In my experience, meal planning has been the most influential factor in adhering to an anti-inflammatory diet.

If you’re one of those people who can plan and grocery shop for the week, this will be easy for you (and hats off to you because, sh*t, you’re clearly organized)! But if you’re like me, I find meal planning a struggle just because I usually don’t know what I’m doing 20 minutes from now (damn brain fog) let alone the week. So, we tend to meal plan 1-3 days at a time. Bottom line, whether it’s for the week or for a couple of days, trust me, meal planning helps BIG time.

Here’s the thing. Yes, some recipes are more complicated and time consuming than others but I have found that what requires the most time and effort is all the chopping and prepping of vegetables, or preparing of certain meats or fish. So not only do you need the time to chop and prep everything but it also means getting to the grocery store to buy everything fresh. If you are trying to figure out what to eat at 5pm, chances of getting to the store, THEN coming home to prep and make everything, are unlikely. So then you find yourself quickly resorting to old food habits or meals. Even if it’s so-called healthy, like a stir-fry for example, you’re likely going to choose sauces (e.g. traditional teriyaki) or veggies that are on the “no” list. See? It’s a slippery slope. All can be avoided by meal planning!

Scroll down for an example of a super simple week. All the recipes are detailed below the meal plan, categorized and in order by breakfasts, lunches and dinners, followed by healthy snacks.

Breakfasts: In all honesty, 90% of the time I have a protein shake for breakfast. I’ve provided a selection of breakfasts here for those that like some variety but if you feel like having a shake most days, then by all means…  Also, I put the egg muffins on Saturday so that you can make a batch and then have them for Sunday and for a few days into the following week. But if you prefer, you can also make these at the start of the week and keep them in the fridge for the whole week. Again, just make or play with the options that suit you best.

Lunches: For me, lunches are my weak spot. Mostly because I don’t care to be making lunches AND dinners every day. I would never leave the kitchen otherwise! Most of the time I make a big dinner so that there is enough for leftovers the next day. Or, I tend to resort to breakfast options for lunch (e.g. sometimes I’ll have a shake for lunch). Another great option for lunch is to make a power salad early in the week. It stores really well in the fridge for at least 3-4 days. In fact, I find it tastes even better the next day as it has had time to marinate in the dressing overnight.

Dinners: I’ve listed some fairly straight forward dinners for this meal plan with a variety of chicken, fish, meat and veg options. Nothing too daring or extravagant at this point – the goal is to just get you on track to have a successful week of cooking and to enjoy what you’re eating!

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
BREAKY	Protein Shake	Eggs and Avocado	Protein Shake	Almond Butter Naan Toast	Protein Shake	Spinach Egg Muffins	Spinach Egg Muffin
LUNCH	Power Salad	Power Salad	Avocado Chicken Smash	Cobb Salad Leftovers	Glory Bowls with Crack Sauce Leftovers	Coconut Curry Chicken Leftovers	Burger Leftovers or Protein Shake
DINS	Maple Salmon, Salad, Roasted Aspar-agus	Roast Chicken and Salad	Cobb Salad	Glory Bowls with Crack Sauce	Coconut Curry Chicken	Turkey Burgers	Basil Butter Halibut

HEALTHY SNACKS: Banana Muffins • Apple Cinnamon Cookies • Fresh Fruits (apples with cinnamon is a winner!) • Fresh Cut Veggies (carrots and celery dipped in almond butter or whole fat cream cheese) • Home-Made Trail Mix • Energy Date Balls.

RECIPES

Breakfasts

Protein Shake:

In a blender, combine:

• 1 banana (not too ripe; true plant paradox is to eat them before they are ripe)
• A large handful of frozen blueberries or strawberries
• 1 cup unsweetened almond or coconut milk
• A handful of kale or spinach
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1 scoop of whey protein (grass fed, gluten free); I tend to buy vanilla flavored for extra overall flavor
• Add any additional powdered supplements (e.g. Vital Reds, Collagen, etc.)

 

 

Eggs & Avocado:

Prepare 2 eggs as you prefer and serve with a fresh sliced avocado, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Just make sure to source pasture-raised, or at a minimum, free-run organic eggs

 

 

Almond Butter on Grain Free Naan ‘Toast’:

 To make naan bread, combine:

• ½ cup almond flour
• ½ cup tapioca flour
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk (use a little less if you want thicker “bread”)
• Optional: I also like to add a bunch of seasonings for extra flavor (e.g. salt, pepper, garlic and/or onion powder, oregano)

Pour batter, as you would pancakes, into a lightly greased pan on medium heat. Flip once the bottom is browned. Cook thoroughly. Take note that they cook much longer than pancakes so be patient! They are best eaten right away but you can make extra and store in a Ziploc in the fridge for a few days (just warm again before eating).

