Help with new eating plan- ideas,recipes?

In the beginning focus on finding vegetables and things that are healthy that are easy to make/fast to cook that you enjoy eating. Could you eat steamed brocolli a majority of days? Maybe roasted cauliflower. You will have to have some routine in a good diet in the beginning then you can start experimenting with throwing different things in.

In the beginning try to keep things simple. Make sure you focus on your breakfast because if you have a healthy breakfast you are more inclined to keep your healthy meals going throughout the day. If i mess up on breakfast it can sometimes be hard to eat a healthy lunch or dinner because I already messed up.

my breakfast is 1 cup nonfat yogurt, 3 boiled eggs, and high fiber oatmeal packet. I eat this almost everyday and it doesnt take long for me to rush out the door with it. For lunch i have a tuna fish sandwich on low calorie wheat bread along with some carrots. I have an apple between lunch and breakfast, and a vegetable between lunch and dinner. Dinner i have 8oz chicken and 16oz of a boiled vegetable. Then i have pre-post workout shake. And a casein shake if I am still hungry.

Chilis are good and many of them use canned beans, so you don't have to soak them ahead of time. Here's a three-bean chili recipe that comes in at about 385 calories/serving (4 servings)


1 tablespoon, Oil - Olive
1 med. (110g) (4oz.) (3/4 cup), Yellow Onion
3 clove, Garlic
28 fluid ounce, Crushed Tomatoes 28 oz Can
1 container (8 tbsp ea.), Mild Diced Green Chilis
1 cup, Water
3 tbsp, Spices, chili powder

1 chiles, Chipotle Peppers In Adobo
1 tsp(s), Spices - Cumin
0.50 tsp, Spices, marjoram, dried
0.50 tsp = 4 gr, White Sugar
Black Beans, Can (15.5 Oz, drained)
15.5 oz drained Canned Great Northern or other White Beans
15.5 oz drained Red Kidney Beans (Canned)

Heat olive oil over medium. Add onion and garlic, cover and cook until soft, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, chilis, water, spices, chipotle, and sugar. Stir in beans and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes.

It might be useful to look at how you eat now and what changes you can make.

One option would be to come up with standard breakfasts and lunches that fit your new plan. For example, I like to have eggs and vegetables as the base for my breakfast, and then I add other things depending on what I'm in the mood for, but it really depends on your preferences. I find it easy to just have some standard go-tos for breakfast, though.

Similarly, maybe making some lunches ahead -- lentil soup, black beans with sweet potatoes and vegetables, brown rice with lots of veg and tofu, pasta with shrimp and veg, lots and lots of delicious options. Here's a good site I recommend: 101cookbooks.com. For lunch one thing I often do is make a big batch of beans in the slow cooker for the week and then add different vegetables or sides. I also often roast up a big winter squash.

Anyway, once you have your idea of breakfast and lunch down, based on what sounds good to you and maybe just by slightly modifying current meals, then there's dinner.

Here I would actually work into it more gradually if you are changing your way of eating a lot. Add in fish a couple times a week, maybe -- that should be easy, something like the shrimp or fish pasta, a fish main course plus sides of potatoes and vegetables (you could have more vegetables, family could have more potatoes), stuff like that. Maybe pick out a new vegetarian recipe to try for one day (leftovers would even be good for lunches). That too you could have with the whole family -- nothing wrong with occasional meatless dinners, even for omnivores. And then maybe cook some of your normal dinners but change it up: you say you are interested in adding more vegetables, so maybe you weren't already preparing them that regularly or in larger amounts. So add them. You could eat a smaller portion of the meat main course and a larger portion of the vegetables and then, as you expand your familiarity with vegetarian cooking, substitute. (I think a stir fry with tofu or a vegetable omelet are about the two easiest dinners, both involving lots of veg, so I often have that when stressed and they could easily have an option with meat for your family too.)

Rather than going totally pescatarian (not that there's anything wrong with that, I often do it for a period of time and am currently vegetarian (no fish either) for Lent, you might find that the way to improve your diet is by focusing on adding in things like vegetables, beans, and decreasing your reliance on meat (and when you do eat meat choosing more seafood and even lean cuts like chicken breast, pork chops and tenderloin, turkey, etc), rather than going 100%.

I'm working my way through 1,000 Vegan Recipes. Another cookbook I'd recommend is Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction.