Quick and Easy Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep for Fall

https://youtu.be/_7J-Bq8GoGU

Anti-inflammatory recipes are a great addition to a healthy eating pattern as they can help manage, prevent or reverse the effects of inflammation in the body.

Ingredients like dark leafy greens, beets and cauliflower are packed with anti-inflammatory properties which can help reduce chronic pain and prevent age-related illnesses.

Eating anti-inflammatory foods doesn’t have to be bland or boring either, as there are plenty of fresh and healthy recipes to choose from that cater to different dietary needs. Incorporating these recipes into your meal prep routine can help balance your blood sugar and reduce chronic inflammation.

What is an anti-inflammatory diet?

An anti-inflammatory diet focuses on consuming foods that have anti-inflammatory properties, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats.

It aims to reduce chronic inflammation in the body, which can help prevent chronic diseases and promote overall health and well-being.

What are the benefits of anti-inflammatory meal prep?

No matter the season, your life is probably super busy. We have 4 kids (3 at home), and regardless of whether school is in or it’s summer or even winter break, things are always sorta chaotic.

So this method has actually been a lifesaver for us so that on weeks where I don’t even have the brainpower to put a meal plan together, this is our lifeline.

We have a backup.

No thinking about it all day, no scrambling at the last minute, and definitely no ultra-processed, inflammatory, and overpriced drive-thru or takeout.

So I’m gonna show you how to meal prep with fall anti-inflammatory foods (meaning: in season for fall in the US).

I’m also linking the example meals that we made for the week with all of the produce that we got.

And if you scroll a bit, you can get the GUIDE that shows you the details for all of this so you can keep it on hand for ANY time you have weeks like this.

Step 1: Choose your produce

So for anti-inflammatory meal prep, you start out by simply choosing a bunch of SEASONAL produce.

Our shopping order for this meal prep session I got:

  • broccoli,
  • brussels sprouts,
  • kale (can be already chopped up in a bag),
  • mushrooms, you can choose any kind,
  • sweet potatoes,
  • regular potatoes,
  • an onion,
  • sage,
  • and cauliflower.

And all of this was just random stuff that I know my family will eat and that gave us a pretty good variety for meals this week.

Step 2: Prep your workspace

And after washing all the produce, I pre-heated both ovens for 350 degrees F.

The tools you’ll need for your meal prep session are a large cutting board, good knives, and roasting pans- probably with a lip, and something to line it with so stuff doesn’t stick.

Now I use something I found by accident with is a BBQ grilling mat—I love these because I can cut them to fit perfectly in my pan and NOTHING sticks to them—they come in a pack all rolled up in a box.

(Some links may be affiliate links, meaning if you click on and then purchase, I’ll get a portion of the proceeds, at no additional charge to you.) 🙂

BBQ Grill Mats

BBQ Grill Mats

>>> Check out ALL my Best Kitchen Tools for Meal Prep HERE!

Step 3: Get your base seasoning out

So our base seasoning includes avodado oil to drizzle on, I use this to cook with because it has a high smoke point. Or you can use something like this Misto spray can where you put the oil in, pump air in to build pressure, and spray it on.

Then season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and it’s ready to go in the oven.

Click the image below to grab the free Fall Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep Guide!👇

fall anti-inflammatory meal prep guide free pdf

Step 4: Prep foods that cook the longest first

So, even though I didn’t have full meals planned out when I got all this produce, I had a loose plan for a few things. So I knew I’d want to do baked potatoes one night, so since they take an hour to bake you’ll want to do these first if you’re doing baked potatoes one night.

And for baked potatoes, you just coat each one individually with oil, salt it, wrap it in foil, and then punch some holes with a fork.

Once I’ve got those all set and into the oven for one hour, I get to work chopping everything else.

Step 5: Prep all other foods that cook the same length of time

Broccoli and cauliflower

I started out with broccoli, and just basically cut all the florets off—and if you don’t like to chop you can always buy the bags where it’s pre-chopped. It does save time, but may cost a little more.

Once these were all cut up, I put them all on the pan on one end, because I put the cauliflower on the other end.

Then I started with the cauliflower and removed that large base then cut those into florets as well, breaking some of them apart. And you can also buy these prechopped if you don’t like cutting them up- it does save a lot of time and mess.

Then I placed all those on the second half of the pan where the broccoli was. I cook these on the same pan because cook at right about the same rate.

And then I wanted a bit more flavor than just our base seasoning, so I chopped an onion into chunks and just spread it out evenly on the pan.

Brussels sprouts

Next I prepped brussels sprouts, and the easiest way to do these is chop off the end piece slice them in half and lay them face down on the pan.

I arranged mine with a hole in the middle for all the loose little leaves because they get extra crispy and are a super yummy snack!

Then drizzle or spray with oil, then season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.—and they’re ready to go!

Mushrooms.

I decided to split the mushrooms and do half chopped pretty small and the other half roasted.

I chopped one half because I like to mix them in with ground meat to give it bulk and really boost the vitamin content-and my kids can never tell! I don’t precook those, so I just put them in a baggie to store in the fridge until the night I needed them.

The other half I just spread out on the pan, and I had a pack of sage I grabbed at the store as well—this is such a fragrant and nutrition-packed herb, and perfect for colder weather.

So I just chopped some of it, sprinkled it on the mushrooms, then added our oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and it’s ready to go.

Sweet potatoes

I roughly chopped the sweet potatoes because I had loosely planned mashed sweet potates with cinnamon- my kids love those- and the rest I planned to use in my lunches during the week.

But that meant that all of them needed to be chopped.

Regular potatoes

Then I started on the rest of the regular potatoes I had. So for the ones I wasn’t using for a whole baked potato, we like to sometimes do homemade fries and this tool makes it super easy.

It’s a fry cutter and has this grid blade inside to cut the potato in perfectly squared fries.

So how it works is that you take the lid off, place the potato wedge on top of that grid, then put the lid on and push it down to force the potato through the grid. And you have perfectly shaped fries.

Fry and Vegetable Cutter

Fry and Vegetable Cutter

So I repeated this process until I got all the rest of the potatoes cut, then put them with the sweet potatoes on a pan, because they cook at about the same rate. I got them all seasoned and ready for the oven.

Step 6: Put all prepped veggies into the oven

All of the veggies go into the oven at that 350 degrees F for 30 minutes- just keep an eye out and take out anything that’s cooking a little too much.

Step 7: Any veg that won’t be pre-cooked

And the last thing I prepped was kale. Since this came in a bag, I picked out any bad pieces since it was already chopped, and planned to wilt some one night for dinner, and then would have a massaged kale salad one night as well.

So once all the bad pieces were picked out I just stored it in a Ziploc in the fridge.

Step 8: Remove veggies from oven

And when they’re done, just take all the pans out, and let them cool…

Step 9: Store prepped veggies

Then start putting them into your storage containers.

I do recommend putting them in separate containers because some veggies do have a higher water content and a lot of times they get a little bit mushy in there and you don’t want that water running into the other vegetables.

And then you’ve got all your veggies prepped for the week! You can store all of these AND your baked potatoes in the fridge until the night you need them.

4+ Meals with pre-prepped fall anti-inflammatory vegetables

The meals we cooked with our freestyle meal prep session were:

Chicken sausage with the broccoli and cauliflower,

Baked potato with shredded chicken, sugar-free bbq sauce, mushrooms, and brussels sprouts,

Turkey burgers that had the chopped mushrooms with sage built into it, and those homemade fries with Dijon mustard for dipping, and a massaged kale salad, AND

Lemony baked cod with wilted kale and mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon.

And there ya go! That’s how to do Fall Anti-Inflammatory Meal prep!

Don’t forget to click the image below to grab the free Fall Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep Guide! 👇

📌PIN IT FOR LATER!

5 Natural Best Sugar Substitutes for Managing Blood Sugar and Reducing Inflammation

Whether you need to balance your blood sugar, calm inflammation, are trying to lose weight, or just cut out sugar for your health, finding the best sugar substitute is going to be a really crucial thing to keep you on track.

As a former sugar addict, I can testify that beginning an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle by cutting out sugar and trying to find the best sugar substitute can be super hard when you imagine all the sweets you now CAN’T have.

5 best sugar substitutes for diabetics to manage blood sugar and reduce inflammation

But the truth is, there are a ton of things you can still enjoy, and sweets you can have when eating an anti-inflammatory diet. The trick is to use the right sweeteners.

Different sugar substitutes and how to choose the best one based on your health goals

One of the first things we do when shifting into an anti-inflammatory diet is cutting out sugar and refined carbs. This is because sugar drives inflammation and blood sugar spikes, and both of those things lead to insulin resistance.

The problem with going sugar-free is that there are so many different alternatives, and marketing by the companies that make them can create a lot of confusion about what the best options might be.

So we’re gonna cover :

  • Natural sweeteners
  • Artificial sweeteners
  • Sugar-free natural sweeteners
  • Which would be your best option in going sugar-free that will help you reach your health goals
  • Give recommendations on favorite brands and where to find them

Natural sweeteners

When it comes to sugar substitutes that are considered natural, these options usually come into play when people are looking for unrefined options other than regular sugar.

Natural unrefined sweeteners can include:

  • honey,
  • pure maple syrup,
  • coconut sugar,
  • and agave.
natural sweeteners in bowls on a table including honey, coconut sugar, and maple syrup

And, in fact, these can be really popular ingredients used in a Paleo diet, which is based on whole foods.

The problem with these sweeteners is that they’re STILL sugar.

So for someone who needs precise blood sugar management, and for a reduction in chronic inflammation, getting rid of all added sugars—even those that are unrefined—is going to be really important.

Another aspect to this is that there are a lot of people who do emotional eating and are hooked on sweets, and it’s really easy to convince yourself that you can still eat those types of foods and recipes that use natural sugars just because it’s unrefined.