Slather with organic almond butter and enjoy!

OPTION! You can also make an egg sandwich with these “naan toasts” if you’d rather! My preference would be to stack a fried egg, with nitrate free, hormone free, grass-fed bacon and sliced avocado on top. YUM!!

 

 

 Spinach Egg Muffins:

Click Here for Dr. Gundry’s Plant Paradox Spinach Egg Muffins. Make a double batch – put half in the fridge to eat over the next few days and freeze the other half for next week. The recipe also provides options for vegans and vegetarians!

An alternative to these egg muffins is to make this delectable breakfast casserole.

Portion and store for days in the fridge then grab on the go!

 

 

Lunches

Chopped Power Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

Below is the proposed recipe but keep in mind that you can really add any veggies you want to this salad – just chop everything up small (or a few pulses in your food processor) and toss in the dressing! Great way to not only use up all the veggies in your fridge but it also provides for lunches for 3 days. This is a great recipe to also get your bowels moving if you’re having any “issues”.

In a large salad bowl, combine:

• ½ head of finely chopped broccoli (use food processor if you have one, otherwise finely chop with a knife)
• ½ head of finely chopped cauliflower (same as above)
• 1 cup chopped red cabbage
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• ½ cup of organic raisins OR dried cranberries
• ½ cup of chopped almonds OR toasted, chopped walnuts
• ½ cup of crumbled goat feta (optional)

Combine and then toss salad in:

• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp organic raw honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• juice from 2 lemons

This will make a LOT of salad! It keeps really well in the fridge for 3-4 days.

 

 

Avocado Chicken Smash

Using leftover chicken from the roast chicken you made the night before (refer to Roast Chicken recipe, in a bowl combine:

• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
• handful of chopped cilantro
• ½ of an apple, chopped (can substitute chopped celery)
• ½ cup of chopped, cooked roast chicken
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 avocados – don’t blend or mush like avocado; just smash with a fork and blend with all other ingredients and leave the avocado chunky

Eat as is (served in the avocado shell as pictured), or serve on toasted sweet potato rounds, or on grain-free naan bread (see recipe above for naan bread). Another option is to serve on crackers – my favorites are Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers).

Side-note: my hubs would tell you that this recipe is exceptionally delicious served on sourdough toast, sprinkled with some goat feta on top along with drizzled sriracha (for those that like spice and aren’t avoiding nightshades). While Dr. Gundry will tell you to stay the heck away from any type of grain-based bread, when Dr. Oz challenged him on his show, he (Gundry) said that if you are going to eat ANY bread, then eat sourdough; but only if you MUST and definitely not ‘on the regular’ kind-a thing.

 

 

 

Dinners

Maple Sesame Salmon with Roasted Asparagus

Click here for this super simple yet super delicious salmon recipe. If you choose to serve with cauliflower rice, here are a few yummy options.

 

 

Roast Chicken Dinner

I’m purposely including a whole roast chicken in this initial meal plan as I want you to see just how easy it is, let alone just how damn good it is. And even better – your kids will love it (my 2 and 4 yr olds each have their own drumstick) AND you should have leftover chicken for lunch and dinner the next day! One medium sized bird will feed my family of 4 for dinner (but keep in mind we have 2 small children) PLUS provide leftover chicken for lunch and dinner the next day. If you have more mouths or BIGGER mouths to feed, I would look for an extra-large chicken or cook 2 medium sized chickens, side by side.

Click here for the recipe I use. Serve with a simple green salad or veggies of choice.  You’ll notice that I also include steps on how to make home-made chicken broth (with the leftover carcass). Feel free to make this and then follow this recipe to make chicken rice soup, perfect on a cold wintery day. Alternatively, see below for the anti-inflammatory Cobb Salad we love to make with the leftover chicken.

 

 

 

Cobb Salad

This is definitely a salad that eats like a meal. Click here for the instructions.

 

 

Glory Bowls

Click here for instructions.

 

Yet another regular occurring meal in our house not only for its ease (the “hardest” part of this meal is simply chopping a bunch of veggies) but also when we feel like we need to inject ourselves with some healthiness.

