A high-protein, high-fiber meal plan you write yourself

Start with your own numbers

This planner does not tell you how much protein or fiber to eat. If you have daily targets, from your own reading or from someone who looks after your health, write them in once. They are printed in a small box under every week, next to the notes, so they are in sight whenever you fill in a day. If you have no numbers, leave the box empty; it prints as a line to write on later.

Fill the protein + fiber row first

The Protein + fiber style adds one row under the meals on every day. Before you write any meal, write the main protein and the main fiber source for that day in this row: eggs and oats, lentils and greens, chicken and beans, tofu and barley. Then build breakfast, lunch and dinner around what is already written. The meals follow the row, not the other way round.

• Pair one protein with one fiber source per day, and vary both across the week.
• Repeat a good pair on purpose: a pot of beans on prep day can cover three days.
• Leave one day open for leftovers, so nothing cooked earlier in the week is wasted.

Let the shopping list start where the plan starts

In this style the shopping list puts protein and fiber items at the top of each aisle: beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds in the pantry aisle, eggs and yogurt in dairy, fish and tofu at the counters, the vegetables and fruit you planned in produce. Writing them first means they are bought first, even when the trip is rushed.

Count different plants, not portions

The style adds a page with one row of thirty tick boxes per week. Every time a different plant goes into a meal (a fruit, a vegetable, a grain, a bean, a nut, a seed, a herb or a spice), tick one box and write its name on the line below. Count each plant once per week. Thirty is a popular round number, not a rule; write your own goal next to each week and see how the weeks compare.

Use the prep day for the slow parts

1. Cook one pot of beans or lentils and one whole grain.
2. Wash and cut the vegetables for the next two days.
3. Portion nuts and seeds into small jars for the week.
4. Write on each container which day it is for.

What this planner is not

It is not a diet and it gives no medical advice. It does not count anything for you or suggest any amount. It is a grid, a list and a few pages that keep the week you decided on in one place. If you follow advice from someone who looks after your health, that advice comes first; the planner only gives it a place on paper.

Questions