How to Meal Plan Without Seed Oils: Simple Daily Framework
How to Meal Plan Without Seed Oils: Simple Daily Framework
TL;DR
Build meals around three components: protein (meat, eggs, dairy), carbs (fruit, potatoes, rice, honey), and saturated fat (butter, coconut oil). Cook everything yourself or buy whole ingredients. No packaged snacks. No restaurant meals initially. Simple, repetitive eating beats complicated meal plans. Focus on nutrient density, not variety.
You want to eliminate seed oils.
But you don't know what to eat. Every recipe calls for olive oil. Every meal idea includes packaged foods.
You open the fridge. Nothing looks right. You're hungry. You give up and order takeout.
You need a system, not recipes.
Meal planning is like building with Legos. You don't need new pieces. You need to know how they fit together.
The Three-Component Framework
Every meal needs three things:
1. Protein
- Meat (beef, chicken, pork, lamb)
- Eggs
- Fish and seafood
- Dairy (cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese)
Target: 30-50g protein per meal
2. Carbohydrate
- Fruit (any kind)
- Potatoes (white, sweet, any variety)
- Rice (white rice preferred for digestion)
- Honey
- Simple, easily digested sources
Target: 50-150g carbs per meal (depends on activity level)
3. Saturated Fat
- Butter
- Coconut oil
- Ghee
- Animal fat (from meat or added)
Target: 20-40g fat per meal
That's it. Three components. Mix and match.
Sample Day of Eating
Breakfast:
- 3 eggs cooked in butter (protein + fat)
- Hash browns cooked in butter (carb + fat)
- Orange juice (carb)
- Coffee with cream (fat)
Lunch:
- Ground beef cooked in butter with salt (protein + fat)
- White rice (carb)
- Steamed carrots with butter (carb + fat)
Dinner:
- Chicken thighs roasted (protein + fat from skin)
- Baked potato with butter and sour cream (carb + fat)
- Fruit salad (carb)
Snacks (if needed):
- Cheese and apple
- Yogurt with honey
- Banana with tablespoon of coconut oil
Total: ~150g protein, 300-400g carbs, 100-150g fat
Adjust amounts based on your size, activity level, and hunger.
10 Easy Meal Templates
Template 1: Meat + Potato + Butter
- Any meat
- Any style potato (baked, mashed, fried)
- Generous butter
- Side of fruit
Template 2: Eggs + Hash Browns
- 3-4 eggs any style
- Potato hash cooked in butter
- Orange juice
Template 3: Rice Bowl
- Ground meat cooked in butter
- White rice
- Top with butter or sour cream
- Side of fruit
Template 4: Steak and Sweet Potato
- Any cut of steak
- Sweet potato with butter
- Steamed vegetable with butter
Template 5: Chicken and Rice
- Chicken (any cut) roasted or pan-fried in butter
- White rice with butter
- Cooked carrots or other vegetable
Template 6: Burger (no bun)
- Beef patty
- Cheese
- Serve over potato wedges fried in butter
- Fruit on the side
Template 7: Fish and Potato
- Salmon or white fish
- Mashed potatoes with butter and cream
- Fruit salad
Template 8: Breakfast for Dinner
- Scrambled eggs with cheese
- Pancakes made with flour, eggs, milk, butter (no vegetable oil)
- Maple syrup or honey
- Bacon
Template 9: Taco Bowl
- Seasoned ground beef
- Rice
- Cheese, sour cream
- Simple salsa (just tomatoes, no oil)
Template 10: Meat and Fruit
- Any meat cooked in butter
- Large fruit salad or several pieces of fruit
- Cheese on the side
Repeat these templates. You don't need variety every day. Find 5-7 meals you like and rotate them.
