Stock and Organize Your Kitchen
Fresh and Seasonal Ingredients
Making the Swap: Food Substitutions
Plan for and Use Leftovers Creatively
Obstacles and If-Then Planning
Getting Started with Always Delicious Recipes and Meal Plans
One of our favorite comments comes from a reader who went to serve dinner and thought, “Who was the French chef who showed up in my kitchen to cook this beautiful food?” She did a double take before responding, “Oh wow! It was me!” As you transition from the Always Hungry Vicious Cycle to the Always Delicious Victorious Cycle (see chapter 2), learning to think like a chef will become more and more natural. You’ll hone kitchen skills like planning, cooking, and presenting foods—and discover how easy and enjoyable this can be!
Ultimately, the goal of a true chef is to create a positive food experience, engaging the senses with flavor, smell, texture, appearance, and ambiance. But at first, that may seem easier said than done.
A chef must manage all that comes before the meal, including planning the menu, knowing where to find the best ingredients, and budgeting. The chef will consider what’s fresh and take advantage of special deals in the market. If something delicious becomes available at a reasonable price, he or she creates recipes incorporating it. The chef will also devise creative ways to use leftovers, preparing the same foods in interesting and different ways.
After meal planning, the actual process of cooking can be like a mini Broadway production, requiring careful timing to ensure each dish comes out ready at the right time. And to complicate matters further, the chef must consider a range of special needs and preferences. Some people may prefer less salt or more spice, or have specific food allergies or aversions. Someone may be gluten-intolerant or vegetarian. Others might like meat at most meals.
How do you accomplish all this, eating the Always Delicious way, without years of culinary training? That’s what we’ll show you in this chapter. Learning to think like a chef will help demystify the process of cooking, as you discover the sensory pleasures and creative expression that come with being in the kitchen.
The single most important step to improve your health, and that of your family, is to get in the kitchen. Though preparing meals at home might seem time-consuming, most Always Delicious dinners can be made in about thirty minutes with a bit of practice, planning, and prep—breakfast and lunch are even faster. And as some of our reader stories highlight, healthy eating saves a lot of time otherwise spent coping with fatigue and caring for chronic diseases. Improved health means more energy to enjoy the things you love in life.
First, develop a vision of the meals for the week ahead. Ask yourself these questions, then make your meal plan:
• What foods do I already have in the kitchen, either fresh or left over?
• What foods are seasonally available and affordable in the market?
• What substitutions do I have to make, considering the special needs of people sharing these meals?
• Which days of the week will I have limited time to cook?
• Do I need any special kitchen tools or devices?
• Do I want to incorporate any new ingredients or recipes to avoid falling into a rut?
Meal plans can range from a simple idea about the main dishes you’ll make for the week to a detailed list of every meal for each day, including sides, desserts, and snacks—as we did with the three-week meal plan in Always Hungry? Some people like to leave room for spontaneity; others prefer more structure. Adapt meal planning to fit your needs and your temperament. Once you have a plan, use the Recipe Planning Worksheet here (also available online at www.drdavidludwig.com) to coordinate your shopping and Prep Day activities.
Use this guide to plan for the week. Decide which recipes to make, then organize shopping and prep.
Phase: _______ Recipe: ____________________ Servings (in recipe): ________
Servings needed for main meal: _________ Servings needed for leftovers: _________
Additional recipes to complete the meal:_________________________________________
Substitutions: ______________________________________________________________
Parts to make ahead: _______________________________________________________
Ingredients to add to shopping list: ______________________________________________
Phase: _______ Recipe: ______________________ Servings (in recipe): ________
Servings needed for main meal: _________ Servings needed for leftovers: _________
Additional recipes to complete the meal: _______________________________________
Substitutions: _____________________________________________________________
Parts to make ahead: _______________________________________________________
Ingredients to add to shopping list: _____________________________________________
Phase: _______ Recipe: _______________________ Servings (in recipe): ________
Servings needed for main meal: _________ Servings needed for leftovers: _________
Additional recipes to complete the meal: _________________________________________
Substitutions: _____________________________________________________________
Parts to make ahead: __________________________________________________________
Ingredients to add to shopping list: ___________________________________________
When a professional chef walks into the kitchen, everything is prepped, pulled out, and ready to use—a culinary concept known as mise en place (French for “put in place”). With this system, prep cooks organize all the ingredients of a dish so that the chef can make a fresh meal from scratch as the customer waits. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the luxury of prep cooks at home (although children or a spouse provide an affordable alternative). You can still create professional-quality meals quickly with key items prepared in advance, and Prep Day simplifies the process.
Prep Day involves setting aside a few hours once a week, typically on a weekend, to make special sauces, cook proteins, assemble casseroles, prepare whole-kernel grains, and roast nuts. If you followed the Always Hungry? meal plans, you already have practice with this time-saving method. Here are some efficient choices for Prep Day (a Weekly Prep Day Worksheet is available online at www.drdavidludwig.com):
• Sauces (here) such as Smoked Paprika Ketchup (here), breakfast shakshuka sauce (here), and enchilada sauce for the Quinoa Enchilada Casserole (here), and seasonings like All-Purpose Seasoned Salt (here) are nice to have ready when you need them. Also plan for sauces whose flavors improve after a few days like Sugar-Free Worcestershire Sauce (here) or any of the salad dressings.
• Casseroles that take time to assemble but can be baked quickly, with little oversight, like Green Chile Chicken or Beef Enchilada Casserole (here), Black Bean Pâté (here), or Sage Walnut Lentil Loaf (here).
• Chickpea Bread Crumbs (here) or other ingredients needed as components in various recipes.
• Whole grains like Cooked Quinoa (here) or Pressure-Cooked Brown Rice (here) or other grains (see Guide to Cooking Whole Grains, here).
• Beans to have cooked and ready to use as a side dish or in a variety of recipes (see Do-It-Yourself Beans, here).
• Roasted nuts for snacks (see Guide to Roasting Nuts, here).
• Proteins like Shredded Chicken (here), Shredded Beef (here), Baked Tofu (here), or ones that can be used as the basis for quick meals.
• Soups to accompany a meal, like Cuban Black Bean (here) or Polish White Borscht (here) that are even better the next day, or soups that make a complete meal with the addition of fresh greens or seafood before serving, like Portuguese Seafood Stew (here) or Thai Coconut Fish Soup (here).
• Desserts that need time to set or cool like Coconut BonBons (here), Chocolate Truffles (here), or Pumpkin Pie Tartlets (here).
Sauces provide a luscious, convenient source of healthy fats in many of our recipes. Making them ahead of time lets you quickly create restaurant-quality flavors with almost any dinner. But don’t be intimidated. Our sauces require no special culinary skills or fancy ingredients. With an immersion blender, a jar, and a few basic ingredients, you can prepare a luscious sauce in just a few minutes—and no dishes to clean! Best of all, home-prepared sauces offer top quality at minimum cost. On a busy night, a premade sauce can mean the difference between making a simple, satisfying meal and resorting to takeout.
Prepping ahead needn’t happen only on Prep Day. Every time you cook, consider how to save time and effort for the future. For example, with a casserole, make an extra-large amount so that you can freeze leftovers in individual portions. On days that you lack the time or inclination to cook, simply defrost one of those premade meals for a homemade “TV dinner.” This strategy works best for soups, proteins, whole grains, and other items that store well in the refrigerator or freezer. Some dishes, like soups, taste even better after flavors have had time to develop.
With any new dietary program, a well-stocked, well-organized kitchen will help keep you on track. The basic idea is to fill up the home with so much nutritious, delicious foods, there will be no room left for all those mindlessly eaten, unhealthful items.
Soon after beginning the Always Hungry? program, one reader was shocked to see her daughter casually pick up and eat a pear. Although this mother had always kept fresh fruit available, her children passed them by in favor of the many processed, packaged foods in the cupboards. But since the kitchen cleanout, the kids reached for fruit without thinking twice. Out of sight, out of mind. Why fight temptations when you can eliminate them?
Make a list of fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, snacks, nonperishables, freezer items, herbs and spices, and Prep Day foods that you use most often. Having these basics on hand will let you make a meal when there’s no time to shop, and protect you from the accusation that “there’s nothing in the house to eat!”
