Diet Meal Plan For Beginners – How do you follow the Mediterranean diet? This simple Mediterranean diet meal plan with expert tips and easy recipes is the best place to start! Use it as a blueprint to plan your own meals and enjoy great Mediterranean flavors!
Named the best diet in the world several years in a row by US News and World Report and other expert organizations, the Mediterranean Diet is a healthy and well-balanced way of eating that prioritizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, lean protein (particularly from fish), and good fats from things like extra virgin olive oil and nuts.
Diet Meal Plan For Beginners
As someone who is a true daughter of the Mediterranean and who grew up living the Mediterranean lifestyle, I love to share my experience and help others learn about this delicious way of eating.
Day Healthy Meal Plan
Please Note: the information shared here on The Mediterranean Dish is intended for your general knowledge. It is not intended as a diagnosis or medical advice. Please be sure to consult your health care provider before trying a new diet or way of eating. Never ignore professional advice or delay in seeking treatment based on what you read.
While the Mediterranean diet is a plant-based or plant-rich diet, there are no big restrictive rules, deprivation, or calorie counts like with other diets. Eating the Mediterranean way is about sati, inclusion, and enjoying your favorite treats in moderation!
It’s not a “diet” in the restrictive sense, but a well-balanced eating pattern that you can customize and use day-to-day to make healthier choices that honor your body.
To help you get started, I’ve prepared a Mediterranean diet meal plan with some tips and recipes. Use my meal plan as a blueprint to help you make sustainable food choices and infuse your mealtime with lots of flavor! And when you’re ready for more, check out my list of the best Mediterranean diet recipes!
Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan Week 38
As always, be sure to check with your healthcare provider before trying a new diet or way of eating.
Here are the quick basics of what you should consume when following the Mediterranean way of eating:
Meal planning starts with the pantry. You’ll find that the Mediterranean way of eating uses simple ingredients that are available in most grocery stores (and you may already have some on hand). I have a complete Mediterranean diet shopping list for you. But aside from stocking your fridge with greens and leafy greens, and your freezer with some good wild-caught fish and other seafood, here’s a short list of pantry essentials that I keep on hand and use often in Mediterranean cooking:
As you plan your meals and meals, keep in mind the basic principles of eating the Mediterranean way. Focus more on fresh vegetables, herbs, grains, legumes, and nuts, with some lean proteins like fish and poultry. Generally, this is how I plan my Mediterranean meals for my family:
Day Clean Eating Meal Plan For The Whole Family
You’ll find hundreds of Mediterranean recipes here on our site, but we’ve put together a sample Mediterranean diet meal plan with a few easy recipes to get you started:
I created a quick at-a-glance calendar for this sample meal plan. When you download the plan by clicking the button below, you will be able to click on the recipe names to view each recipe in its entirety.
Want to learn more about the Mediterranean diet? Don’t miss our Q & A with Kelly LeBlanc, registered dietitian and director of nutrition for Oldaways, a food and nutrition nonprofit. So most of your questions answered!
For new recipes and my weekly meal plans, please subscribe to my FREE e-mail list! I would love to have you as part of The Mediterranean Dish community! You can also follow along on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook for delicious ideas and daily inspiration. Think you’re too broke, too lazy, or too culinary clueless for meal planning? Think again! Follow these 7 steps and you’ll be well on your way to a week of easy meals.
Day Clean Eating Meal Plan: 1,200 Calories
Choose two breakfast options. One will carry the burden of your breakfast so you will want to choose something that is quick, filling and economical. I don’t think anything fits that bill better than oatmeal but of course toast, smoothies, or cereal are good options too. The other breakfast is more of a treat. When it comes to the broken, lazy, and clueless categories listed above; I fall into the lazy camp. So a treat for me would be Greek yogurt with a few toppings (like granola and fruit). It takes even less time to prepare than my workhorse oats, but it’s also not as cheap. Therefore, I choose it as my secondary choice. Of course, you can get fancier with pancakes, omelettes, or whatever you like. But keep two for the week!
Plan to bring your lunch to work or school. This will keep you from dipping into your pocketbook for restaurant or cafe fare but will also ensure you have a healthy option. You can control the ingredients of your food if YOU are the one who prepares it. Below is an example of a work week’s worth of meals. Think of your packed lunches as a three-part puzzle:
Incorporate leftovers from your meals into your meals whenever possible. Salads are great for this. Throw some leftover taco filling on top of some greens and veggies and you have a taco salad! Or include a smaller portion of the protein or veggie you had for dinner as one of your side items.
Weekend meals are more of a free-for-all without a set plan. Dedicate these meals to eating the rest of your leftovers! Or if you did a great job of using them during the week, take the opportunity to treat yourself. (More on this below!)
Anti Inflammatory, Gluten Free, Mediterranean Meal Plan
Now I know this may sound crazy. But if you fall into one (or all) of the broken, lazy and clueless categories then consider how helpful this could be. Choose 7 possible meals that you can cycle through week after week. Maybe this sounds limiting but I really believe in decision fatigue. Especially where the daily 4:00 “Oh God, what am I going to have for dinner?” matter is concerned. Why not make it easy on yourself? Now I’m not saying that you choose 7 recipes and make those recipes with the LETTER over and over for the rest of the time. Choose meals that allow you to expand or simplify as needed. Meals that allow you to switch it up when you want or stick with old, tried and true favorites when you’re exhausted and on it. Let’s go through the examples below…
You don’t have to use these meals/ideas. Create your own! And you can always switch them around as needed in case you get bored or want to expand your horizons.
Better to be prepared than to suffer later! Like breakfast you’ll want to choose a few options for the week. I like to choose one that is customizable and economical, like popcorn. Super cheap and you can make it sweet, savory or spicy for whatever you’re feeling when the urge to snack hits. Then I like to choose another option that is quick and filling. This is what you will come up with in case you are HANGRY. My go-to for this is Lara bars but any type of snack you throw in your bag will work. I also like to keep some bananas or baby carrots on hand for something healthy to whip up.
You can enjoy it all week, serve unexpected guests or save it to bring with you to an event or someone’s birthday at work. No need to go crazy… think: chocolate chip cookies, brownies, no bake, plain cupcakes, fruit pies or crumbles. I share Michael Pollan’s belief that if you do it at home it’s probably not that bad. Let’s not get ourselves started. You’re going to want dessert. So, plan for it, do it at home, and then enjoy!
Metabolism Diet For Beginners
Finally, find ways to “go out to eat” that don’t involve the full dinner, drinks, and dessert rigamaroll. Complete restriction is a recipe for failure. Here are some ideas:
Choose one or two of these indulgences each week and you’ll find yourself much more able to stick to your plan. Start! Every Friday, I sit down and follow the exact steps below to create a meal plan for myself that is interesting, realistic, full of variety, and most importantly, something I look forward to. Without a plan, I feel lost! In this post, you’ll learn my step-by-step process for meal planning for beginners. I wish I had a guide like this when I started! I had to learn all this the hard way.
I’m all for being spontaneous with food when it makes sense. But sometimes it’s more trouble than it’s worth since we have to eat several times a day!
That’s why meal planning, while not sexy, is a form of self-care. You are taking care of the future yourself by skipping the