Keeping yourself stuck on those added sugars – even when they’re natural and unrefined—is a critical mistake that’s keeping yourself locked in that emotional eating cycle.

Laura @ TRUEWELL
woman emotional eating sugar

So my recommendation for these sweeteners is to cut them out, especially when you’re first trying to start a sugar-free diet, so that your body and your brain can reset itself to not have cravings for it.

If you find that you’re in that spot where you feel like you can’t quit eating sugar and refined carbs, CLICK HERE for more resources on breaking free from emotional eating and sugar.

Artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are created in a lab, and they date back to the 70s and some are more recent.

The problems with these types of sweeteners is that they:

  1. Disrupt your gut bacteria
  2. Can disrupt insulin signaling and increase the chances of insulin resistance
  3. Some have been connected with certain types of cancers.

The gut bacteria piece is really important because 70-80% of your immune system is in your gut, and your gut also produces about 95% of the serotonin in your body, which is one of the main neurotransmitters related to anxiety and depression.

Gut bacteria also play a role in insulin resistance and become really important for anyone with conditions like prediabetes, diabetes, and PCOS, just to name a few.

Other conditions like autoimmune conditions and other inflammatory conditions rely on gut health as well, because leaky gut allows proteins, toxins, and bacteria to get through that gut barrier, which worsens those conditions.

Some studies have also shown that eating artificial sweeteners can impair the body’s ability to recognize when it truly needs insulin. So if your body is pumping out insulin when you don’t need it, it pulls down blood sugar levels too low, then the body tries to compensate for that, and not only are you on a blood sugar rollercoaster, but that additional insulin is telling your body to store fat.

artificial sweetener packets in a jar

You can recognize artificial sweeteners in a couple of different ways.

When you go into a restaurant or coffee shop, they’re the pink, blue, and yellow packets.

The names for artificial sweeteners are:

  • Sucralose, which goes under the brand name Splenda for the most part-and uses the yellow packet;
  • Aspartame and/or Acesulfame potassium/ Ace K are under the brand names Nutrisweet or Equal and are in the blue packet;
  • Saccharine, which goes under the brand name Sweet & Low, and is in the pink packet.

Get familiar with these names because so many sugar-free products use these sweeteners in them, and once you can recognize these names, you’ll know which of those foods and drinks to avoid.

Natural zero-calorie sweeteners

1. Stevia

Stevia, derived from the leaves of the Stevia plant, is a popular natural sweetener known for its zero-calorie and zero-glycemic impact.

It’s from 200-350x sweeter than sugar but it can have a bit of a bitter aftertaste. I personally don’t mind it, but it can taste a lot like the aftertaste that a diet soft drink would have.

stevia sugar substitute in a bowl with a stevia plant

You can get stevia in liquid form, which usually has an alcohol or glycerine base, or in powdered form. The powdered form is where this gets a bit tricky because a really common powder base is dextrin, which is a sugar.

So if you opt for powdered stevia, find one that is either mixed with erythritol, or in the pure powdered form (links for my faves are below).

2. Monk Fruit

Monk fruit is another sweetener that comes from a plant—it’s from a fruit that’s native to southern China. Monk fruit is about 100-250 times sweeter than sugar.

Studies are showing that monk fruit has antioxidants that support reduced inflammation and anti-cancer properties. It also is a mild antihistamine.

The flavor of monk fruit is far less bitter than stevia, and monk fruit is great for baking.

It can also be found in liquid and powder form, but the powder form is often a blend with erythritol (links for my faves are below).

monk fruit sugar substitute for diabetics

3. Allulose

Allulose is a newer sugar substitute that is found in some fruits and corn. It’s only about 70% as sweet as sugar and has around 10% of the calories of the same measurement of table sugar.

Allulose bakes and freezes like sugar, but keep in mind that unless the package says it’s a cup-for-cup equivalent to substitute for sugar, you may have to do some calculations to substitute it.

Allulose does not have an impact on blood sugar and can also be found in liquid, powder, and granulated forms—but remember that it does still have calories (links for my faves are below).

4. Sugar Alcohols

Sugar alcohols don’t actually contain sugar or alcohol. But they are becoming more popular because they don’t have the bitter aftertaste that other sugar substitutes do.

They have only about half the calories of sugar and they don’t absorb well in the intestines, meaning they don’t contribute to the same amount of carbohydrates that sugar would in the same amount.

The most popular types are erythritol and xylitol. (Links for my faves are below).

spoon of sugar

A) Erythritol

Erythritol has gained attention in the last few years because it’s being mixed with many other natural sugar substitutes. This helps with flavor profile and the ability to measure it cup for cup as you would sugar.

Erythritol has a cooling sensation besides tasting a lot like sugar. But it can cause stomach upset for people with GI issues.

B) Xylitol

Xylitol is another sugar alcohol that occurs naturally in many fruits and vegetables, but is produced commercially from corn cob and birch bark. The sweetness is similar to sugar, but contains 40% less calories than sugar and gives an extremely small blood glucose response.

Xylitol has been shown to have a lot of health benefits, including having anti-inflammatory effects, possibly preventing ear infections, and is an amazing sweetener for gum and foods because it can help prevent tooth decay.

And in recent years is being used in neti pots and nasal spray because it can help break up mucous and has anti-microbial and anti-viral properties.

The downside of xylitol is that it can cause GI disturbances and it’s extremely toxic to dogs.

What’s the best sugar substitute option?

So, overall, before making recommendations, I want to emphasize that there is still a LOT of research to be done on all of these alternatives.

From the studies we have so far, I recommend staying away from the artificial sweeteners altogether. These are your yellow, pink, and blue packets and those names that we talked about associated with them.

For the natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup, I also recommend getting away from those as well because of the blood sugar spikes and inflammation that those can still cause. Those are all STILL SUGAR.

And then in the natural sugar-free options, take these ideas into consideration when choosing…

1-Choosing based on taste:

First, I’d recommend that you try a few and experiment with the taste, and with adding them to different types of things. Like maybe you experiment with adding it into a pitcher of tea, your coffee, maybe a vinaigrette, and then also try baking with it.

Come at it from an experimental frame of mind.

woman drinking tea with sugar substitute

2- Choosing based on conditions:

If you’re dealing with a condition like IBS, IBD, or other GI conditions—including leaky gut or autoimmune issues, the sugar alcohol options may not be the best option for you. You can always try just a little and see how it affects you and then go from there.

If you have allergies, monk fruit may be your best option.

And if you have frequent sinus or ear infections or oral infections, xylitol may be your best option.

3- Choosing based on cost:

Some of these can be much more expensive than others.

One trick I use on this front is if I find something that’s more expensive but that I really like, it gives me more incentive to wean myself back from it. And in the case of weaning off of sugar and sweets, this is a good tactic to help with that.

Check out all the links below for more resources and where to find these, let me know in the comments what other questions you have about going sugar-free!

*These links may be affiliate links, meaning if you click through I may get a small portion of the proceeds, with no extra cost to you.

Best Tasting Stevia

So when we’re talking best stevia brand, specifically for flavor, this is a tough one. This is because everyone’s tastes are so completely different, you really won’t know until you TRY them!

Here’s why–stevia is a liquid from the stevia leaf, so they need to either add it to a liquid carrier, or make it into powdered form. In a liquid carrier, this can be alcohol or glycerine. This is the brand that I use, and it’s a larger bottle, so it lasts a long time and sweetens my coffee every morning, sugar-free and carb-free!: 👇

Natrisweet Liquid Stevia Drops

Natrasweet Liquid Stevia Drops

This post may have affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra charge to you.

EXPLORE ALL LIQUID STEVIA OPTIONS HERE!

In powdered form, usually this sometimes means adding raw stevia to a powder or granulated base. Sometimes this is maltodextrin, sometimes it’s erythritol.

This makes it in powdered form in a volume so you can measure it cup for cup when doing low carb baking or keto baking.

Like I mentioned before, you want to stay away from the ones with dextrin or maltodextrin. This is a sugar, even though it’s a small amount. But it’s usually from GMO corn, which is coated in toxic chemicals.

If you want powdered stevia that’s pure with no fillers, I recommend these brands:

Pyure:

Pyure Liquid Stevia

Pyure Liquid Stevia

Bulk Supplements:

Bulk Supplements Pure Stevia Powder

Bulk Supplements Pure Stevia Powder

Better Stevia:

Better Stevia Pure Powdered Stevia

Better Stevia Pure Powdered Stevia

For Stevia mixed with erythritol, I recommend:

Truvia:

Splenda (the brand name has now begun making stevia/erythritol blends that do NOT contain sucralose):

Splenda Stevia Sweetener

Splenda Stevia Sweetener

EXPLORE ALL POWDERED STEVIA HERE!

Stevia on the go

One last word about stevia– I love it because it’s also made in little packets (like ones on the restaurant tables) that are super convenient to carry in your purse and use when going out to eat! JUST KNOW—the ones made with erythritol do NOT dissolve very well in cold beverages. So you may have to stir for a bit.

I keep them in my purse at all times and use them instead of the awful artificial sweeteners when I’m out.

Happy Belly (Amazon’s brand):

Happy Belly Stevia Packets

Happy Belly Stevia Packets

Nativo:

Nativo Stevia Packets

Nativo Stevia Packets

EXPLORE ALL STEVIA PACKETS AND BRANDS HERE!

Erythritol:

If you’re totally fine on sugar alcohols, erythritol can be purchased in bulk packages, or as brand names that have different flavorings added.

I personally like the Swerve brand because it includes inulin, which is a prebiotic that feeds our good gut bacteria.

The brand Swerve offers one that is a white sugar substitute, one that is a powdered sugar substitute, and another that’s a brown sugar substitute.

