Auto Immune Paleo Meal Planning

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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and a product review where I received the product at no cost. A girl’s gotta pay the grocery bills!

In my MS journey I believe my nutrition is one of the main foundations to stay healthy. After my diagnosis in Dec 2014, the Wahl’s Protocol was shared with me so I largely subscribe to this way of eating after researching it. Adopting this meal plan has helped immensely with my health. I feel energetic, satiated and my digestion problems have been slowly healing. This post doesn’t go into the why of my meal plan but the how practicalities of planning, grocery shopping & prepping.

I then found the Auto-Immune Paleo site full of research & recipes. I’ve been trying out different recipes here and there in my weekly meal planning. Several people on social media asked me to break down what I eat on a weekly basis so here is a long over due post on how I use Real Plans to plan out my AIP weekly meal plan for myself and my boyfriend.

If you’d like more information on Real Plans you can CLICK HERE to read more.

Ok here’s how meal planning goes down in our household. On Saturday or Sunday morning, I log onto my computer and pull up the Real Plans website. In the Plan tab I can schedule out all of my food to visually see what I’m going to eat. I’m a creature of habit and simplicity. We eat all the same food on Monday, Wednesday & Friday and then the same meals on Tuesday & Thursday. This allows for variety but less ingredients and thus less shopping.

Here is a snapshot of what is on the plan for this week…

Breakfast is usually a combination of protein & fat. This week it’s Breakfast Sausages and 1/2 an avocado. On other days it’s a protein & carb. I’ll do this especially on heavier training days. This week I brought the Coconut Porridge back into our bellies and it’s amazing. We’ve tried it before and loved it. Not as easy as making overnight oats but still pretty simple to make.

Once you’ve laid out all the meals you click over to Shopping List. I check off ingredients I already have in the fridge or pantry and then voila my shopping list is complete.

Meal Planning When Tired

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I haven’t done a meal planning post in a bit so here is how I meal prep with my boyfriend when we’re both exhausted from a great week & weekend.

This weekend, Mike had to work at OCR Academy and it was the end of week one with the puppy so needless to say we were a bit exhausted come Sunday. I usually take time to plan out our meals for the coming week, make a grocery list and then grocery shop when he’s done work and meal prep in the evening. However sometimes life throws you fun.

I spent Sunday morning at Le Nordik with an old friend (we used to lifeguard together in high school!) and spent the morning in the baths and then got a much-needed massage for a body that continues to have problems. After X Man Toronto my neck decided to seize up and I haven’t been able to turn it to the right lately. After the most amazing deep tissue and facial stretch appointment, I was on cloud nine happy and raced home to grab a late lunch with Mike. We decided to go straight to grocery shopping after that and wing it. When we wing it this is how I shop.

Decide on what meat we want for lunches and dinners.
Grab enough green vegetables for the sides
Grab a couple of carb options for Mike (as I don’t really touch carbs)
Grab ingredients for fresh juices throughout the week
Grab 2 treats (popcorn & coconut ice cream – 1 bag & 1 container each)

Here is what my meals look like today!

We settled on 3 different kinds of sausages (honey garlic, mild Italian and Oktoberfest – all freshly made by the Loblaws butcher), a BBQ chicken (free from Loblaws brand), bacon & turkey bacon and in the freezer at home we have ribs, steak & chicken. I choose Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Avocados & Snow Peas for our veggies and we grabbed a to-go container of Basmati Rice for a carb option for Mike.

Juice this week is my favourite recipe from Crazy Sexy Juice which includes Grapefruit, Oranges, Ginger & Turmeric and our weekly smoothies include homemade almond milk, frozen raspberries, banana and Magnum Quattro Plain & Simple Protein Powder.

Here’s how we prepped. Mike BBQed the sausages while I made maple syrup, sea salt & lemon juice glaze for the sprouts, prepped the cauliflower & broccoli w/ curry & marjoram & pre-heated the oven to 400 F and steamed the snow peas. The sprouts & cauliflower/broccolli mix went into the oven at the same time for 30 mins total. After the sausages were done Mike started cooking the bacon on the George Foreman and shredded the BBQ Chicken off the bone into a Tupperware while I made fresh juice for the week.

We packaged everything off into containers for the week and the only thing I had to make fresh this morning was the smoothies & coffee 🙂

Happy Meal Prepping!

Meal Planning Tips

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So you want to eat better this year? Is meal planning & prepping in your future or do you need to step up your current game a bit?

Here are my 5 meal planning and prep tips for a successful Sunday. I like to plan and prep on Sunday so I’m ready for the week!

1. Meal Plan: Sunday morning I plan out my meals for the week using a meal plan board. A piece of paper and a pen works just as well! Below is my board for this week!

2. Make a Grocery List. I use the app ShopListFree App on my iPhone to create my list before I head over to the grocery store. I like to shop early in the morning when the store isn’t busy and there are still great produce options!

3. Grocery Shop. Grab your smart phone, pick a podcast, put in your headphones and educate yourself while grocery shopping. This allows me to avoid listening to the craziness that can be in the store some days.

4. Wash and Cut fruits & vegetables for easy cooking later.

5. Start Cooking: I start with meat in a frying pan, quinoa or brown rice in a pot of water. Then I start prepping meat or stew in the crock pot. I’ll start prepping smoothie bags while the first round of meals are cooking and then I’ll start on the next meat in the frying pan and a stir fry in a second pan.

Example of the order I cooked food last night:

5pm: Ground Turkey in Frying Pan, Onions, Carrots & Sweet Potato in Pot

5:30pm: Bacon in Frying Pan, Steam Green Beans, Asparagus in 2nd Frying Pan

6:00pm: Beets & Fennel in Pot, Turkey Sausages in Frying Pan, Prep Smoothie Bags for the Week

Happy Meal Prepping!