Stock a variety of dried herbs and spices to provide flavorful alternatives to sugar and other unwholesome additives. The style of food you like most will help guide selection. Choose a few styles and then expand out from there (some spices transcend categories). Herbs and spices provide a world of flavors and a rich source of health-promoting anti-inflammatory phytochemicals.
Mexican-style seasonings—Fresh, dried, or powdered chiles (ancho, chipotle, or any other favorites), cumin, garlic powder, paprika, and Mexican oregano (a spicier alternative to traditional oregano).
Italian seasonings—Basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and plenty of garlic.
French seasonings—Any of a variety of fresh herbs, especially tarragon, chives, dill, shallots, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf. (Herbes de Provence is a common mixture that includes a bit of lavender.)
Asian spices—Most often used fresh or refrigerated, including ginger, garlic, cilantro, and dried or ground chiles or chile pastes. (An Asian pantry may also include soy sauce, a sweet cooking wine called mirin, miso, unseasoned rice vinegar, sesame seeds, toasted sesame oil, and specialty mushrooms like shiitake or maitake.)
Indian spices—Cumin, ginger, powdered chiles, ground turmeric, coriander, fennel seed, aniseed, garlic, and cilantro, with much variation by geographic region (also try spice mixtures such as garam masala).
Middle Eastern, Moroccan, North African—Cumin, ginger, paprika, aniseed, coriander, sumac, various sweet spices or spice blends (such as za’atar, ras el hanout, or baharat), and fresh ingredients like lemon, tahini, garlic, olives, mint, pomegranate, coconut milk, and spicy chile pastes (harissa).
Chiles—Versatile ingredients that transcend borders, with many different flavors and levels of heat. Try Korean pepper (in dried or fermented forms, in pastes, or even the probiotic-rich kimchi), New Mexico green chiles, Thai chiles, jalapeños, poblanos, Anaheims, and more.
Sweet spices—Cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, and clove (can be used for desserts or mixed with savory spices in Middle Eastern, Moroccan, or Indian cuisine).
Store dried herbs and spices in a cool, dry location (e.g., not above the stove) and replace unused portions once or twice a year. Keep in mind that some spices are so strong that they may take over a dish. With rosemary, tarragon, smoked paprika, or chipotle peppers, a little goes a long way.
Fresh nontropical fruits, raw vegetables (like carrots, celery, and bell peppers), roasted nuts and nut butters, hummus, cheese, and very dark chocolate are some of the easy items to keep on hand. Among the many snack recipes in the book, you can whip up a batch of crepes (here) or wraps (here), Socca Pinwheels (here), quesadillas (here), or Socca Crackers (here) anytime.
At the request of our Facebook community, we created Mint Chocolate Power Balls (here)—a mouth-watering and money-saving alternative to those nutritionally dubious snack bars. For other convenient grab-and-go options, try Chile Cheese Fritters (here), Quinoa Croquettes (here), or Grain-Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins (here).
Perform a complete kitchen cleanout as you begin your Always Delicious journey (see Always Hungry?) and schedule cleanouts every three to six months. Mark them in your calendar now for a helpful reminder down the road. Regular cleanouts will not only rid the pantry of unsupportive foods that tend to creep back in, but also rekindle your energy and enthusiasm for the program. Every kitchen cleanout makes for a fresh start.
Time efficiency in the kitchen means finding tools that make your life easier. Whether it’s a food processor to chop vegetables or an immersion blender for soups and sauces, the right tools, appliances, and cookware provide years of return on investment. Here’s a list of our favorites:
• Food processor: You don’t need to spend a lot of money; most inexpensive models work just as well.
• Immersion blender: These often come with a small food processor and a whisk attachment. Using this tool, you can make any creamed soup in a flash, with quicker cleanup and less risk of splattering hot liquid than with a standing blender.
• Blender: Comes in handy for shakes, smoothies, sauces, and dips (you can forgo this one if you have an immersion blender).
• Toaster oven: Convenient for roasting nuts and reheating leftovers.
• Vegetable spiralizer: An optional but fun and inexpensive tool for making noodles or fun garnishes with zucchini, carrots, beets, and other vegetables.