Here’s where to buy Swerve sweetener: sometimes the local grocery store will have it, or you can find it here: 👇

Swerve Granular

Swerve Granular Sweetener

Swerve Brown

Swerve Brown Sugar Sweetener

Swerve Confectioners Sweetener

Swerve Confectioners Sweetener

EXPLORE ALL ERYTHRITOL OPTIONS HERE!

Xylitol

The other recommended sugar alcohol is xylitol. This one has health benefits, but can be much harder on the GI tract. It’s different for everyone.

Now Foods Xylitol:

Now Foods Xylitol

Now Foods Xylitol

Monk Fruit

Next is monk fruit. It can be hard to find monk fruit on its own. The liquid drops are awesome for sweetening beverages, especially on the go. I don’t recommend the Splenda brand for this because of the preservatives they add. Instead I recommend this brand: 👇

SubSugar Liquid Monk Fruit

SubSugar Liquid Monk Fruit

EXPLORE ALL LIQUID MONK FRUIT EXTRACTS

In powdered form, it is usually either mixed with erythritol or maltodextrin. Like mentioned before, the maltodextrin or dextrose is made from GMO corn, and is still a sugar. So I recommend staying away from those.

There are a ton of different brands of powdered monk fruit, so again–your best bet is to maybe look at reviews online and see what resonates with you, in addition to what properties you’re looking for, and then of those find the one that tastes best to you and your family.

Here are some powdered pure monk fruit options:

Durelife Organic Monk Fruit Powder

Durelife Organic Monk Fruit Powder

Natrisweet Monk Fruit Extract Powder

Natrisweet Monk Fruit Extract Powder

The next option would be monk fruit that is granulated with erythritol:

EXPLORE ALL POWDERED MONK FRUIT HERE!

Allulose

Allulose is the newest of all the sweeteners I recommend. It’s about 70% as sweet as sugar, so even though you can find it on its own, it is normally blended with a sweetener that is much sweeter than sugar to be able to get that cup per cup same measurement as sugar for recipes.

Here are my recommendations for pure allulose:

Durelife Pure Allulose

Durelife Pure Allulose

FitLane Nutrition Pure Allulose

FitLane Nutrition Pure Allulose

Natural sweetener BLENDS:

One cool thing that food manufacturers have found is that blending some of these sweeteners can cut the unfavorable flavors and make the blend taste way more like regular sugar.

It also helps that the ratio of sweetness is different for those sweeteners as well so that they can mix it to be cup-for-cup measurements of what regular sugar would be in recipes.

If you’re ok with erythritol (you don’t experience any GI effects), try out some of the erythritol and monk fruit or stevia blends. It’s also great to try out the allulose blends as well and find the one that works best for you and your family.

Here are some of my favorites that we use:

Lakanto Monk Fruit Blend

Lakanto Monk Fruit Blend

Durelife Monkfruit Blend

Durelife Monkfruit Blend

In the Raw All Purpose Sweetener Blend

In the Raw All Purpose Sweetener Blend

Let me know in the comments which one/s are your favorite!

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5 best sugar substitutes for managing blood sugar and reducing inflammation

Summer Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep to Beat the Heat in Under an Hour

Today we’re doing anti-inflammatory meal prep for SUMMER that balances blood sugar, fights inflammation, and packs in nutrients from fresh seasonal produce.

I really love to eat seasonally, I think mother nature provides us with specific nutrients we need for each season, but also—it costs less to buy produce that’s in season.

summer anti inflammatory meal prep plan guide gluten free sugar free

Now I love to prep ingredients to be able to throw together, but I also know that weeks are CRAZY so it’s also important to have recipes that you’ve prepped for so you have as little as possible to think about during the week.

That being said—let me know in the comments if you like doing meal prep with actual recipes—or if you like prepping ingredients to assemble meals and snacks as you see fit throughout the week.

So this summer meal prep does both of those things – And I’ve created a PDF with instructions and links to the recipes so you can do this meal prep easily at home. 👇

Get the (free) Summer Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep Guide!

summer anti inflammatory meal plan

Beat the summer heat with this 1-week gluten-free, sugar-free meal plan and prep guide! Featuring delicious anti-inflammatory recipes from fresh summer produce!

So today we’re meal prepping :

  • Cherry Almond Smoothies
  • A batch of Low Carb Blueberry  Scones

And our summer anti-inflammatory dinners we’re prepping vegetables and sauces for this week are:

  • Grilled salmon with sauteed green beans
  • Paleo Chicken Fajita bowls
  • Low Carb chicken and eggplant Parmesan casserole
  • Pesto chicken and zucchini and squash medley
Grilled Salmon with Sauteed Green Beans

Grilled Salmon with Sauteed Green Beans

Low Carb Eggplant Parmesan Casserole

Low Carb Eggplant Parmesan Casserole

Paleo Chicken Fajita Bowls

Paleo Chicken Fajita Bowls

Pesto Chicken with Zucchini and Squash Medley

Pesto Chicken with Zucchini and Squash Medley

So let’s get started prepping!

Summer anti-inflammatory meal prep steps

woman unpackaging summer vegetables on a countertop

Pre-step 1: Get out your prep foods and supplies, and wash everything

So to get started I get all that produce out. I get out my cutting board, my good knives, and a pan to roast the veggies on.

Then I go ahead and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and wash all the veggies really well.

placing a sil-mat on a sheet pan with summer vegetables on a counter top

Some people like to use a Sil match to roast veggies on because stuff doesn’t stick, but I found it really hard to find one of these that fits my pan perfectly.

I do still use this for things that I bake that won’t leak into the oven, but for roasting veggies I found a secret kitchen tool that I accidentally stumbled onto.

It’s a barbecue grill mat and I’m telling you nothing sticks to this! They usually come in a pack rolled up all nice in a box (linked below).

placing a grill mat onto a sheet pan with summer vegetables on a countertop

And what I do is actually cut them to fit my pans that have lips so that they fit perfectly. And I’ve done this with baking sheets and I’ve also done this with CorningWare dishes.

(Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link, so if you decide to purchase this product, I made a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra charge to you.)

BBQ Grill Mats

BBQ Grill Mats

>>> Check out ALL my Best Kitchen Tools for Meal Prep HERE!

Now for this summer meal prep session, I’ve got zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, green beans, bell peppers, and onions.

summer vegetables on a cutting board and counter top

Step 1: Chop

Once I make sure that everything’s been washed, I get started chopping.

So the way you want to chop veggies when you’re roasting them for meal prep like this is to try and cut them all around the same size. This just ensures that all those vegetable chunks cook at about the same rate.

Squash and zucchini

For the squash and zucchini, I just slice them in half lengthwise and then just chop slices all the way down.

sliced eggplant on a cutting board

Eggplant

Eggplants are tricky for some because they are part of the food family called nightshades. Nightshades cause inflammation in some people, but this isn’t a guarantee. Research has shown that nightshades causing inflammation is highly personal to each individual and any conditions they have, and the best way to know if you personally react is to do an elimination diet.

I like eggplants because they’re pretty filling but they have a soft texture without being mushy with liquid. Eggplant slices are really great for eggplant parmigiana, so it may help to slice it if you’d like to use it that way.

I’ve been told by an Italian chef before that they sometimes do that and leave the skin on to help the eggplant slice stay intact during cooking.

But I also like to peel mine and cut it into those kind of half-slices or half-moon slices to roast as well. One thing I’ve learned through the years about eggplant is that you may need to switch your peeling tool depending on the thickness of the skin.

For safety’s sake use a much smaller paring knife to get the eggplant skin off.

peppers and onions on a sheet pan

Bell peppers and onions

Then I moved on to my peppers and onions. For bell peppers, I usually will cut off the top and then I’ll work the knife around the insides to pull out that seed pod.

Then I’ll turn it upside down and give it a tap to get all those seeds out and then flip it upside down to cut it into slices. I did the same thing with my green, red, and orange bell peppers.

Then when those were done I peeled the skin of my onion. And then I cut the rest of it into larger slices to roast with the bell peppers.

These all get spread out onto a lined sheet pan as well.

Seasoning

Once I’ve got enough veggies to fill a pan I place all the chunks in sections.

The easiest way to prep roasted veggies–especially when you have recipes from different cuisines–is to do just the basic seasoning of:

  1. oil,
  2. salt,
  3. pepper,
  4. and garlic powder if you want

I used avocado oil because it has good monounsaturated fats, which is great for pulling down inflammation, and it also has a high smoke point. You can use the mister if you want a lighter coating of oil rather than it being drizzled.

Step 2A: Roast

Then everything’s ready and goes into the oven. We have a double oven so I actually take full advantage of that on days like this when I’ve got several pans to cook all at the same time.

I’ll just leave the light on in there so I can check in case something may need to come out a little earlier.

roasted summer vegetables on a baking sheet

The general time that I cook these summer vegetables is about 30 minutes.

While those are cooking, I’m gonna take advantage of that time in the oven and chop anything else, mix up my batter for the blueberry scones, and then assemble my marinades and sauces.

Other veggies that don’t get cooked

The last thing in this session that I did was chop green beans. I do like roasted green beans, but we’re having Grilled Salmon with Sauteed Green Beans for one of our meals this week.

I love sauteing green beans during the summer because the fresh ones taste really great when they still have a bit of crunch to them.

cutting green beans on a cutting board

So the green beans did not get roasted but they did get put into a storage container in the fridge.

Step 2B: Bake

And while everything is still roasting, we’re gonna mix our scone batter.

I want to go ahead and mix my batter for the Low-Carb Blueberry Scones, because as soon as the roasted veggies come out of the oven, the scones go in.

We start out mixing the dry ingredients, mix in all the wet ingredients, and then combine it really well. Then pour the batter onto a pan lined with parchment and shape it into a circle.

