I’ve been struggling to figure out what to eat or how much of it to eat to get into a stable daily food schedule. This week I stumbled on an article giving an overview of a book called How Not to Die by Michael Greger M.D. and he basically tells you the best food to eat to keep you healthy and it’s pretty much all plant based foods. He tells you what foods to eat and the portion sizes, so I took all of that information and typed up a little checklist as my daily food diary. Then I saw him on Kelly and Ryan this week promoting it! I’m sick of counting calories on MyFitnessPal and it doesn’t seem to work anyway, so I’m trying another approach. It helps because you can visually see what you’ve eaten, but also what you have left to eat that day so if you want a snack you can see the things you still need to eat and grab that instead of vegan cheese its. While on Nutrisystem I had to fill out a food diary like this daily and it helped me keep track, so I’m hoping this will benefit me as well. Of course going out to eat or having something that doesn’t fit in these categories is going to happen, but it’s nice to try and fill all of these categories first and most likely you won’t be hungry enough to eat much else. Also, I’m treating the nuts category as any healthy fat, like avocado.

If you want to read the whole article: http://www.chewfo.com/diets/how-not-to-die-by-michael-greger-md-food-list-what-to-eat-and-foods-to-avoid/

Now that I told you about my new daily meal plan, I’ll tell you what I plan on cooking this week. Last night we had date night out and tonight we’re going to Top Golf with my bestie then ordering in, so I’m only cooking 3 nights this week.

Lavash Pizza- I saw High Carb Hannah uses whole wheat lavash for a lot of things, and I found it at TJ’s and thought it would make a perfect pizza crust. It’s 190 calories for a pretty big piece and I’m topping it with sauce, tempeh “sausage”, caramelized onions, and sautéed eggplant.

BBQ Tofu Salad– I’m going to season and roast the tofu until crispy, dip in BBQ sauce and use it on a salad with veggies, corn, and avocado ranch dressing.

Broccoli “Cheddar” Soup- High Carb Hannah recipe made with potatoes, broccoli, nutritional yeast, spices, and served over rice. I’m always skeptical about cheesy tasting vegan things because they’re usually not very good… so we’ll see how this turns out!

** update- there’s a free app for pretty much the same checklist that I typed out and it’s probably easy to have it with you at all times. Just downloaded it!

Have a wonderful week everyone and happy MLK day!