• Microplane zester or other fine grater: This sharp little tool is perfect for grating ginger (see Chef Dawn’s Tasty Tip, here).
• Coffee grinder: A separate grinder (in addition to the one you might use for coffee beans) for grinding spices, chia seeds, and flaxseeds will provide for the freshest ingredients.
• Silicone spatulas: These don’t melt or stain like the rubber varieties.
• Cast-iron skillet: Naturally nonstick when properly “seasoned” (coated with a protective oil layer), this classic cookware evenly distributes heat, creating a nicely browned surface (see Chef Dawn’s Tasty Tip, here).
• Pressure cooker, slow cooker, or combination: Modern pressure cookers, which can reduce cooking time by 50 percent or more, are virtually foolproof and require very little attention. Slow cookers allow you to start a meal in the morning and have it ready for dinner. Often these two appliances are combined into one convenient unit (such as the popular Instant Pot), saving time and money. On busy days, these appliances can be a saving grace.
• Good-quality knife: Keep your knives sharp, and learn how to use them properly (take a knife-skills class or find a video on the web).
• Wooden cutting board: Separate cutting boards for fruit, cheese, meats, and strong spices will keep your pears from tasting like garlic. When prepping oily foods, wipe the board with water before and after to prevent food oils from seeping into the cutting board. Although recommendations vary, wooden cutting boards resist bacteria better than plastic, and they are easier on your knives.
• Glass canning jars: Use these jars to store everything from dried beans and grains to prepared sauces. Inexpensive and readily available, glass containers prolong the shelf life of dry foods and keep leftovers visible, increasing the likelihood that they will be eaten (remember, “out of sight, out of mind”).
Before rapid international transportation, most people naturally ate in rhythm with the seasons. Fresh berries simply weren’t available during the winter in Boston, nor were apples in summer. Although today virtually any food can be purchased at any time of year, a tomato picked green and shipped halfway around the world can never compare with the vine-ripened variety. Often, fresh seasonal ingredients are available in abundance, at a lower price.
Using seasonal produce also instills a sense of adventure in the kitchen. Sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) “crop share” to have weekly allotments of fresh produce either delivered to your home or available for pickup at the farm. Design your weekly meal plan around foods harvested at the peak of ripeness, potentially traveling from farm to table in just a day or two. You won’t believe the difference in flavor from the standard industrial fare. Many grocers have begun carrying local produce as well. Plus, when buying local foods, you help stimulate your community’s economy, while tending to reduce environmental impacts.
Once you have your fresh ingredients, make the most of them. Use green bags to extend the life of vegetables and fruits (for example, http://evertfresh.com). At the end of the week, make soups, casseroles, Summer Grilled or Roasted Vegetables (here), Herb Roasted Root Vegetables (here), or Pickles (here) with leftover produce. You can even make soup stock with vegetable scraps like onion skins, celery tops, and parsley stems (store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in a bag in the freezer until ready to use).
Many herbs are hearty and easy to grow, so you don’t need any special gardening skills—a few pots on a well-lit windowsill will do. With a home herb garden, you just snip a little sprig for use in a recipe or as a garnish on soups and salads. Save money as you enjoy unsurpassed freshness. Some good options for a home garden include rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, sage, cilantro, parsley, chives, dill, and mint.
Fresh herbs may have a short shelf life once harvested. If you can’t maintain a garden, consider creative ways to preserve any leftover store-bought herbs. For example, basil can be made into Basil Walnut Pesto (here) and kept in the refrigerator for a week or two. Or freeze the pesto in ice cube trays, then store the cubes in a freezer-safe bag. These small portions can be added to soups or other recipes in the amounts needed. Ginger can be pureed and refrigerated, or peeled and frozen (see Chef Dawn’s Tasty Tip, here). An elegant preservation method is to make herbed butters or infused olive oil.
There are many reasons why people might have to modify their diet, including food allergies, medical indications (e.g., reduced sodium for high blood pressure), health preferences (sugar-, gluten-, or dairy-free), specific food aversions, and ethical preferences (vegetarian or vegan). If someone in the family has a severe allergy, that food might be excluded from the entire household. Whatever the reason, special diets present a special challenge for any chef.