Chopping fruit

The summer fruits we’re using this week are blueberries, cherries, and limes.

The lime just needs to be sliced and juiced which takes no time, so I’m gonna leave that till the night I need it.

And I’m using frozen tart cherries, but if you’re using fresh, you’ll need to wash them, take the stems off, and pit the cherries to get the seed out. Then you’ll want to freeze them in a baggie until you need them for your smoothies because you want them to be nice and frozen.

So really the only prep for fruit is the cherries if you need to do that.

Chopping herbs

And then moved on to the herbs. This week I need cilantro and basil.

So I’m just gonna take the amount needed from the recipes and pull it from the stems.

herbs on a cutting board

Both of these recipes require the blender, so there’s really no need to go all out chopping these herbs unless your blender has a hard time pulling larger leaves like that down while it’s blending.

Veggies out | Scones in

By this time the veggies should be done in the oven, so we’ll pull the roasted veggies out of the oven to let them cool, and then the low carb blueberry scones go in at 350 F for 30 min.

Step 3: Assemble

Now that everything’s chopped and ready, and I’m still waiting on the scones to finish baking, I can start assembling prep packs and containers for stuff that will go in the fridge until the night or day I need it.

Smoothie packs

So let’s start with the Cherry Almond Smoothie packs. I’m making 2 of these for the week, and we just throw all the ingredients into a baggie that’s labeled.

These little handy things I’m using are called Baggie Stands, and I’m telling you—this makes it SO much easier to use baggies for storage when you have anything liquid, because if it tips at all—you’ve got liquid all over the counter if you don’t use these things.

That does NOT happen with these baggie stands.

You can grab them here: 👇

Baggie Stand Holders

Baggie Stand Holders

>>> Check out ALL my Best Kitchen Tools for Meal Prep HERE!

This recipe also includes a few ice cubes, but we hold off on those until the day we make them.

You can write instructions for the ice on the baggie too if you want. And then once those are made, they go in the fridge.

Marinades, dips, dressings

Next we’ll mix the marinades, dips, and dressings.

Fresh Cilantro Lime Dressing

The Cilantro Lime Dressing is gonna go on our Paleo Fajita Chicken Bowls and can also be used for dressing on salads, so you can double or triple this recipe if you want.

cilantro lime dressing with an avocado and lime

The ingredients just go all in the blender, blend it on high, and pour it into a container to seal and store in the fridge.

Homemade Low-Carb Marinara

Nex is our Homemade Low Carb Marinara for the Low-Carb Eggplant Parmesan Casserole. Now if you can find no-sugar added marinara in the store, it may be easier for you to just buy it made already. If you can’t, then this recipe is great.

And as long as you can find crushed tomatoes, you don’t even need to blend it if you don’t want to.

low carb marinara in a jar

Simply pour the ingredients into a saucepan, let it cook about 10-15 minutes, then when it’s cooled, store it in a jar in the fridge.

Fresh Easy Pesto

And last is our Easy Pesto—this is for our Pesto Chicken with Zucchini and Squash Medley, and again—is super easy.

All the ingredients go into the blender.

Now if you can’t find pine nuts, a good alternative is macadamia or even cashews.

pesto in a container with crackers and basil leaves on a platter

You just throw it into the blender, pulse it several times and then pour it into a container to seal and store in the fridge.

Scones out

When the timer goes off, you’ll pull the scones out of the oven and let them cool before cutting into them.

sugar free gluten free blueberry scones

You can alternately wrap the whole thing and store it in the fridge and cut it as needed during the week.

Cooling + storing meal prepped vegetables

The last step is getting the cooled veggies into containers to store in the fridge.

In our house, we use glass Pyrex storage containers that are rectangular shaped. I’m not sure who thought using round containers inside of a square-shaped fridge was a good idea of it in our house it pushes other dishes around and nearly pops them out of the fridge regularly, so we use square or rectangular shaped.

And then when they’re cool enough put the lids on and you can stack them nice and neat in the fridge until you need them during the week.

anti inflammatory foods in meal prep containers

Then during the week, you have all your veggie components ready to go for the week for these recipes.

And if you happen to have leftovers from your meal prep at the end of the week, my favorite way to use it is to make a nourish bowl or macro bowl with all the leftovers.

Now, as I mentioned at the start, I’ve created a summer meal prep guide for you that should hopefully make meal prep a little easier because it has the full prep guide as well as links to all the recipes.

And—when you grab the free PDF for the summer meal prep, you also get a huge discount on the blood sugar balancing Summer Anti Inflammatory Meal Prep Kit that has 4 weeks of summer meal plans, full recipes, and prep guides that include breakfast and snacks, lunches, dinners, and even desserts and cocktails—all sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free adaptable!

Get the (free) Summer Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep Guide!

summer anti inflammatory meal plan

Beat the summer heat with this 1-week gluten-free, sugar-free meal plan and prep guide! Featuring delicious anti-inflammatory recipes from fresh summer produce!

Let me know in the comments: What summer anti-inflammatory meals are your favorites?! 💖 🍍

📌PIN IT FOR LATER! 👇

The 15+ Amazing Best Kitchen Tools for Meal Prep that I Use Every Week

These are the best kitchen tools for meal prep that I use and LOVE in my household and recommend to others!

Meal prep isn’t just a trend, it’s really a revolution of efficiency. But truthfully, it gets even more efficient when you have the proper and best kitchen tools for meal prep.

As a nutrition specialist and health coach, some of the first things I discuss with clients are the roadblocks to making healthy eating happen, whether it’s general healthy foods or sticking to a dietary style for weight loss , food intolerance, reducing inflammation, or managing a condition like prediabetes. Lack of time is usually the biggest reason named, but it doesn’t have to be (which is what I work through with clients).

My philosophy is to always merge healthy + efficient to make an anti-inflammatory lifestyle doable daily.

Here are the best kitchen tools for meal prep that I feel are the most efficient in their own right to make meal prep happen with the least amount of frustration.

best kitchen tools for meal prep

Ninja all-in-one system

Ninja All-In-One System

Ninja All-In-One System

This Ninja system has everything you need to chop, dice, spiralize, blend, cream, and so much more! It comes with a bullet-sized smoothie cup, large blender, crazy-sharp blades that are absolutely amazing, a food processor bowl for chopping and ricing, and the smaller attachment for grating and spiralizing.

It also includes a dough blade! This system eliminates the need for 3 different appliances, and also has preset functions so you can push the button and walk away while it does its thing!

Instant pot 8-quart 9-in-1

Instant Pot 7-in-1

Instant Pot 7-in-1

This larger 8-quart Instant Pot has the size to cook larger or smaller amounts, and eliminates the need for a separate slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, saute pan, and more!

You can sear meat right in the pot before setting to slow cooker, you can use as a pressure cooker and even cook meats that came straight from the freezer (anyone forget to thaw something for dinner??), and it has settings for different types of meats, rice, eggs, yogurt, potatoes, and so much more.

It seriously eliminates the need for multiple different cooking devices! It even has a function for sterilizing! (Baby toys or bottles, anyone?) My feeling, especially if you have a lack of space, is that the best kitchen tools for meal prep can multi-task.

(I like the larger size because it can fit so much more or cook less.) And if you really wanna get high-tech crazy, there’s even a “Smart Wifi” model!

KitchenAid Stand Mixer

The KitchenAid stand mixer is another amazing all-in-one. It obviously mixes hands-free, but it comes with dough hook attachment AND whisk attachment.

But it also has a MILLION AND ONE add-ons! For example, meat grinder, spiralizer, pasta maker, juicer…. honestly the list goes on! The Aqua Sky color is the most popular, but check out the link below to explore all color options!

KitchenAid Stand Mixer

KitchenAid Stand Mixer

Silmat set

Silicone Baking Mat

Silicone Baking Mat

Ok, this may sound crazy, but this Silmat is amazing and eliminates the use of oil sprays or coatings when baking! I love that I have the option of cooking oil-free and know that it won’t stick!

I also love that this set has multiple sizes since not all baking sheets are the same size.

These can be used in baking sheets (whether baking, cooking, or roasting) or on the countertop for rolling out doughs WITHOUT the use of extra flour! The best kitchen tools for meal prep will also help eliminate extra ‘stuff’ you have might otherwise have to buy, like parchment paper, oil, flour, etc.

BBQ Grill Mats (my secret tool!)

BBQ Grill Mats

BBQ Grill Mats

Even though I love silmats, they pose the problem of not ever fitting inside my rimmed baking sheets or even my corningware and glass dishes. These BBQ grill mats solve that problem because they can be CUT to FIT PERFECTLY inside any pan!

Not only that, NOTHING sticks to them, and they’re easy to clean! (Win-win!)

Baggie Stand holders

Baggie Stand Holders

Baggie Stand Holders

Baggie stands are something I never knew I needed until I used them. Like something in my head told me this would be incredibly helpful, but having them makes my life so much easier when I meal prep!!

(Ever have a biggie fall over while pouring liquid in? 😭Yeah…no bueno.) With these baggie stands– PROBLEM SOLVED!

Reusable Storage Bags

Qinline Reusable Food Storage Bags

Qinline Reusable Food Storage Bags

If you’re a serial MEAL PREPPER like I am, or even WANT TO BE— these reusable storage bags ARE FOR YOU! I use a TON of baggies in meal prep!!

We also send berries, chips, granola, etc in baggies for the kids to school because we either make our own stuff, or buy the large bag and divide for cheaper snacks.

These reusable bags eliminate the overwhelming amount of plastic being thrown away, but also the overwhelming amount of baggies I’m buying every month!

Glass Food Storage Containers

Glass Food Storage Containers

Glass Food Storage Containers

Whether you do weekly meal prep or not, getting rid of plastic food storage containers is a MAJOR upgrade for your health!

