instructions:
Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, get one, you’ll use it a lot. Once the pan is hot, add your oil. Add the beef, and break it up into pieces to cover more surface area of the pan, and let it sit for 5-6 minutes untouched (this is how it gets crispy). Flip it with a spatula, trying not to break it apart more and cook for another 1-2 minutes until no pink remains. Then stir in the garlic and ginger and allow to cook for another minute.
Pour the sauce over the beef, and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Then stir in the cornstarch and water to thicken the sauce. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Serve with Jasmine rice (1/2-3/4 cup) and cucumber ribbons (made with a vegetable peeler) or just slices of cucumber.
*I have a huge Costco Size bag of green beans, so I am going to serve this with some green beans made in the style of my instagram friend and colleague Dr. Christina Sciarrillo (who is a wonderful follow by the way!)
All you need for this simple recipe is green beans (about 1 lb), 2-3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp garlic powder, red pepper flakes to taste, and 1 tbsp olive oil! Easy Peasy and so good. The cooking method is why these taste so good, so watch the reel to learn how!
Nutrition facts: 6 servings: Beef + 1/2 cup rice, and 1/2ish cucumber: 424 kcal, 18g fat, 30g carbs, 2g fiber, 34g protein
Green beans: 6 servings: 64 kcal, 2.5g fat, 9.5g carbs, 2.4g fiber, 2.3g protein
Snack/Treat: Girl Scout Coconut Caramel Granola Clusters
This granola is so delicious. I have talked about that granola isn’t necessarily a “health food” like it claims to be on Instagram, but it is all about the quantity that you’re eating and what you’re paring it with.
One serving of this granola is 30 grams (If you are tracking macros weigh it out. seriously.) but paired with 1/2 cup of greek yogurt, you have yourself a balanced healthy dessert, or an indulgent and balanced snack! You could add some fruit to amp up the nutrition content.
I like the 2% Fage Greek Yogurt when I am making bowls, it is creamier due to the fat content and keeps me full longer. You can use whatever you prefer though! The higher-fat versions will be creamier, lower-fat versions will be higher in protein and tangier, flavored versions may have significantly more carbohydrates and sugar, and zero-sugar versions usually contain artificial sweeteners. It is all about making the choice that is right for you.
Nutrition Info: 1/2 cup 2% fage greek yogurt + 30g granola: 217 kcal, 8g fat, 22g carbs, 2g fiber, 14g protein
What to prep?
This week to get ahead of the game I recommend you make the following on the weekend or whenever your prep-day is:
Chia pudding
Orzo Salad
Mommy’s Special Chicken
Mango Salsa
Optional:
Prep the Mojo sauce and store in the fridge
Prep the beef sauce and store in the fridge
Slice cucumbers thin for the Peking Style Beef bowls (and marinate in some soy and rice wine vinegar if you’re fancy!)
Ok that’s all for this week!
If you ever have suggestions or recipes you really like, please feel free to send to me. I consider myself more of a recipe curator than recipe creator, although I do dabble!
You can message (and follow!) me on Instagram and TikTok at onkatesplate.