All too often, special diets can feel restrictive, with an inevitable focus on the foods that can’t be eaten—creating a desire for revised recipes made to taste the same with substituted ingredients. This revisionist approach may work well in certain circumstances, such as using chickpea flour instead of processed grains to make crepes, crackers, and piecrust (see chapter 7). Substituting peanuts with tree nuts makes perfect sense for someone with an allergy. However, many revisionist recipes frankly never stand up to the original, at least as we remember them, and may have nutritionally dubious results. Store-bought gluten-free baked goods usually contain highly processed starches with even higher glycemic load than the original versions, and imitation dairy may include a long list of artificial additives.
Another problem with the revisionist approach is a tendency to miss out on delicious new recipes that don’t need to be altered at all. If you find yourself struggling to accommodate everyone in your family, choose from among the many options in Always Delicious designed for a wide range of special needs.
You or someone in your family might not like the flavor, texture, or even color of a food or recipe. That’s okay! Simply choose another recipe or substitute a different ingredient for the one that doesn’t appeal, using “like for like” to maintain macronutrient ratios (see the Equivalents Table, here, for guidance).
However, as we explored in chapter 2, virtually all food preferences (except for sugar) are “acquired tastes.” When you retrain your fat cells with a diet that lowers insulin levels and calms chronic inflammation, you automatically retrain your taste buds, too. You’ll naturally find yourself less attracted to the hyperprocessed, hypersweet stuff, and increasingly interested in new, more complex flavors. Give yourself some time as your body adjusts. Use symptom trackers to monitor hunger, cravings, energy level, and physical symptoms (download these forms at www.drdavidludwig.com). As your body responds to the Always Delicious way of eating, a whole new world of flavors may unfold.
Orchestrating a meal so that each dish comes out at the right time is one of the most challenging aspects of cooking for many people. However, with a little practice, it’s not hard to become a true maestro. Try these tips:
• Prep Day: Prepare any time-consuming components that can be made in advance (see here).
• Read the recipe through before you start, and develop a mental timeline. Begin with steps that take the longest, using the intervals between productively. For example, if a recipe calls for 30 minutes of simmering, get that started first, then chop vegetables or do other tasks.
• Put a pot of water on the stove to boil, saving time in case you need hot water to add to soups, for blanching vegetables, etc.
• Chop as you go. Prechopped produce is convenient but expensive, and often not as fresh. Chopping all your vegetables beforehand typically takes extra time; it’s more efficient to weave chopping into the inevitable downtimes during meal preparation. For example, if a recipe requires cooking onions for 3 to 5 minutes before adding other vegetables, chop the onion while the oil heats on low in the pan. Turn the heat up, add the onion, and chop the other vegetables as the onion cooks, pausing occasionally to stir.
• Let your tools do the work, like using a food processor for chopping. No need to wash the processor bowl between different vegetables.
• Distinguish between recipes that require precise timing (set a timer for these) and ones that don’t. For example, sautéed onions or soups (and the sautéed vegetables that will be added to them) are often even more delicious with extra cooking time.
• Put dessert on to cook or to set in the refrigerator when you sit down for dinner, such as Chocolate-Dipped Fruit (here), Poached Pears (here), or even Apple Pie Parfait (here).
• Be adventuresome. If you don’t have one ingredient, don’t be afraid to experiment with something else instead. You might create a new masterpiece!
To save time in the kitchen, learn to repurpose ingredients. Repurposing leftovers also saves money, and allows you to produce greater variety with less effort.
• Use leftover cooked vegetables from the day before as a base for a soup, sauce, or casserole. Precooked ingredients can add depth of flavor, which is why professional chefs build intricate recipes in a multistep process.
• Make extra portions of basic ingredients for use in other recipes. The same dish becomes boring by the third day. But you can keep things interesting with minor variations and additions. Serve soup chilled one night and hot the next, perhaps garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds on one occasion and fresh herbs on another. Add beans for a heartier dish, or puree for a creamier texture. For any leftover soup, add cheese and a protein to create a casserole or use as the base for a gravy or cream sauce.
• Skip the prep step entirely with a strategic purchase. For example, a store-bought rotisserie chicken can be spiced up or down depending on the recipe. Make a chicken salad, a Buddha Bowl (here), or a Socca Wrap (here) and serve with a sauce.
