Welcome to Week 4 of the Fresh Fit Meal Plan Guide. This week I bring you some of my favorite plant based meals. Perhaps you started the year vowing to eat more veggies. Maybe you wish you liked veggies more than you do. I find from talking to a lot of people; they just don’t take time to plan and prep their vegetables. The vegetable in the meal is just a salad or a last minute bag of frozen something. What if the vegetables were the star of the show? This week’s meal plan guide makes vegetables center stage. Hopefully what you find is that with preparation and a little time vegetables can become something you look forward to. After all, we take that blank canvas of a chicken breast and spend all kinds of time making it taste good. Shouldn’t our vegetable friends also get some love?
Breakfast of the Week: Oatmeal Chia Protein Muffins– These muffins prove that protein isn’t only found in animal products. You’ll find these muffins tasty and filling.
Fresh Fit Meal Plan Guide Week 4 Dinners:
Remember my number one tip is to make enough dinner for lunch the next day. The less you have to think, the easier things will be.
Monday– Healthy Italian Minestrone with Tortellini– an easy and hearty soup made for warming you up. Make extra, because you’re going to want some left overs for those lunches.
Tuesday– Layered Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas– No rolling required, and all that delicious enchilada goodness. These are gluten free too.
Wednesday– Crispy Tofu Super Food Fried Rice– I know you might have tried Tofu before and had a major dislike for it, but trust me here. I think if you make this you can be a tofu lover.
Thursday– One Pot Pasta by one of my favorite food bloggers, Alice Choi, The Hip Foodie Mom
Photo by Alice Choi, Hip Foodie Mom
Friday– CHALLENGE- treat yourself to a vegetarian meal out. Swap the sausage on that pizza for veggies, or check out a new plant based restaurant . These kinds of places are popping up everywhere and I think you’ll be surprised how little you miss the meat.
Planned Snacking
I love me a cookie. These Gluten Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are very low in refined sugar. I make them rather large, so they end up being much like a bakery style cookie. Yum!
Fresh Fit Tip of the Week- Mindfulness
Normally I’d hit you with workout tips or something. The fact is I am still loving the Tone It Up workouts so there’s really nothing new there. I did have an experience this week I thought I should share because I learned from it and I think you can too. I went to dinner with a friend and ordered a salad and my favorite pizza. I had every intention of eating a good portion of the pizza. I ended up completely finishing my salad and as sat there I realized I wasn’t actually hungry after that.
What I learned from this experience of being distracted from my food is that I was full before I thought I was finished eating. I continued with this experiment of pausing in the middle of a meal for the next few days and I couldn’t believe how little food I actually needed to be satisfied.
Often we shoot for Thanksgiving full. Especially on a week of vegetables where your diet is full of fiber, I recommend you try slowing down and pausing throughout your meal. I think you’ll be amazed at how little food you actually need to be satisfied.
I’d love to hear your experiences with this week’s meal plan so please comment below or find me on Instagram @FreshFitKitchen.