When we began our food-to-heal journey, we had very limited resources and were truly making this up as we went along.  We were living in Ohio Amish country, consulting with Dr. Edwards via phone and email, and knew no-one else locally who was feeding their family this way to share ideas and swap stories.  Pinterest was very new and although there were a few websites out there to provide assistance, grocery shopping and meal planning felt like a full-time job without direction.  During that time, I kept a detailed journal of my son’s reactions & behaviors as well as notes on which recipes were family favorites– I tried to cook things that would be safe for him but also enjoyable for everyone else.

Using my recipe binder and notes, I have created a one-week starter menu that I hope will bring you some inspiration.  That first trip to the grocery store can be so overwhelming.  It helps to plan out every meal (not just dinner) as well as plan for snacks.  Making sure you’ve always got choices available will be the key to keep you on track.  Its those nights when you can’t think of anything good to make or the afternoon when you wander into the kitchen just hoping to munch on something that can lead to choices you’ll regret soon after.  As you clean up your diet, you’ll find that you’ll have a much better understanding of what foods trigger discomfort (which in my house meant toddler melt-downs) and having choices that minimize these reactions is well worth it!

When you’re starting out, it is a good idea to print off the weekly menu and grocery list- not only to use for reference, but to also jot down notes for the following weeks.  If you find a favorite, mark it down.  If something didn’t work for your family, cross it off so you don’t use it in future rotations.  I used to make little notes if I noticed that my son had a particularly bad night and eventually we realized that he wasn’t tolerating nightshades very well- so I was able to adjust the menu plan to limit tomatoes and peppers until later in his healing.

In this post, I will walk you through each day of the week and explain the timing behind the plan and will include links to the recipes you’ll need.  I cook for a family of two adults, one teenaged girl and one little boy (who eats more than the rest of us). You might need to adjust the recipes for your situation, but hopefully the ideas will be helpful. Some nights you’ll be prepping something for another day, so look over the whole week before you start to see if you need to adjust the timing for your schedule.  I have created printables for the week of meals plus the grocery list.  I split the list into a grocery store (I used Natural Grocers) and Costco.  The grocery list doesn’t take farmers markets into consideration since they are seasonal in most areas– but utilizing local farms and markets for meat and produce is always the best choice and worth the effort.  When our farmer’s market is open, I try to visit there first thing on Saturday morning, buy everything from my list there and then visit the grocery stores for the remainder.  Shopping this way does require a couple of trips, but it is worth it.  If you’ve never visited a farmer’s market or a local farm before, now is the time for an adventure!  You can meet the people producing your food, learn new ways to prepare produce and get the best possible prices on the excellent ingredients that are directly affecting your healing.

So let’s say you spent some time on Saturday purchasing everything on your grocery list.  You wake up Sunday morning and are ready to get started.