Heathiest Way of Eating Plan

Of late, I've been needing a reset on the whole eating thing. I haven't been cooking as much, and thus, my consumption of vegetables especially has fallen off. Fruit consumption has remained the same because most fruit takes less preparation than vegetables. I have 10 days off starting tomorrow (I love working at a school during the summer!) and figured it would be fun to eat from the menu published on the website The World's Healthiest Foods called The Healthiest Way of Eating Plan.

I've enjoyed recipes from The World's Healthiest Foods since at least 2005. There are a lot of good things to do with vegetables on the site and there are very thorough nutritional profiles included with many of the recipes. I decided to follow the meal plan exactly (one exception: no bananas!) partially because I easily tumble down the slippery slope once I start tweaking menus and also because I'm in the sort of mood where someone should just dictate what I eat. I asked Matt, and he will be joining me on this venture, which is handy because the majority of the recipes make servings for two. I already have a feeling that he will need to supplement the menu with extra food. He eats a lot.

Here is a PDF to the week's menu. We will be taking off July 4, for obvious reasons, but will begin tomorrow.

Yesterday, I made the shopping list for the first two days and today I went grocery shopping. Looking at the shopping list I understood why the web site says this in answer to the question of "how much will this cost?"

The money you spend on the Healthiest Way of Eating Plan is like purchasing health insurance because every penny is being spent on optimally nourishing foods that provide an abundance of nutrients; you aren't wasting any money whatsoever on low-quality, highly addictive, highly processed (high in sugar, fats, and cholesterol) empty-calorie foods. You will also avoid unnecessary processing, unnecessary packaging, and unwanted contaminants so it's also good for the environment. With the Healthiest Way of Eating Plan, you are only paying for foods that promote health.

Yep. It's expensive. I bought about a quarter of the food at New Seasons, the fancy grocery store where I usually buy meat, produce and cheese. The rest I bought at Fred Meyer. The total for the two bills?



Yikes! $77.22 cents for two days worth of food! This was with me buying a lot of the things I only need a quarter cup of in the bulk department. I'm glad I only bought two days worth of food because I think I would have had a heart attack paying for seven days of food all at once. Besides, I don't think I could have carried home all that food. Two days worth filled three shopping bags.

The biggest cost for something I'm not convinced will be worth it?


$7.99 for a little bag with 11 tablespoons in it! What the heck is this? It better be good.

At any rate, I think my digestion will improve. I'm hoping my energy will too. Matt and I will report back tomorrow with our results.