Like many kitchen skills, repurposing ingredients takes practice. Your dishes might not always work out, but experimenting with leftovers will build confidence. There’s only one rule for leftovers—always add something fresh to keep meals lively and nutritionally varied. Skilled use of leftovers can transform cooking from a tedious chore to an outlet for creative expression.
What gets in the way of achieving your diet-related health goals? For many people, the number one challenge is finding time to cook. As discussed in Always Hungry?, we can use if-then planning to devise a list of quick, easy recipes for those extra-busy days. The key is to keep your kitchen stocked with the basics and know which choices to make when you need a quick meal. Here are some suggestions:
• Quick-Cooking Beans: Choose lentils when you want legumes but haven’t soaked any in advance. Lentils take only 30 minutes to cook and require very little attention. Make them into a hot dish one day, a salad the next, and a soup after that.
• Quick-Cooking Grains: Quinoa, millet, and buckwheat take only 20 to 30 minutes to cook and can be used in a hot side dish, a soup, or a cold salad.
• Stir-Fry: Cut chicken thighs or tofu into small pieces or cubes and cook them on the stovetop in your favorite sauce. Toss in a few vegetables and serve over a bed of spinach, Cauliflower Couscous (here), or whole grains.
• Sheet Pan Dinner: Marinate or simply toss quick-cooking protein (tofu, shrimp, or small pieces of meat) with your favorite sauce and chopped vegetables. Spread the ingredients into a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake at 350°F until the protein is done for a no-fuss entrée.
• Ready-to-Go Proteins: Keep sardines (with skin and bones), canned salmon or tuna, canned chicken, smoked salmon, eggs, precooked and flavored tofu, or other quick proteins around as a base for emergency meals in minutes.
• Buddha Bowls: Turn a hodgepodge of leftovers into an impressive bowl topped with your favorite sauce. See here for ideas.
Make your own list of obstacles to success, and plan for contingencies. With a bit of practice, you’ll be able to adapt to almost anything life has to offer.
We eat with our eyes first. Visually appealing food simply tastes better, and this principle has special importance when preparing to-go meals, presenting a new meal to your family, or serving food for parties. Opening a lunch container to find mush can be discouraging and make you head for the nearest vending machine. The extra few minutes needed for beautiful food presentation can mean the difference between your family devouring or rejecting an otherwise delicious meal.
On Prep Day, create colorful garnishes like scallions or carrot flowers (use specially designed vegetable cutters for this purpose), and store them covered with water in an airtight container to use throughout the week. Serve fun sauces, dips, and spreads in attractive small bowls to accommodate different taste preferences. Consider colors and textures as you prepare your recipes and meal plans. And involve your children as much as possible, for example arranging vegetables on a plate or combining ingredients for a special sauce. If they helped make it, they’re more likely to eat it.
Invest in attractive food containers, especially those that can be used to serve and store food—which have the additional benefit of making cleanup easy. If someone in your family eats lunch away from home, find nonbreakable containers with sections to separate different foods. With lunches eaten, not returned, you’ll maintain nutrition quality and save money.
Many of us are creatures of habit, and tend to make the same familiar recipes over and over again. A repertoire of beloved recipes in rotation may save effort, but can also make for a food rut. As the quality of your diet improves, your palate likely will evolve. To keep things interesting and allow for continued growth, change something on a regular basis. Choose a few of these suggestions (or make up your own) and mark them on your calendar for automatic rut prevention.
• Make one recipe you’ve never tried from Always Hungry?, Always Delicious, or another cookbook or online source.
• Join a local CSA to receive a package of fresh produce each week or two. Then find creative ways to incorporate the changing seasonal items.
• Once a month, try one food you thought you didn’t like, to see if your tastes have changed.
• If you eat meat at most meals, try a plant-based variation of any Always Hungry? or Always Delicious recipe.
• Invite a friend over to cook with you. Their food ruts might just inspire you, and vice versa.
• Explore an ethnic restaurant for new ideas about flavor combinations. Looking at menus online can provide inspiration even if you don’t eat out.
• Choose a basic ingredient you enjoy, and challenge yourself to find new ways to use it.
