healthy menu meal plan #31

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At first glance, you might think I got carried away with fruits and vegetables today. Yep, you’re right. But I decided it was perfectly ok to pack today’s menu with 19 different types of these healthy carbs.

After all, we’re at the peak of the season, so now is the time to enjoy a wide range of these juicy gems. Except of course for all my pals in Australia & New Zealand who will have to wait until next winter to enjoy theirs!

The motivation for today’s menu all started a few weeks ago. I read a great piece about the popular “30 plants per week” challenge that’s been in the news of late and I gave myself a challenge to see how many I could fit into just one day.

If you’re interested in more information about the challenge, you can read the whole article from Zoe if you want to delve deeper into the science or just this tidy summary:

Different plants contain different prebiotics, which in turn feed different gut bugs. This means that eating a wide range of plants is likely to support the diversity of the bugs in your gut microbiome. Zoe July 22, 2025

The most important tip that I hope you take away from the story and this menu is that the wider the diversity of fruits and vegetables you include in your everyday diet, the greater the range of vitamins, minerals and important nutrients you’ll be taking in. And there’s plenty of research to prove that the greater the diversity, the better it is for your overall health, especially your gut health.

Another goal of mine is that I hope today’s menu inspires you to grab what’s fresh right now and not feel limited by recipe rules.

For example, today’s featured salad classically includes pomegranate seeds. If you can source some for the salad, lucky you. And if you find a fresh pomegranate at the market and have never deseeded one, here’s a one-minute master course on how easy it is to do!

But if they’re not available, just sub in any fruit that you see at the market or one already on your counter like the nectarine I diced into crunchy, juicy bits.

The rest of the prep is a short 15-minute meditation at the cutting board as you slice and dice together this most flavorful, fiber-filled, nutrient-packed one-bowl meal.

As always, you’ll find a few extra recipe treats in the menu PDF besides the meal plan I promised you (mostly because I just can’t help myself). Today’s mix introduces you to a couple more “summer essentials”, shrimp on the barbie (and apologies to those Aussies if I don’t get it just right!) and the most popular indispensable on my YouTube channel, classic Spanish Romesco sauce!

If you’re already a paid subscriber then you know these little extras show up almost every week as a small bonus to show my appreciation for your support. If you haven’t yet had the chance to join us, what are you waiting for?

But right now, it’s time to pull up a chair, grab a cup or a glass and join me in my Mediterranean kitchen while we work our way from one flavor-packed meal to another.

Want to upgrade to a paid subscription so you don’t miss out on anything? Everything you’ll want to know to master the Mediterranean diet including exclusive weekly meal plans and recipes, how-to-guides and behind the scenes are all here waiting for you to spend a few Mediterranean minutes with me.