Healthy Weekday: Breakfast and Dinner Menu Plan

Monday:

 

Breakfast:

Chicken Breast With Shaved Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients: boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, kosher salt, broccoli stems, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, Brussells sprouts, celery stalks, hazelnuts, parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Health Factors:

Broccoli and Brussels sprouts are loaded with cancer-preventing phytonutrients. It also packs potassium, which helps keep your blood pressure down.

Dinner:

Lemon Butter and Salmon Broccoli Penne 

Ingredients: salmon, dry whole-grain penne pasta, frozen broccoli florets, butter (melted), low-sodium vegetable broth, lemon, and garlic clove.

Health Factors:

Salmon contains small bioactive protein molecules (called bioactive peptides) that may provide special support for joint cartilage, insulin effectiveness, and control of inflammation in the digestive tract. Salmon also contains a large amount of protein and amino acids.

Broccoli contains glucoraphanin, which the body processes into the anti-cancer compound sulforaphane.

Tuesday:

 

Breakfast:

Burger with Mushrooms and Radicchio

Ingredients: olive oil, mushrooms, salt, pepper, ground sirloin, whole-wheat hamburger buns and small head radicchio.

Health Factors:

The lean beef provides more than half your protein and nearly 30 percent of your iron for the day. The mushrooms are rich in antioxidants and help reduce cholesterol.

Dinner:

Grape Fruit with Avocado Salad and Seared Salmon

Ingredients: grapefruit, arugula, avocado, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, cooking spray, salmon fillets and walnuts.

Health Factors:

Fatty acids from the walnuts and salmon, as well as monounsaturated fats from the avocado keep the heart healthy.  Grapefruit helps kick up fat-burning and stabilizes blood sugar. This salad nets a good amount of the B vitamin niacin, which helps keep skin, hair, and eyes vigorous.

Wednesday:

 

 Breakfast:

Sweet Potato and Spinach Quesadillas

Ingredients: sweet potatoes, red-wine vinegar, sugar, black peppercorns, red onion, salt, black pepper, flour tortillas, baby spinach, mozzarella and olive oil. 

Health Factors:

The beta-carotene in the sweet potatoes boosts the immune system. The meal itself contains more calcium than a glass of milk.

Dinner:

Spinach and Goat Cheese Flatbread Pizza

Ingredients: whole-grain flatbreads, pizza sauce, dried oregano, baby spinach, goat cheese, and pine nuts.

Health Factors:

Calcium and magnesium in Spinach is essential to maintain healthy bones. The carotenoids found in spinach protect against eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration.

Goat milk cheese is a good source of calcium, protein, vitamin A, vitamin K, phosphorus, niacin and thiamin.

Thursday:

 

Breakfast:

Greek Salad with Pita Croutons

Ingredients: whole-grain pita, lemon, olive oil, garlic clove, salt and pepper, romaine lettuce mixed with cucumbers, tomatoes and red bell pepper, reduced-fat feta cheese, canned chickpeas, and kalamata olives.

Health Factors:

Lettuce has omega-3 fatty acids, and complete protein. It helps with insomnia and alkaline formation. Lettuce is almost always eaten raw, providing us with many micronutrients not found in cooked or processed food. Eating raw food also adds vital energies not recognized by nutritional science.

Cucumbers contain an anti-inflammatory flavonol called fisetin that appears to play an important role in brain health.

Tomatoes have synergy that may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer. 

Dinner:

Herbed Quinoa with Shrimp and Zucchini

Ingredients: dry quinoa, garlic clove, olive oil, chopped zucchini, frozen cooked shrimp, chopped fresh basil and chives, and lemon. 

Health Factors:

Quinoa contains a large amount of fiber. It ranges in between 10 and 16 grams of fiber, per every 100 grams of uncooked quinoa.

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fatty acid.

The beta-carotene found in basil may help to lessen the progression of asthma, steoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis while protecting cells from further damage.  

 

Friday:

 

Breakfast:

Potato with Veggie Chili, Broccoli and Cheddar

Ingredients: Potato, frozen broccoli florets, canned vegetarian chili or turkey chili with bean, and shredded low-fat cheddar cheese.

Health Factors:

One medium potato contains 164 calories, 0.2 grams of fat, 0 grams of cholesterol, 37 grams of carbohydrate, 4.7 grams of dietary fiber and 4.3 grams of protein. The same serving also meets 2% of daily calcium needs, 51% vitamin C, 9% iron, 30% vitamin B-6, 12% magnesium and 25% of potassium needs. Potatoes also provide phosphorus, niacin, folate, choline and zinc.

Dinner:

Spaghetti With Wilted Greens and Walnut-Parsley Pesto

Ingredients: whole-wheat spaghetti, Swiss Chard, parsley, baby spinach, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, salt, black pepper and eggs.

Health Factors:

This meal makes for excellent post-workout fuel (a great mix of whole grains and protein). It helps keep you energized, since it provides one-third of your daily iron needs.  You get antioxidants from the veggies, herbs, and walnuts