I love these glass storage containers because they’re dishwasher safe, microwave safe, oven safe, and even freezer safe! They’re extremely versatile! Perfect for meal prep. Perfect for leftovers. Without the icky BPA.

Also, they don’t melt in the dishwasher. All the plastic meal prep containers you can buy will eventually lose their shapes (sometimes sooner, depending on the water temperature in your dishwasher). The glass meal prep containers are good to go forever.

And one last point– I’ve switched to rectangular and square-shaped storage containers because I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to try and fit a round storage container in a square-shaped fridge, but I’m done having dishes ‘pop’ out of the fridge when trying to find something or make room for something else. 😉

Misto Oil Sprayer

Misto Oil Sprayer

Misto Oil Sprayer

For some dietary styles, reducing total oil is a must. And honestly, sometimes a ‘drizzle’ is a bit too heavy when it comes to oil.

Which is why I love the Misto oil sprayer. It’s free of butane (like is in cooking spray you buy at the grocery store) and you can use the type and quality of oil YOU prefer.

Silicone Muffin Pans

Silicone Muffin Pans

Silicone Muffin Pans

Silicone muffin pans are a dream for bakers and meal preppers alike! No more rusty pans. No more muffin papers.

No more sticking or using non-stick sprays. Oh yeah, and no more washing silicone muffin wrappers individually!!​ HUGE time saver for me!! (Remember: healthy + efficient!)

Saute Pans + Skillet

All Clad Sautee Pan + Skillet

All Clad Sautee Pan + Skillet

In case you’re been under a rock the last decade, you already know the reason Teflon isn’t normally used on skillets any more. And although that non-stick surface was hella useful, it’s crazy toxic.

Next best non-stick thing? Ceramic-coating! (If you have an induction cooktop, make sure to confirm the cookware works on it before purchasing!)

Fry Cutter

Fry and Vegetable Cutter

Fry and Vegetable Cutter

Although it’s not hard cutting a potato, cutting them into perfectly sized fries can be super tedious. That’s why I love our fry cutter.

One disclaimer on this one: I have several videos where I use a different brand. The one I use has never given us trouble, but on Amazon, it has a pretty low rating.

So I linked to an alternative with much better reviews and one that’s pretty darn durable. If your family likes home fries, this thing saves a TON of time and headache!

Enamel Coated Cookware

Enamel Coated Cookware

Enamel Coated Cookware

If you love the versatility of being able to go from cooktop to oven, or even fridge to cooktop or oven, then enamel coated cookware is the way to go!

The only ‘con’ I have to these is that they are very heavy because they’re cast-iron on the inside, and that means my kiddos can’t feasibly handle them, and also it means it’s nearly impossible to hold the skillets at an angle to pour contents out.

Otherwise, these pieces should last for years (and many high-end brands like Le Creuset should last a lifetime). Plus you can get them in a ton of really preeeetty colors! 🌈

Good Knives

Samurai Carbon Knife Set

Samurai Carbon Knife Set

The best kitchen tools for meal prep will always include a quality set of sharp knives. A good sharp set of knives can mean the difference between beautifully and quickly sliced foods and an urgent trip to the ER.

Invest in some really good knives!! Better knives cost more, but they last longer and are more durable. Plus if they get dull, you can sharpen them!

Mixing Bowls

KitchenAid Nesting Mixing Bowls

KitchenAid Nesting Mixing Bowls

This may sound like silly advice, but coming from someone who VALUES minimalism these days, a really GOOD, DURABLE, POURABLE, and STACKABLE set of mixing bowls that only takes up a SINGLE shelf in my kitchen is a mega win!! 🏅

Not to mention that this specific set has graters and a slicer you can attach right on top of the bowl!!

Proper Labeling Tools #1: Sharpies

Sharpies

Sharpies

When doing meal prep, the gold standard for labeling baggies is the good ole’ Sharpie. And while I LOVE me some colored Sharpies, unfortunately teal and lighter colors just won’t cut it. Use BLACK, DARK BLUE, PURPLE, or RED.

Proper Labeling Tools #2: Dry Erase Markers

Dry Erase Markers with Magnetic Cap

Dry Erase Markers with Magnetic Cap

Guess what—DRY ERASE markers aren’t ONLY for a dry erase board!! They’re PERFECT for labeling FOOD CONTAINERS when you’re meal prepping or have leftovers!! 🤩

THESE dry erase markers are my favorite, because they have a fine tip, are black (same importance as the Sharpie situation), and they have a magnet, so you can keep it on the side of the fridge for easy access when labeling leftover containers!

*And a tip–although you may be super tempted to use the wet-erase version (usually Vis-a-Vis brand), DON’T! If any moisture gets on the container, the words will smear right off onto your hands and then take 17 days to get off… speaking from experience.)

Meal Prep Cutting Board

Meal Prep Cutting Board with Drawers and Graters

Meal Prep Cutting Board with Drawers and Graters

Ok, so I’ve saved the BEST for last. I never realized how much of a pain it was cutting up tons of veggies and fruits for meal prep until I started. This is my FAVORITE thing ever!

A cutting board with containers for what you’ve chopped under it! Eeeekkk! There are a couple of other options for meal prep cutting boards, but this one is by far my favorite!

So there ya have it! My list of the 15 best kitchen tools for meal prep! Keep in mind it’s not a dire situation if you don’t have these or can’t afford them right now. They simply make it easier to meal prep.

Got any more suggestions? Let’s hear them in the comments below!

Know someone that could use advice on what the best kitchen meal prep tools are? SHARE this post!

best kitchen tools for meal prep

Top 3 Mistakes in Anti Inflammatory Meal Planning + What to Do Instead

So look, meal planning can be tough enough on its own, but when you add in a dietary style that you’re totally new to, that just makes it that much more complicated. 

When doing anti-inflammatory meal planning there are three major mistakes that I see clients making over and over again that are costing you serious time, money, and the ability to get those anti-inflammatory meals cooked and on the table every night so that you can feel amazing every day. So let’s chat about those to make sure you’re not making those same mistakes, and let you in on what to do instead.

top 3 mistakes in anti inflammatory meal planning

🌟Don’t know which foods are on the ‘go/no-go’ list for an Anti-Inflammatory Diet? Check out ‘Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners’

Anti Inflammatory Meal Planning Mistake #1: Being overly ambitious

Mistake number one is being overly ambitious and thinking that you need to cook every night of the week.

So I get it–when we get excited about something new (especially if it’s supposed to help us reach our goals like managing a condition, getting your blood sugar under control, or even kick-starting weight loss), we just want to jump all in…But I want you to slow your roll for a minute because when we get overly ambitious and think that we need to cook every single night you’re sorta asking for trouble.

top 3 mistakes in anti inflammatory meal planning

The problem is that when we decide to jump all in and cook every single night, we’re going to get completely overwhelmed. And the usual response to getting overwhelmed is to shut down and do nothing. So I want to prevent that and just kind of take a step back instead. 

The reason that we’re going to take a step back on that is that when you stop putting that kind of pressure on yourself and allow yourself to learn in a really more relaxed way where you can learn to enjoy planning, prepping, and cooking and then appreciate what this dietary style can do for your body. 

So instead what I want you to do is maybe start out cooking three to four dinners in your first few weeks to get started…And take that time to get used to the types of food that you can be using. There’s a little bit different way of cooking sometimes for anti-inflammatory meals and I want you to really just kind of get the hang of what this whole dietary lifestyle and style is about before getting overwhelmed with the whole meal planning part of it. 

One of the really great strategies for this is when you cook those three to four meals go ahead and cook a little bit more so that you can have extra for other meals… which leads us into mistake number two. 

>>> Check out ALL my Best Kitchen Tools for Meal Prep HERE!

Anti Inflammatory Meal Planning Mistake #2: Not cooking enough food

So before you get all up in arms and overwhelmed at that let me just explain. It takes no extra time to cook 4 servings of a recipe versus 8 servings of a recipe. You’re simply using double the ingredients so what I want you to think about is that when you’re only cooking one recipe at a time for whatever meal that is you’re missing out on the opportunity to save so much time later. 

The reason why that happens is that whenever you cook more you have extra time, you have a fallback, and you have a backup plan. 

top 3 mistakes in anti inflammatory meal planning

I know a lot of families who do one night a week for leftovers for dinner, (we absolutely do that because it saves me cooking one night of the week and it also saves all of the other clean up that happens, and it cleans up whatever is left over in the fridge.) 

So instead, think about doing one and a half or even doubling up on your recipes. You do also have the option to take one recipe and cook it for your dinner that night and then make a second one at the same time to freeze for later. So I always recommend doing that and or making double at the recipe so that you can have enough for lunch the next day. 

I work out of the house but whenever I did not work out of the house I would get into that hangry situation right before lunch because I’d been really busy working and usually forgot to have a snack. So by the time lunch got there I was just being like in this annoyed, starving state where I really didn’t care what I went to eat, so I would just grab the closest most convenient thing that I could. Which would never work out on this type of dietary style. 

So if you make enough for lunch the next day you can be assured that whatever you’re eating for lunch is compliant with the anti-inflammatory diet and that way you’re not even worrying about what you’re eating the next day because you know that it fit in because you made it for your dinner the night before.

Mistake #3: Not setting enough time aside

Mistake number three is not setting enough time aside for meal prep and for actual cooking

So the problem in this is that you’re making things more frantic for yourself if you have kids–and especially smaller ones. This could actually be pushing their bedtime later which we know makes us more stressed out and most of all you’re stressing yourself out trying to frantically cook a whole meal when you don’t really have enough time to cook it. 

top 3 mistakes in anti inflammatory meal planning

Here’s why: When you do allow yourself enough time, it just makes your time spent cooking way more relaxing… You just assemble the ingredients cook what needs to be cooked at your own pace, no rush…Instead of frantically running around with your hair on fire just to get dinner ready. 

