We already discussed the Whole30® program in our article comparing today's most popular diets. To summarize, it's a pretty strict clean eating protocol designed to help people lose weight and improve their health. While certain rules are unquestionably beneficial, such as cutting out sugar and processed foods, other requirements are more controversial. For example, the program does not allow legumes (bye lentils, bye beans!) nor any grains or dairy products. Forgoing white flour and ice cream makes sense, but some would argue cutting out entire nutritious food groups (I'm looking at you, legumes) is too extreme. It is important to remember, however, that the program is only meant to be followed for 30 days in its strictest form. After... (read more)

The ketogenic diet is a low carb, moderate protein, and high fat diet that research suggests may be effective in preventing epileptic seizures, treating diabetes, and promoting weight loss. Unlike, say, the Atkins diet, a ketogenic or "keto" diet doesn't depend on a list of allowed or forbidden foods, nor does it advise increasing the amount of carbs you consume from one stage to another. Instead, it focuses on finding the ideal ratio of macronutrients to create ketosis in the body, and to maintain this ketosis to manage disease and control weight. Since a ketogenic diet can be beneficial for those looking to lose weight, we have put together a 7 day ketogenic meal plan for weight loss to make it a little easier to get started (or to ke... (read more)

Spring produce might be my favorite. After enduring a long winter with its seemingly endless cabbage and carrots, I am always excited to welcome asparagus, radishes, strawberries, and rhubarb back into my kitchen. The warmer weather starts shifting us toward lighter meals too, making it the perfect time to spring clean our diets. No weird and restrictive cleanses necessary: this 7 day meal plan with healthy spring recipes is an excellent way to eat a bit cleaner and enjoy spring's produce. What's in season depends of course on your location, but this spring produce list can give you an idea what to look out for. Spring Produce List Apricots Artichokes Asparagus Fava Beans Fennel Fiddleheads Garlic Scapes Leeks Morel Mushrooms... (read more)

If you're trying to lose weight, you probably already know that counting calories (and, more importantly, reducing them) can help you succeed. You may have already heard that eating 500 fewer calories a day results in 1 pound of weight loss over the course of a week. Though this thinking is considered by many to be outdated, the premise that eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain your weight will result in weight loss remains true. Why Calories Matter All that said, to cut calories, you need to know how many calories you need to maintain your weight first. There are online calculators that can help you estimate, but ultimately you will have to keep track of how many calories you're eating each day and see whether your wei... (read more)

The last complete meal plan we shared with you was a Paleo meal plan. Now we're changing gears and moving away from a diet that is often heavy on animal protein and moving on to a diet heavy on plant protein (and some dairy/eggs - a vegan meal plan will be coming soon!). If you are new to vegetarianism, this complete vegetarian meal plan can help you try the diet out without having to do too much work on your own. If you're already a full-time vegetarian, we hope this meal plan will at least give you some new ideas. What makes a healthy vegetarian meal plan? We don't want to toot our own horns here, but the great thing about using spoonacular's free meal planner to plan a week of vegetarian meals is that you can easily make sure you ar... (read more)

When we made our free meal planning tool, we knew it would be useful for people who need help with organizing their favorite recipes and products, finding new recipes and products to try, and tracking their nutrition goals. However, using our meal planner doesn't save you from having to plan what to eat, unless you're okay with rolling the dice and letting it generate your meal plan for you. We figure most people prefer some control over what goes on their plan, which is why we added our new community meal plans. To go along with those meal plans, we decided to start offering one complete weekly meal plan here on our blog. You can save any plan from this series to your saved meal plans and tweak it as you see fit. Free Paleo Meal Plan -... (read more)