The ketogenic diet is one of the more popular diets to follow this year – it’s high-fat, regulated protein, low-carb way of eating is said to be one of the best diets for weight management.

Meals require additional planning when you’re following a specific diet, like keto. If you have opted for this type of lifestyle change sometime this year, we can help you start and achieve your health goals through planner-related tips! Planning eliminates a list of excuses as to why a diet cannot be maintained.

Using a planner to keep track of your diet (to include grocery shopping lists) makes dieting more affordable – saving money and reducing overall waste with your at-home food purchases. This savings is added on top of the reduced expense of not eating out as often (or at all) due to more specific food choices being made.

Cooking requires effort and time, so this is a bit commitment – though it’s easily managed. For any diet, planning out your food for the week – to include snacks – is important before you shop. If you meal plan before you go out shopping to buy additions to your pantry, you’ll only purchase exactly what you need.

The first step in meal planning is filling in any spots that you know are settled for the week (i.e. dinner out Friday night for a date!). Next, you’ll want to take inventory of what you already have in your kitchen and come up with a list of meals you can make from those ingredients. This is to the time to use your creativity skills. Many meal options can be found online or free. and you can get meal inspiration from a cookbook, too! (your local library has tons of them if you prefer a printed tool over the internet)

The next phase of meal planning is to determine what breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks for meals you’re missing only a few ingredients for. This is where you start your grocery shopping list! If you’re missing needed parts of meal, jot them on your list. Recipes can be difficult to manage without proper organization.

If you have open spaces for meals still, and you likely will, this is where you select the other recipes you would like to prepare for the week. It’s important to include potential leftovers, depending on how many serving sizes you make, in your meal schedule as well. This is another opportunity to save additional funds, and more of your time!

In addition to the act of using a planner to organize, it’s suggested to stay organized with your cooking in order to be successful too! Some people prefer to do all their cooking on the first day of the week – and store their meals – to stay on top of it. Do you use your planner to meal plan?

**consult your doctor before trying this diet or any other**