But it also gives you peace of mind during the day because you know that those things are already prepped and ready to go and have the extra time to cook dinner. 

I can’t tell you the number of clients that tell me that even though they have meal plans technically done they still have anxiety about getting the meals actually cooked at night because of how long it will take. 

What to do instead is to make sure that you schedule in an hour maybe on Sunday (or one other day at the start of the week) to meal prep: chop veggies and even go ahead and make some of the meat even sauces. Sometimes if it’s a casserole a lot of those ingredients are pre-cooked and then you can just assemble them the night of and then just stick them in the oven so that you have as little to do as possible on the day of.

Bonus points!

Add even more bonus points if you go ahead and shop and then prep all of your veggies the minute that you get back inside with the groceries so that you’re saving yourself an extra trip of taking things back out of the fridge just to chop them and then put them back in the fridge.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve been making any of these mistakes (or even others that I didn’t touch on!)

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anti inflammatory meal planning mistakes

Lemon Tart Smoothie

This lemon tart smoothie is full of protein and healthy fats, making it a perfect anti-inflammatory smoothie for breakfast, snacks, or even a meal replacement!

In this winter anti-inflammatory smoothie recipe we’re gonna be taking advantage of cauliflower and, obviously, lemon.

anti inflammatory lemon tart smoothie

This smoothie recipe includes:

  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup of frozen cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp of coconut butter
  • 1/4 cup of vanilla protein powder
  • And 1 ½ cups of unsweetened milk
anti inflammatory lemon tart smoothie for breakfast

Frozen bananas

Now if you don’t have a bag of frozen bananas and just toss bananas into the freezer when they’re about to go bad like I do, the easiest way to use them is to put in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then just slice the skin off the banana and slice the banana up. I know it looks super gross, but bananas naturally brown in the freezer like that, so no worries.

Frozen cauliflower

frozen cauliflower in bags

For the cauliflower, you can find this in the freezer section at your grocery store, but just know that they should have cauliflower florets, and riced cauliflower. You can use either, but I prefer the riced because that’s just that much less blending you’ll need to get the chunks out of your smoothie.

Coconut butter

coconut butter

Now for the coconut butter, this can sometimes be tricky to find. Basically, coconut butter is the coconut meat ground down into butter, the same way that peanut butter or any other nut butter is made.

So for this recipe if you can’t find coconut butter, you can do one of 2 things:

  1. Either make your own coconut butter with coconut flakes—but you’ll need to make sure they’re free of any type of coating,
  2. Or you can use coconut oil.

The difference in the two lies in the fact that the fat is all extracted from the coconut butter, which is the oil. So on these containers you can see that they have the same servings size, and per 1 TBSP, the coconut butter has 100 calories, 10 grams of fat, 3 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of fiber.

Coconut oil, on the other hand, is 120 calories of only fat. No carbs and no fiber.

coconut butter and coconut oil jars

If you’re counting calories and/or macros, this is something to be aware of if you need to sub out the coconut butter.

Protein powder

putting protein powder into a blender

For the protein powder, I recommend checking the label and making sure there’s no sugar added. A lot of reputable protein powders are now using stevia or monk fruit to sweeten the powder.

If you can handle dairy, a whey protein powder is great. If you need non-dairy or vegan, pea protein powder is really great.

Milk

pouring milk into a measuring cup

And lastly, the milk can either be dairy if you can tolerate it or any other non-dairy unsweetened milk. Make sure it’s unsweetened so it doesn’t have added sugar.

I really don’t like using oat milk either because it has so many carbs straight from grains with no fiber.

Directions

So into the blender, we juice our whole lemon, add in the frozen banana, 1 cup of frozen cauliflower, 2 TBSP coconut butter, ¼ cup of vanilla protein powder, and 1 ½ cups of unsweetened milk.

Then blend or pulse it in a high-powered blender until it’s super smooth, pour, and enjoy!

Grab the free Winter Anti-Inflammatory Meal Prep Guide: Click the image below! 👇

anti inflammatory meal plan
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Lemon Tart Smoothie

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This anti inflammatory smoothie is packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fat, making it perfect for a winter breakfast, snack, or even meal replacement.

  • Author: Laura Brigance, MS, CHC
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 smoothie 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup of frozen cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp of coconut butter
  • 1/4 cup of vanilla protein powder
  • And 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened milk

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a high powered blender.

Pulse or blend on high until super smooth.

Enjoy!

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Citrus Pear Smoothie

This Citrus Pear Smoothie is a green anti-inflammatory smoothie that combines signature winter flavors to create an absolutely refreshing snack or breakfast smoothie.

citrus pear smoothie

So let’s talk ingredients.

citrus pear smoothie ingredients

Frozen avocado

So, first off, if you’re not using frozen avocado chunks, which you can buy at the grocery store, you can either freeze your own avocado ahead of time, or use it at room temperature.

Just know that if you use it at room temperature, that’s the only ingredient that was frozen, so we’ll need to use some ice in the place of part of the water so your smoothie is cold and slushie.

Pear

cutting a pear into wedges with an apple corer

We start out cutting up the pear and parsley. Pear is so delicious when it’s in season in the winter, and the skin is usually softer than an apple.

The skin is also full of antioxidants, and one in particular is quercetin, which has been shown to reduce inflammation, plus it has lots of fiber.

So I keep the skin on. You can cut the top and bottom off so it stands on its own, then use an apple corer get perfect wedges while taking the core out.

Parsley

chopping parsley on a cutting board

Parsley is full of vitamins K, C, A, and Bs. It’s also been shown to help reduce blood pressure and bloating, so I love to use parsley in any recipe I can. It just needs to be roughly chopped for this smoothie.

Lemon juice

juicing a lemon into a blender

Lemon juice adds just a bit of tang to this smoothie, as well as a bit more Vitamin c. Fresh is always best since most lemon juice in the bottle has added preservatives.

Water

pouring water into a blender for an anti inflammatory citrus pear smoothie

Make sure you use filtered water, and if your avocado isn’t frozen, use ½ cup of water and about ¾ to 1 cup of ice to replace the 1 cup of water.

Instructions

And then we just add all the ingredients to the high-powered blender, blend really well until all smooth—remember it’s chopping up pear skin if you kept it on, so you may need to let it go for a bit.

Then pour up and enjoy!

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winter anti inflammatory meal plan
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Citrus Pear Smoothie

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This smoothie combines the winter flavors of pear and citrus with anti-inflammatory greens to create a refreshing combo that will keep you full.

  • Author: Laura Brigance, MS, CHC
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 smoothie 1x

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 avocado (or 1/2 cup frozen avocado chunks)

1 pear

1 cup of spinach

1 handful of parsley (fresh)

1/2 of a lemon, juiced

1 cup of water

Notes

If you don’t have frozen avocado, you can freeze your own, or substitute 3/4 cup ice and 1/2 cup of water for the full cup of water in the recipe.

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How to Drink More Water Every Day With These 7 Hacks (even if you hate water)!

How to Drink More Water With These 8 Hacks Every Day.

Waaaay back when I was in high school and college, how to drink more water wasn’t on the forefront of health news. And they certainly hadn’t started bashing added sugars, nor begun scolding us for drinking sodas. So back in those days, my beverages consisted of mainly straight juice, sweet tea (I am from the South), and sodas. All full of sugar. Like, LOADED with sugar!

I couldn’t understand why certain weird and undesirable things were going on as a teenager and young adult in my body. Things like terrible skin, horrible mood swings, and what I now know was the beginning of my panic attacks.

Being dehydrated, or even almost dehydrated can cause some really crummy things to go on in your body. And as a busy Mama, these crummy things are just some of the little things that stress us out, and put us on edge when we’re already being pushed to our limits in day to day life. Being hydrated by learning to drink more water is part of self-care because it’s crucial to health and processes going on in our bodies. This includes having enough energy every day. I constantly promote finding the magic ✨ place where healthy + efficient merge, and drinking more water 💦 every day absolutely holds a place high on the list of things that tick off both boxes.

how to drink more water when you don't like water or aren't thirsty

 The Importance of Staying Hydrated

Being properly hydrated every day is so, so important! It helps you think better, it gives you energy, and it keeps your systems running properly.

Think about how well a dish sponge would work with only a tiny bit of water in it. It would be extremely hard to get a dish properly cleaned with a ton of goop and not enough water, right? That’s what happens in your body.

But also, your kidneys are trying to balance the minerals in your body (which affects your circulatory system!) They get bogged down when there’s not enough fluid in your body. So don’t underestimate the importance of staying hydrated properly!

What happens when you drink more water?

>Improves your skin, hair, and nails

>Relieves headaches

>Reduces muscle cramps

>Helps to flush out your body

>Improves weight loss efforts

>Gives you more energy

>Helps wounds heal faster

>Improves concentration levels and mood

ALL of those things make it uber worth it to me to drink more water!! How about you?!

How much water should you drink in a day?

The amount of water needed in a single day has had lots of debate over the past few years. But here’s the reason why: Every person’s body composition is different, every person’s health situation is different, and every person’s activity level is different. Plus every person lives in a different climate. There are so many variables that it really depends on several different things. But here’s where to start:

Calculate your body weight, then divide by 2. That’s how many liters you should start with each day. Or-

The Mayo Clinic suggests starting with 11.5 cups/day for women and 15.5 cups per day for men.

However—if you live in a very dry climate, if it’s summer, if you’re sick, if you’re taking meds that make you dehydrated, if you drink lots of coffee, AND if you’re very active—you should drink more than that!

I challenge you to start out with the basic formula, then
add as needed. See how you feel every few days and add more if you feel like it.