This one is loaded with veggies. You can serve over basmati rice or cauliflower rice). And you have two options for sauce. If you choose to make “crack sauce” as detailed in the instructions, you should have enough to re-use as a salad dressing or veggie dip over the following days (keeps well in the fridge).

 

 

Coconut Curry Chicken (slow cooker recipe)

(I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures to include just yet! Please take my word that this is super yummy!)

I purposely included this recipe as I wanted to show you how you can take a non-compliant recipe and MAKE it compliant. This was one of the first curry dishes I ever made…and I ended up making it a few times to get the flavors just right. I found the original recipe was a bit bland but with the addition of ground pepper, green curry paste and garlic, plus the sweetness from the sweet potatoes, it’s now full of flavor.

Here is the original recipe.  But I make these modifications:

1. Omit red peppers (remember red peppers are a nightshade which is considered inflammatory)
2. Replace potatoes (nightshade) with sweet potatoes – approximately one large sweet potato cut into 1-2 inch cubes. I tend to throw these in during the last hour/45 mins of cooking just so they aren’t too mushy.
3. Use one whole onion (instead of ½) – helps to replace the loss of the red peppers
4. Add ½ – 1 teaspoon of ground pepper to the chicken broth mixture for more flavor
5. Add 2 tbsp of green curry paste to the chicken broth mixture and stir until well distributed (my go-to is Thai Kitchen).
6. Add a full head of garlic (minced or finely chopped) to the chicken broth mixture
7. Replace cashews (used for garnish) with chopped almonds (or omit nuts entirely if you prefer)
8. And if you choose to thicken the curry, use tapioca flour instead of corn starch – 1:1 ratio.

 

 

Turkey Burgers

A dear friend (yay for Deepi!) sent me this recipe years ago and it remains one of our all-time faves. Super tasty. You can serve burgers wrapped in butter leaf lettuce OR make grain-free naan bread to re-purpose as your “buns” (as pictured above). See above under “Breakfasts” for naan bread recipe; for burger buns, I use less coconut milk to make them a bit thicker and I also add a bit more batter to the centre of each ‘pancake’ after letting them firm for a few seconds on the pan.

I also love to serve these burgers with caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms and sliced avocado. And if I come across some old sheep’s cheddar or old cheddar imported from Southern France, then I’ll make it a cheeseburger!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (500 g) of ground turkey
• ¼ cup finely chopped white or yellow onion
• ¼ cup full fat sour cream
• ¼ cup finely grated fresh parmesan cheese
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh basil (or just a good sized handful)
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano (can substitute dry oregano too)
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp Kosher salt
• ¼ tsp ground pepper

Set your oven to broil. In a bowl, combine all ingredients well. Shape into patties. Place on a lightly greased broil pan. Broil for 6 minutes PER side or until cooked through.

Serve with a side salad or sweet potato fries.

 

 

Basil Butter Halibut

Click here  for all you need to know about this super simple, tasty and healthy dish.

 

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Yet another good friend (shout out to @brookeyoga) sent me this recipe a few years ago and it has been worth its weight in gold. I keep a batch of these muffins around the house ALL. THE. TIME. Not only do my kids devour these muffins (they think they are a “treat” and yet they couldn’t be healthier) but they save me when I’m starving and haven’t had a chance to prepare anything to eat. They also help to satisfy my carb cravings.

Click here to get started.

 

 

Apple Cinnamon Cookies

The problem with these cookies is that I can’t stop eating them and it’s tough to keep a batch around the house for longer than 24 hours. These are yet another delicious snack-on-the-go. And once again, your kids will love these. I simply love it when my kids think they are eating “cookies” and little do they know they are a dose of “healthy” in every bite.

Click here for the recipe. Don’t blame me when you eat 10 of these in the first hour out of the oven.

 

Date Energy Balls

These are an excellent snack-on-the-go but also keep you sustained for a good chunk of time. My hubby has a very physical job and works long hours; he finds these energy balls can tide him over for at least a few hours. Perfect for that all too common 3pm lull when you need something to keep you going.

Click here for the recipe.

 

 

Home Made Trail Mix 

In a large bowl, combine equal parts:

• walnuts (I tend to toast my walnuts to make them even tastier)
• almonds
• macadamia nuts
• dark chocolate chips (organic, 72% cocoa)
• dried cranberries or organic raisins

Store in an airtight container and keep handy for hunger cravings.