Shopping List
Proteins:
- Ground beef (80/20)
- Chicken thighs (more flavorful than breasts)
- Eggs (2-3 dozen per week)
- Whole chicken for roasting
- Pork chops or ground pork
- Fatty fish (salmon, sardines)
- Cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, cream cheese)
- Plain full-fat yogurt
- Cottage cheese
Carbs:
- Potatoes (russet, red, Yukon gold)
- Sweet potatoes
- White rice
- Bananas
- Apples
- Oranges
- Berries
- Honey
- Maple syrup
Fats:
- Butter (salted and unsalted, buy in bulk)
- Coconut oil (refined or virgin)
- Ghee
- Heavy cream
- Sour cream
Other:
- Salt (real sea salt or Redmond Real Salt)
- Black pepper
- Simple dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme)
- Bone broth or homemade stock
- Full-fat milk
- Orange juice (fresh-squeezed or not-from-concentrate)
Avoid anything with seed oils in the ingredient list.
Meal Prep Strategy
Don't overcomplicate.
Option 1: Cook once per day Make enough at dinner to have leftovers for lunch. Cook breakfast fresh.
Option 2: Batch cook proteins
- Sunday: Roast whole chicken, cook ground beef, hard boil eggs
- Use these throughout the week
- Cook carbs fresh (rice and potatoes cook fast)
Option 3: Keep it dead simple Same breakfast every day: eggs and hash browns Same lunch every day: ground beef and rice Vary dinner slightly: rotate 3-4 proteins
Boring? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.
Your body doesn't need culinary entertainment. It needs consistent metabolic fuel.
What About Variety?
You've been taught you need variety.
"Eat the rainbow." "Don't eat the same thing every day."
This is marketing, not physiology.
Your body needs nutrients, not novelty.
Meat, eggs, dairy, potatoes, rice, fruit, butter. This covers all essential nutrients. You can eat this way indefinitely.
Variety for the sake of variety adds complexity. Complexity adds failure points. More opportunities to accidentally eat seed oils.
Keep it simple for 3-6 months. Once metabolism is optimized and you understand what works, add variety if you want. But simple works.
Eating Out? Don't.
Seriously. For the first 4-8 weeks, avoid restaurants entirely.
You need clean data. You need to know how your body responds without PUFAs.
Restaurant food is swimming in seed oils. Even "safe" orders usually aren't.
After your metabolism is optimized, you can strategically eat out. But not while you're healing.
Cook at home. Every meal. It's temporary. It's worth it.
What About Snacks?
Most people don't need snacks when eating adequate protein and fat at meals.
If you're hungry between meals after 3-4 hours:
- You didn't eat enough at the last meal
- You need more fat or protein
- Your blood sugar is still unstable (gets better with time)
If you need snacks:
- Cheese
- Fruit
- Yogurt with honey
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Banana with coconut oil or butter
- Glass of milk
No packaged snacks. Almost all contain seed oils.
Common Pitfalls
Eating too little. Fear of calories. This isn't a diet. Eat until satisfied.
Not enough carbs. Low-carb crashes metabolism for many people. Especially women. Eat fruit and potatoes.
Over-relying on protein. Protein is essential but your body needs carbs and fat for energy. Don't do high-protein, low-everything-else.
Still eating out. You can't control restaurant oils. Stop going. It's temporary.
Trying to replicate old meals. Don't try to make PUFA-free versions of everything. Build new simple meals instead.
Making it complicated. Simple beats perfect. Eggs and potatoes every breakfast is fine.
FAQ
Q: Is this diet sustainable long-term? A: This isn't a "diet." It's eating real food the way humans did for thousands of years. Yes, it's sustainable. It becomes normal after a few weeks.
Q: What about vegetables? A: Vegetables are fine but not required. Some people eat them, some don't. Focus on protein, carbs, and fat first. Add vegetables if you want them. Cook in butter.
Q: Can I eat bread? A: Most bread contains soybean oil. If you find bread made with just flour, water, salt, yeast, and butter, fine. Otherwise, skip it or make your own. Not essential.
Q: What if I don't have time to cook? A: This is about priorities. Cooking simple meals takes 15-30 minutes. Less time than sitting in a restaurant. If you truly can't cook, this approach won't work for you. But most people can cook—they just haven't made it a priority.
This isn't medical advice. I'm not your doctor. This is a practical framework for eating without seed oils.
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