• Mix your favorite herbs into softened butter or olive oil and serve as a garnish with plain proteins like steak, chicken, fish, tofu, or tempeh.
• Identify one entirely new ingredient each month and find out how to use it (go online for inspiration).
• Enroll in a culinary class to learn new techniques, or find some free cooking videos online.
• Do a reset by cooking the first 2 to 3 weeks’ menus from Always Hungry?
One of the best ways to sustain the practice of home cooking is to have fun! Put on your favorite music. Go ahead, play with your food. Arrange to cook with a friend. You could each make a double batch of three sauces to share, or do Prep Day together. If you have children, include them in the kitchen fun. This is an investment with returns for a lifetime.
Look through the Program Foods Summary for a quick review of the foods you’ll eat on each of the three phases (for a more comprehensive list, see Always Hungry?).
PROGRAM FOODS SUMMARY PHASE BY PHASE
Grains (refer to Guide to Cooking Whole Grains, here)
Phase 1: No
Phase 2: Yes, 100% whole grains (intact-kernel), up to 3 servings per day
Phase 3: Yes, whole and processed grains as your body tolerates
Starchy Vegetables
Phase 1: No
Phase 2: Yes, except white potato
Phase 3: Yes, as tolerated
Legumes
Phase 1: Yes
Phase 2: Yes
Phase 3: Yes
Greens and other nonstarchy vegetables
Phase 1: Unlimited
Phase 2: Unlimited
Phase 3: Unlimited
Fruit
Phase 1: Yes, but avoid tropical, dried, and fruit juices
Phase 2: Yes, but avoid fruit juices
Phase 3: Yes, adjust as your body tolerates
High-Protein Foods
Phase 1: Yes, 4 to 6 ounces with every meal
Phase 2: Yes, 4 to 6 ounces with every meal
Phase 3: Yes, 4 to 6 ounces with every meal
Fats and High-Fat Foods
Phase 1: Yes, at every meal
Phase 2: Yes, at every meal (about 25% less than in Phase 1)
Phase 3: Yes, at every meal (about 25% less than in Phase 1)
Dairy and Nondairy Milks
Phase 1: Yes (no added sugar)
Phase 2: Yes
Phase 3: Yes
High-Carbohydrate Sweets and Snack Foods
Phase 1: No, except dark chocolate (at least 70% cacao) up to 1 ounce per day
Phase 2: No, except dark chocolate (at least 70% cacao) up to 1 ounce per day
Phase 3: Yes, as tolerated, up to 2 servings per day; avoid highly sweetened beverages
Sugar
Phase 1: No, except for the small amount in dark chocolate
Phase 2: Yes, up to 3 teaspoons of added sugar daily, preferable in the form of honey or maple syrup
Phase 3: Yes, up to 6 teaspoons of added sugar daily, preferable in the form of honey or maple syrup
Caffeinated Beverages (Feel free to add whole milk or cream in any phase.)
Phase 1: Yes, as desired, 2 or 3 servings daily, unsweetened
Phase 2: Yes, as desired, 2 or 3 servings daily. You may add 1 to 2 teaspoons honey, maple syrup, or sugar.
Phase 3: Yes, as tolerated. You may add 1 to 2 teaspoons honey, maple syrup, or sugar.
Diet Drinks and Artificial Sweeteners
Phase 1: Avoid
Phase 2: Avoid (occasional small amounts of natural stevia are okay)
Phase 3: Avoid (occasional small amounts of natural stevia are okay)
Alcohol
Phase 1: No (it’s just 2 weeks!)
Phase 2: Yes, 1 to 2 drinks per day maximum as tolerated
Phase 3: Yes, 1 to 2 drinks per day maximum as tolerated
In the following chapters, you’ll find Phase 1, 2, and 3 meal suggestions accompanying the main recipes. Pay special attention to the variations for ways to adapt them to your personal preferences and needs. Many recipes have vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, and spice options. In addition, some Phase 2 and 3 recipes have Phase 1 variations, and vice versa. Along the way, you’ll also find Chef Dawn’s Tasty Tips on specialty ingredients, tools, and preparations to make kitchen life a little easier.