How can you drink more water when you don’t like it or when you’re not thirsty?

1. Drink It Before Every Meal

The first tip for drinking more
water on a regular basis is simple – just have a full glass before each meal
and snack you consume
, including before your morning cup of coffee. This is
one of those simple reminders that allows you to drink more of the good stuff,
without really having to think too much about it. Train your mind to know that
if you are going to put anything into your body, whether it is your breakfast
or a late-night treat, you have to drink 8 ounces of water first.

This provides multiple benefits. First, it reminds you to drink another glass. It’ll also
going to help your food digest a little better. Plus, it
prevents you from overeating since it helps to fill you up a little. It’s not
uncommon to think you’re hungry, when you’re actually thirsty. (Especially if
you’ve eaten a super salty meal earlier in the day!) If you’re not hungry after
a full glass, wait a bit before eating.

You should also try to drink a glass
of water before or after every other beverage you drink. Force yourself to
drink the same amount of it as the other beverage you’ve consumed.

2. Infuse or Flavor It

A common problem people have with
drinking water isn’t that they don’t remember to drink it, but they’re just not
interested in it.
This is totally true for me, and
was a big issue when I was pregnant. I finally found one brand that I sort of
craved. (Yeah, that had to do with hormones, those darn things!) The good news
is, you have some other options. You don’t necessarily have to drink just plain
filtered or tap water all day, every day. There are many ways to add flavor and
make it more interesting, without piling on the sugar and calories.

The Simple Method

If you are short on time and just
want a super quick way to add flavor, go with lemon water. All you need
to do is add a few lemon wedges, squeezing in the juice first, then putting the
wedges in it. Lemons have a lot of tart juice, so this will flavor your water
quickly and easily. You can also try a mixture of lemon and lime, or use other
juicy fruits like grapefruit. (Just one tip is to not let it sit for a long
time, even in the fridge. The rinds have a tendency to leech out super bitter/sour
taste if left too long. Trust me. It’s mouth-puckering.)

Fruit or Vegetable Infused

This is one of my absolute
favorites! And when I make this ahead of time and store it in a beautiful
pitcher in the fridge, I find that I crave it all day! When you can spend more
time on it, you can use other fruits, vegetables, and even herbs to flavor
your water
. This is called infused water, since it’s a longer infusing
process. You aren’t just flavoring it with these ingredients, but adding more
nutrients from the produce and herbs.

To make infused water, you should
have a glass pitcher and access to filtered water preferably. Prepare your
fruits, veggies, and herbs depending on what they are. Berries should be sliced
so you can access the juice inside, fruits with hard skin should be peeled
first. Veggies should also be peeled and chopped. Muddle your herbs to release
the oils and flavors.

Add the ingredients to the bottom of
the pitcher, cover with ice, then add your water. Let it sit in the
refrigerator for as long as you can before drinking it, which really allows
those flavors and nutrients to come through. And oh goodness, are they
delicious!

3. Choose a Cup You Love to Use

Do you want to encourage yourself to
hydrate more? It’s all in the cup! Seriously, I’m so guilty of this, and it
drives my husband nuts! If you use boring water bottles you don’t like, then
you probably won’t drink as much as you should.
A good way to have fun with
it and remember to bring the bottle everywhere with you is to choose a bottle
or cup that works best for you.

This might mean the overall look and
color of it, or the ease of holding onto it while walking. There are so many
small details that determine if it’s a good fit or not. For example, if you
drive a lot, you want it to fit perfectly in your cup holder. On the other
hand, if you bike for exercise, you may want it to have a tight lid, but one
that is easy to pop off when drinking while riding.

Try out a few different cups until
you feel like you have found the one that is perfect for you.

4. Limit Other Drinks You Consume

Another little trick for drinking
more water is to reduce all of the other drinks you consume. This
doesn’t mean drinking water 100 percent of the time. But, it does help to
reduce the ‘bad’ beverages, so that when you are thirsty, you go for water
instead. This eventually increases your water intake simply because you’re
going for water when you feel thirsty, and not other beverages.

5. Track Your Water Intake

This isn’t something you need to do
every day for the rest of your life, but for now, it might be hard to determine
how much water to drink, and if you’ve even reached your goal for the day. Start
by figuring out a good way to track your water. This can be an app on your
phone, a notepad, a planner you keep in your purse, or a program on your
computer. {Or just download the one below!}

Start by tracking your water for a
few days before trying to increase how much you drink. This lets you know how
much you’re currently drinking on an average day. If it’s less than 8-10
glasses of water (8 ounces each) a day, you need to start increasing it. Once
you are tracking daily, it helps you know how and when to drink a little more
throughout the day.

6. Enjoy Fruits & Veggies with High Water Content

If you find that you simply can’t
drink enough water, then eat your water instead! You should still try to
drink as much as you can, but this is good for the days when you’re a little
below your water intake goal. There are fruits and veggies that have a high
water content, therefore helping to hydrate you.
(Read: This does NOT mean
drinking these as a juice–this means eating the fruit or veggie, thereby
getting the fiber to offset the sugars you’ll be ingesting.) These include:

Cucumbers
Grapefruit
Apples
Pineapple
Lettuce
Celery
Radishes
Watermelon

7. Try These Reminders

If you enjoy water, but you often
forget to drink more of it, these little reminders can be helpful for you.

  1. Drink water before every meal, snack, and other
    beverage
  2. Have a glass first thing when you wake up
  3. Hydrate before or after your workouts
  4. Drink a glass of water after every trip to the bathroom
  5. Have a glass or bottle every time you enter your office
    or your home

As long as you keep these reminders
in the back of your mind, and follow the other tips mentioned, you should be on
your way to dramatically increasing your water intake and reaping the awesome
benefits from it! I promise your body will thank you!!

What tricks do you use to get more hydrated? Let me know in the comments!

Know someone that could use help with increasing their hydration? Please SHARE this post!

drink more water

The Ultimate How-to Meal Planning for Beginners Guide

How to Meal Plan for Beginners Guide

As a busy mom, I’m sure you can relate to the dinner-time frenzy of ‘what’s for dinner?’, as well as the panic that beginners of meal planning encounter regularly. It’s seriously draining to have tiny humans to feed when you have no clue how to meal plan or where to start meal planning. 

I actually advocate meal planning as one of the FIRST things to get in order in your household to help reduce stress. (Seriously–order and a plan = calm + collected).

Finding the magic ✨ middle between healthy + efficient will change everything.

But there are actually a lot of other reasons to meal plan, and here’s why you should get your ish in order and get started!

meal planning for beginners

1. Benefits of meal planning

Meal planning is one of those things that people just hate doing. It usually feels like an impossible task, not knowing where to start or end. Most people are very confused about what meals they should include for staying with a particular dietary style, which meals through the week they should plan for, and how make the shopping lists.

I get it—before I started meal planning it felt completely overwhelming. Evenings were stressful, because even if we did agree on a meal, I had no idea if we had the ingredients to make it. (Forget whether or not it fit into our ‘diet’ we tried to adhere to at the time!) The frustration of not ever really knowing what was for dinner got the best of me once we had kids and our time became a gazillion times for valuable (because it was qucily becoming in more short supply).

That’s when I decided to get serious about meal planning.

And you know what? I discovered that there were several benefits to  meal planning I didn’t even realize until we were into it a couople weeks.

First, our ‘diet’ we were trying to follow—we stuck to it because I took the time to search out recipes that followed it. The confidence it built in both my husband and I after eating good for two weeks was amazing! That alone helped us stay motivated to keep working out as well. We didn’t want to waste our efforts at proper eating habits.

Second, we saved money. (Serious.) When you have an actual plan, you don’t wander through the store and grab at whatever looks good. You get your stuff and get out. This also allows to intentiaonally search up recipes that cost less if you’re serious about bringing your budget down on groceries.

Third, we eliminated multiple trips to the store. Translation: time saver!! We honestly didn’t have time to make so many trips to the store in the first place, and this just put me into panic runaround mode the days I had to ‘stop real quick’. Think about how much time (and brainpower) it’s taking for you to realize you forgot something or you’re out of whatever you dreamed up for dinner on a whim, then the time to get into the store (especially if you have to take kids in with you!), the time in the store, loading the car back up, then unloading everything while unloading kids. Oh yeah—and getting everything put up. This can suck hours out of your week. Only one trip a week has saved me boatloads of time!

And last, our stress levels were exponentially less in the evenings. That may sound like an exaggeration, but I’m not kidding. There was no scrambling around, no arguments, no searching online like a madwoman for something—anything—I could make with mushrooms and ajar of relish. We had a plan, we both helped in cooking every night, and we started having some amazing conversations while spending relaxing before-dinner time with the kiddos.

So now that you’re convinced you’re definitely on the right track–

2. How do you start meal planning?

Meal planning will come down to a couple of different things.

First, are there any dietary styles you need to adhere to? If so, those are the kinds of recipes you need to search up.

Second, how many people will you be cooking for at night? Think about if you need to cook for adults and kids.

Third, do you want to take advantage of leftovers for lunches? This will determine the number of servings you cook of the dinner recipe. This is a GREAT way to also make sure you stay on track with your dietary style. As long as you cook your dinners in that style, you’re assured your lunch is the same when you’re using them as leftovers. Plus you don’t have to go searching for lunch when you’re hungry. It’s already done and ready in the fridge.

Do you need to plan for breakfasts, snacks, or more lunches? If so, you should also account for these when sitting down to meal plan.

3. How do I create a weekly meal plan?

Creating a meal plan takes a little time each week, but once you have a system set, you begin to follow it automatically and it gets easier.

The first thing you should do is print out a meal planning template (which you can get below), and find recipes. Consider all those things above when coming up with your plan.

