I don’t want to count calories”.  Ok cool, you don’t need to.

“I don’t have time to cook healthy meals”

Hold my coffee …

People picture slaving away for 7 hours in the kitchen every Sunday, with stacks of tupperware containers, and think:

​”FORGET THAT, I’ll just eat out, it’s so much easier”

Here’s how to make the most ridiculously simple and easy meal plan:

PART I – PROTEIN (The centrepiece)

Choose 4-5 proteins to make up this part; These will be your “go-to” sources most days (Here’s mine for example)

1. Tuna (cheap, already portioned)
2. Ground chicken/turkey (lean & versatile)
3. Extra Lean Ground beef
4. Eggs & Egg whites
5. Chicken breast (Oh, the classic)

Your plate should be roughly 1/4 Protein.
1 Palm = 1 serving of protein. 1-2 servings per meal. (4-6oz/100-150g)

PART II – SMART CARBS: (Keep your mood up)
Choose 4-5 sources that will be your regular “go-to” carbs to add to a meal;

1. Quinoa (rice cooker for the win)
2. Chickpeas/Kidney Beans (instant pot or canned)
3. Brown/Wild Rice (rice cooker baby)
4. Potato/Yam/Purple Yam (usually baked)
5. Sprouted grain bread (less often)

Your plate should be roughly 1/4 carbs. 1 Cupped hand = 1 serving of carbs; if your goal is fat loss, stick to 1 serving per meal.

PART III – VEGGIES: (Nutrient rich, nature’s multi-vitamins)
Choose 1 or 2 Veggies to add bulk to your meal

1. Mixed bitty bits (peas, corn, carrots, beans)
2. California Mix (Broc, Cauli, carrots)
3. Brussels Sprouts
4. Butternut Squash cubes
5. Spinach (frozen for cooked, fresh for raw)

Make this roughly half of your plate. Make life easy with frozen veg.

PART IV – BUILD A PLATE: (How do I make a meal?)

1. Cook the protein first if it’s frozen
I use my Instant pot, takes about 35 mins … can oven roast as well.

2. Get the frozen veg in the oven (425 for 25 mins)
I dump them into a tray, a light spray with cooking oil, and season them.

3. Get the quinoa going in the rice cooker (approximately 20 mins)
I add some kind of seasoning to my quinoa or rice here, so it’s more flavorful.

Most of my variety comes from having about 25 different seasoning blends.

I often choose low sugar/low fat condiments such as mustard, salsa, soy sauce etc.

Notice how most of the time, I choose appliances that require little to no monitoring (rice cooker, instant pot, slow cooker, etc). It takes me less than 10 minutes to put this in motion.

PART V: WHAT ABOUT FATS (Don’t get too carried away here)
Fats will kind of end up naturally occurring, with your protein sources in particular. Limit fatty sauces, oils, dressings and condiments. Fat adds up quite quickly.

PART VI: THE FINAL WORD

It really doesn’t need to be more complicated than this. A palm-sized serving of protein, a cupped hand of carbs, half a plate of veggies.

Let the variety come from flavors and seasonings most of the time. If you have a slow cooker and/or a rice cooker, or an instant pot, it just makes life super easy.

Whenever I make a meal, I make enough for at least 2 meals and put a container in the fridge or freezer, and it saves time down the road.  I don’t make 20 containers of the same meal, because I like eating different stuff, and food being somewhat fresh.

So, pick your proteins, pick your carbs (you would base this on personal preference, and cooking methods/appliances you have available to you) and add in veggies, and you have meals.

I know, we humans think there must be some secret trick we’re missing, or if we made it more complicated, it would happen faster … it won’t. You aren’t missing a secret hack.

Your “hack” is doing this consistently. Feel free to share this.