The meal suggestions are intended to guide you in selecting what foods to serve with the recipes to make a complete meal. The Equivalents Table below offers suggestions on substituting “like for like” foods to maintain macronutrient ratios. Note that quantities shown are not suggested serving sizes, but instead the portion needed to equal the general macronutrient profile of the food being replaced. The table tells you, for example, how much chicken to substitute for beef to provide an equal amount of protein.
For additional guidance in meal design, see the Build-a-Meal tables for each phase in Always Hungry? or on our website at www.drdavidludwig.com. But remember, these are just suggestions. Ultimately, our goal is to dispense with counting numbers and rigid adherence to any plan, and instead listen to the wisdom of the body.
EQUIVALENTS TABLE
Meat or Soy
Lower fat/higher protein (0 to 6 g fat and 20 to 30 g protein)
Equivalents
• 4 ounces smoked salmon, turkey bacon, Canadian bacon, turkey breast, chicken breast or tenderloin, chicken or turkey sausage (unsweetened), pork tenderloin, or lamb tenderloin;
• 3 or 4 slices Smoke-Dried Tomato Seitan (here);
• 3½ ounces Basic Seitan (here);
• 1 serving (approximately 22 grams protein) unflavored, unsweetened 100 percent whey or equivalent vegan protein powder
Meat or Soy
Moderate fat/higher protein (6 to 10 g fat and 20 to 26 g protein)
Equivalents
• ½ cup Shredded Chicken (here);
• 4 ounces cooked salmon or sardines (with skin, packed in oil); 1 large or 2 small chicken drumsticks;
• 1 small lamb shank or a few lamb ribs;
• 4 ounces ground turkey or buffalo;
• 4 ounces beef loin or round, ground beef (90 to 95 percent lean), or boneless, skinless chicken thighs;
• heaping ⅓ cup Crumbled Tempeh (here);
• 5 to 6 ounces Baked Tofu (here);
• 1 cup cottage cheese;
• 1 cup shelled edamame
Meat or Soy
Higher fat/lower protein (10 to 24 g fat and 16 to 18 g protein)
Equivalents
• ¼ cup Shredded Beef (here);
• 4 ounces cooked chicken thigh (bone-in, skin-on);
• 3 ounces ground beef (85 percent lean) or beef chuck;
• 6 ounces Panfried or Deep-Fried Tofu or 4 ounces Panfried or Deep-Fried Tempeh (here);
• 3 large eggs
Meat or Soy
Vegetarian proteins (10 to 13 g fat and 21 to 25 g protein) Use to build vegetarian recipes or meals. These may need to be paired with supplemental proteins to create a balanced meal.
Equivalents
• 6 ounces extra-firm tofu;
• 4 ounces tempeh;
• 1 cup cottage cheese;
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg whites;
• 1 cup Greek yogurt;
• 3½ ounces Basic Seitan (here) (Note: Seitan has essentially no fat. Include an extra tablespoon of oil to the meal to make this vegetarian protein equivalent to the others in this category.)
Peanuts, cheese, nuts, and seeds can be used as supplemental proteins, but they have more fat than other vegetarian proteins. Beans can also be used as supplemental protein; however, they are higher in carbohydrate.
Grains
Whole grain to accompany a meal
Equivalents
• ½ cup Cooked Quinoa (here), millet, barley, teff, or steel-cut oats;
• Heaping ⅓ cup cooked brown rice, farro, or wheat berries;
• ¾ cup cooked buckwheat (kasha)
Vegetables
Vegetables to accompany a meal
Equivalents
• Blanched or steamed nonstarchy vegetables (see Guide to Cooking Vegetables, here) with your favorite dressing or olive oil;
• Sautéed vegetables;
• Salad greens and chopped vegetables with your favorite dressing or olive oil;
• Summer Grilled or Roasted Vegetables (here);
• Nonstarchy vegetables in Herb Roasted Root Vegetables (here)
Fruits
Fruit with a meal
Equivalents
• 1 cup whole strawberries;
• ½ cup blueberries;
• ⅔ cup raspberries or blackberries;
• 1 small peach or other stone fruit;
• ½ medium apple;
• ½ small pear;
• 1 tangerine or ½ large orange