Next, start filling in the days and slots you need a meal for with the recipes you’ve found. Think about any nights you won’t be home for kids’ practices, nights you eat out, or nights you’re planning for leftovers. Mark those out or make a note.

You’ll also want to note any nights you want to cook but it needs to be simple or a slow cooker meal that you threw in first thing in the morning to be ready by dinnertime.

Third, you’ll need to create shopping lists. This can be done by either using recipe or meal planning apps, or by simply writing a list with a meal planning template and shopping list template yourself while looking at the recipe. It’s a little time-consuming, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not difficult.

Fourth, double-check you don’t already have those ingredients (I hate when I buy something I already had 5 of !)

Last, I suggest posting your weekly meal plans somewhere anyone can find it. This is so that if your partner needs/wants to start the meal, or even has questions about it, you always have a designated place so there are no questions.

4. Meal Planning Template With Shopping List

Meal planning templates with a shopping list can be very simple, planning only for dinners, or you can find very complex meal planning templates when you need to plan for multiple meals per day. The advantage of printing these out is that you have a very clear, organized picture of your week right in front of you.

5. Schedule in Meal Planning Every Week

One of the biggest mistakes I see beginners make is not taking the time to meal plan, and not making it a priority. If you’re serious about saving time in your week and nixing the constant anxiety about what’s for dinner- schedule in a time to sit and do meal planning every single week! 

6. Get organized

Every time I ask a client where their recipes are, I know what’s coming: “Oh they’re on my phone”. But the where is the bigger issue. I know how this works– we get going down the recipe rabbit hole on Pinterest, pin a thousand recipes that all look amazing, then we never see them again. 

Friend! Stop doing this!! If you find something you think looks fantastic and your family will love it, do yourself a HUGE favor and get organized with your recipes so you can find them again later!! I use a recipe organization app that’s amazing at analyzing nutrition information, too. They use a ‘collections’ feature to organize recipes, and (although they will have an official ‘meal planner’ feature soon within the app), I use that ‘collections’ feature to do my meal planning. Plus they generate my shopping list and you can send it any store from there for shopping– SO EASY!!

7. Save + Reuse Favorites

This one is so easy, but always easily forgotten. When you find something that everyone likes, don’t forget to save it and reuse it. These start to fall under the category I call ‘Family Faves’. What’s so great about these is that once you’ve made it a time or two, it starts to be second nature– meaning it takes you less time and brainpower to make it. Heck-some of ours I actually know all the ingredients by heart now! 

Know someone else that could use help meal planning? SHARE this post!

meal planning for beginners meal planner with grocery list

What Anti Inflammatory Diet is Best for Me? Ultimate Guide and Roadmap

what diet is best for me

As a nutrition specialist, this is by far the most commonly asked question. And I get it– your dietary style has a lot to do with how you feel every single day.

I wasted so much time trying to lose baby weight after my second and third kid using a dietary style that didn’t support my body type and allergic condition.

It was a miserable multitude of months seeing weight go up and down while relying on daily antihistamines and asthma medication that made me feel like I was in outer space.

I felt like a failure, and I didn’t get why my allergies, hormones, and energy levels seemed to get worse even though I was eating ‘healthy’.

(In my defense, I didn’t understand food labeling or what even food intolerances can do, at the time–that came much later as I completed my formal education in nutrition.)

what diet is best for me

How do I know what diet is best for me?

So when people ask this question, the thing to know first of all is this:

Whether your goal is losing weight, maintaining weight loss, managing a condition, or looking for steady energy and emotional stability, finding YOUR perfect dietary STYLE, first and foremost, is where you should start.

This means a dietary style that supports your conditions in addition to your health goals.

*If you’re looking to lose weight, START with a dietary style that supports your body first, then calculate your daily energy needs and do things to boost your metabolism. Another option is reducing portion sizes, which inherently reduces calories or carbs (or both).

What is the number 1 healthiest diet?

Studies from the last decade or so have consistently deemed the Mediterranean diet a top global recommendation because of its lack of junk food and calorie dense foods, and focus on healthy foods that have been shown to reduce disease risk. This includes heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and inflammatory conditions, among others.

Instead of it being in the shrinking lot of low fat diets, or even a low carb diet, it focuses on fiber and resistant starches (healthy carbs) in the form of lots of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and beans, legumes, and lentils, and also promotes healthy fats like olive oil, avocado oil, and even coconut oil.

It also limits red meat and unhealthy forms of saturated fats while eliminating added sugars and processed foods.

Other examples are the paleo diet and a more plant-forward dietary style. The common factor is that these are all anti-inflammatory diets, which is what TRUEWELL is all about.

what diet is best for me

How do I know what diet is best for me?

Most people want to know this as if there’s a magic answer. But there’s a lot more that goes into this question. Here’s why.

First, every single body is different. Meaning your metabolism is different. Your body type is different. Yes, your DNA is different. But also, your tastes, environmental factors, lifestyle, and habits are all so very different!

So what I aim to do is give you some guidance on where to start based on what your goals are. Then you can further research different dietary styles with the resources listed below.

And keep in mind that many people have more than one health issue that needs to be addressed with diet. When you’re looking at your issues, notice recurring dietary style recommendations. These are where you should start.

But I cannot stress enough 2 important things:

1) EATING CLEAN will do more for you right off the bat than counting anything. If you’re eating starchy or sugary junk (sugar + processed junk foods), refined carbs and flours, and processed foods, eliminate those first.

2) Finding the closest dietary style should be a goal in getting curious about healing your condition and managing inflammation with food. This will make it easier to find recipes.

3) It will probably require you TRYING a few styles to get the one that’s BEST FOR YOU. There’s almost no way around that. But there are some guidelines to which ones you SHOULD try. So let’s get started.

Start with your conditions, intolerances, or food allergies

What I like to guide clients and readers to do is figure out which goals they have based on their medical issues FIRST.

Do you need to avoid foods you’re allergic or intolerant to, pull down blood sugar levels, decrease inflammation, manage anxiety and/or depression, get your gut health back on track, get energy levels steady all day, get blood pressure under control, or something else? This is not all-inclusive, by the way–there are many, many other health issues that could be leading the way on this.

Bottom line is that starting with the Mediterranean framework (or basic anti-inflammatory dietary style), then eliminating possible foods inflammatory to YOU can be accomplished with an elimination diet. This is the best way to find the anti-inflammatory dietary style unique to YOU and your needs.

Next think about your habits

Unfortunately, some dietary styles are harder to maintain until you get the hang of it.

Some will start a dietary style only to quit because they get in the habit of listening to friends or family members giving advice or push-back.

Some get in the habit of going in hard and strong, only to lose interest in a couple of weeks.

And yet others are in the habit of trying simply to see ‘how hard’ this is gonna be before throwing in the towel.

My whole-hearted advice is to:

  • Go into this with the attitude that this is going to be a life-long change for you (and maybe your family), so instead of worrying about if it’ll be ‘too hard’ or ‘too boring’, look at in through the lens of you and your family’s lifelong health and well-being.
  • Just be prepared up front for some work on your part. The sad truth is the diet industry has purposely made this as complicated as possible. Honor yourself by being ready for some work, but seeking the truth for YOU, and being prepared to put in that work up front to make massive gains for your life.
  • Don’t brush off the idea of CHANGING your habits to ensure you can stick to your perfect dietary style. Of course it’s easiest to just keep your current habits and figure out how to work within them. But you wouldn’t be reading this article if you believed your current habits were keeping you healthy. So be ready to learn about modifying or eliminating habits when it comes to behavior change that will benefit your health for life.
what diet is best for me

Which type of diet is best to lose weight?

I consistently recommend starting with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle change that includes an ideal diet for yourself, then working on a weight loss program within that if you also seek weight loss.

Part of this is because once you start eating clean and reset your body from processed junk foods, refined flours, and sugar, weight tends to naturally come off. So if you’re supporting your body’s needs first it’s much easier to just adjust your macro levels within that framework to achieve even greater weight loss.

Since studies have shown that the best diet is the one you’ll stick to, I recommend following the above process to nail down a dietary style perfect for you FIRST, then working on your metabolism.

As far as what works with your body type, some people do much better on low-carb or keto styles where you severely limit carbohydrates. Others do better when limiting total calories.

This is a lot of information overall, and it can be confusing to figure out overall.

So really dig into what diets you’ve tried in the past and how you’ve FELT on each.

Think about your past attempts to lose weight

Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Did I lose weight in a healthy, steady way?
  2. Were the recipes and types of food easy to find, cook, and choose when out (eating out/drive-thru)?
  3. Did I have enough energy to do my work AND exercise?
  4. Did the diet disrupt any gut issues? Or solve any?
  5. Were there any other noticeable changes (good or bad) regarding skin, mood, and brain fog/focus?
  6. Why did you quit? What were the barriers that made it unsustainable for you?

Here’s a flow chart to get an overview of what this means so far:

what diet is best for me for weight loss

How to Choose a Diet or Dietary Style

Once you’ve explored the options for each dietary style, see which recurring ones come up for your conditions.

And now comes the fun part: Trying different things.

Yes, this is a pain in the butt. Yes, it takes time. But this is the way to finding the *perfect* diet or dietary style for you. You wanna be in the group of people that actually lose weight because you stick to it? Then quit asking, ‘what is the best diet for me’ and actually do the work to find it!

YOUR NEXT STEPS –> Get started with the free Anti-Inflammatory Quick-Start Guide below! 👇

Enter your name and email below to get:

  • What foods to avoid in an anti-inflammatory diet
  • What foods to include (and load up on!)
  • How to personalize your anti-inflammatory diet to make it work BEST for YOU!


Know someone that could really use help choosing the perfect anti-inflammatory dietary style that will work? SHARE this post!

what diet is best for me