Month: December 2017

PSA from your gut microbes: Enjoy the holidays, but don’t forget your fiber

Anyone watching their waistline this holiday season may want to pay attention to what their gut bacteria are eating. It’s not just calories that matter in a healthy diet — it’s fiber, which can influence weight gain, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and colon health. Research with mice help shed light on how and why fiber has such a powerful effect on the entire body.

Penn Researchers Link Binge Eating and Weight-Loss Challenges

Newswise imageSomeone who binge eats consumes an objectively large amount of food while feeling a loss of control over eating. When episodes occur weekly for several months, the action moves into the realm of binge-eating disorder. So how does this type of eating affect people with Type 2 diabetes and obesity who are actively working to lose weight?

Healthy Meal Plans Week 49

It’s officially December and the hardest time of year to stick to a diet and meal plan in my opinion. As holiday parties start to happen and everyone seems focused on treats and indulgences, now is the time to really think about how to make your meal plan work for you. For me, having meals prepped ahead of time and grocery shopping early really helps me stay on track since I don’t want to waste food I already have. I also try to fit in one fun treat weekly so I don’t feel like I am missing out. What are your strategies?

This week kicks off with delicious Make Ahead Steel Cut Oats and a Slow Cooker Sausage and Gnocchi Soup for dinner. Monday brings Zucchini Ricotta Pasta and Tuesday is Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken. Mid-week meals include Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls and Cilantro Pesto Chicken Skewers. Finally to end the week, there are Turkey Burger Quesadillas and Parmesan Fish Sticks.

Remember to check out the healthy, low carb, and vegetarian meal plans all with nutritional info and SmartPoints.

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Every week I like to share highlights form the Slender Kitchen meal plans. I believe meal planning is critical to any long term and effective healthy living or weight loss goals. For me it was the single thing that finally made permanent weight loss achievable. The quote stood true, when I failed to plan, I failed, and I don’t want that to happen to others.

Additionally, I believe that meal planning is a skill that takes time to master and we can all use some help! When I first started meal planning it took up countless hours pouring over recipes, calculating nutritional info and/or points, creating elaborate calendars, and building shopping lists. It was painful. Anything I can do to ease that pain for someone else is a win-win in my book.

Finally, I hope by sharing meal plan ideas, it will help you find a system that works for you. Whether it’s using our meal plans or interactive meal planner, writing one into your weekly planner, or creating your own meal planning system – I hope this feature inspires you to start planning at least a few meals every week. It will save you time, money, and it truly will help you reach your weight loss and healthy living goals.

Want to try a free meal plan? Click here to download a free one week meal plan.

Some highlights from this week’s meal plan!

Parmesan Fish Sticks: These are not your average fish sticks but instead a kid and adult friendly version where fresh fish is breaded in Parmesan cheese and baked until nice and crispy. They are so good and addictive, plus you can freeze them.

Parmesan Fish Sticks for dinner on Sunday in this week's meal plan.

Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken: Comfort food right here! This dish is so easy to make and is filled with tons of garlic, mushrooms, and a creamy sauce that you will never guess is light.

Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken for dinner in this week's healthy meal plan.

Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls with Vegetables: This is one of my favorite Asian dishes to make since I am obsessed with sweet and spicy Korean flavors. It will quickly become a dish you make again and again.

Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls with Vegetables are part of this week's healthy meal plan.

And more delicious recipes including…

  • Slow Cooker Sausage and Gnocchi Soup
  • Slow Cooker Chicken Fajita Soup (low carb plan)
  • Zucchini and Ricotta Pasta 
  • Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken
  • One Pot Creamy Mushroom Rice (vegetarian plan)
  • Cilantro Pesto Chicken Skewers
  • Turkey Burger Quesadillas 
  • Parmesan Fish Sticks with Sweet Potato Fries
  • Tomato, Basil, and Parmesan Egg Mugs
  • & More

Love the idea of meal planning but don’t have time to find recipes, create shopping lists, and make meal plans?

Since I know that many people simply don’t have the time to create their own healthy meal plans, we provide delicious and healthy meal plans at Slender Kitchen that you can customize to meet your needs.

Each healthy weekly meal plan comes full of delicious recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The meal plans come in regular, vegetarian, and low carb options. All feature complete nutritional information, Weight Watchers SmartPoints, and categorized shopping lists! There are also two bonus fallback recipes weekly and the option for either a complete meal plan or a Dinner Only plan. This includes our interactive meal planning option where you can customize the number of servings for each meal, swap in new recipes if you don’t like something, or build your own meal plan from scratch.  All that for less the cost of one cup of coffee per month with the yearly plan.

Calories , Total Fat g, Total Carbohydrate g, Protein g, Serving Size