Month 1 Meals · Week 1

Cook once, eat twice

Three dinners. Each one serves four, which means dinner tonight and lunch for the next two days. You are not cooking lunch this month.

High-protein, low-carb. Three dinners a week, each one serving four.

Break the fast

Break the fast the same way every day: your gut-restore scoop in 8 to 12 oz of water with the meal, then 30 to 40 grams of lean protein. Water first. Coffee after, not before.

A

Eggs and meat

Three eggs and 3 oz of last night’s dinner protein, chopped in. A handful of spinach wilted in the same pan. Salt.

about 38 g protein

B

The bowl

Six oz of plain Greek yogurt (full-fat or 2 percent) or cottage cheese, one scoop of unflavored collagen stirred through, half a cup of berries, a small handful of walnuts.

about 40 g protein

C

The plate

Five oz of smoked salmon or leftover chicken, half an avocado, sliced cucumber, olive oil and lemon over the top.

about 35 g protein

Your eating window. Sixteen-eight is your default: first meal around 11, last bite by 7. If you have never fasted, start light — 12 hours off food, then 14 — and walk it in over a few weeks. Nobody wins a prize for starting hard.

This week’s three dinners

Cook the dinner, pack the other two servings for lunch. Iced tea or green tea on the table.

Cattle Baron Ribeye and Skillet Greens

The steak does the work. The greens finish in what the steak leaves behind.

  • Serves4 — dinner + 2 lunches
  • Hands-on20 minutes
  • Proteinabout 48 g per serving
  • Net carbsabout 6 g per serving

Keto-compatible

What you need

  • 2 ribeye steaks, 1.25 to 1.5 in thick, about 16 oz each
  • 2 tbsp beef tallow
  • 1 lb kale or Swiss chard, stems stripped, leaves torn
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • Coarse salt and cracked black pepper

How you cook it

  1. Pull the steaks out 40 minutes ahead. Pat them bone dry and salt both sides hard.
  2. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high until the tallow shimmers and thins out, about 3 minutes.
  3. Lay the steaks in away from you. Do not move them for 4 minutes.
  4. Flip, add the butter, and baste with a spoon for 3 to 4 more minutes, to 130°F internal for medium-rare.
  5. Move the steaks to a board and let them rest 10 minutes. This is not optional.
  6. Drop the heat to medium, add the garlic to the drippings, and stir for 30 seconds until it smells sweet.
  7. Pile in the greens, salt them, and toss for 3 to 4 minutes until they collapse and turn glossy.
  8. Slice the steak against the grain, pour the resting juices back over, and serve on the greens.

Get the ingredients

Meat: ButcherBox Pantry: Thrive Market Everything else: Amazon

Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs, Broccoli and Lemon

Ten minutes of your attention. The oven owns the other thirty.

  • Serves4 — dinner + 2 lunches
  • Hands-on10 minutes
  • Proteinabout 42 g per serving
  • Net carbsabout 7 g per serving

Keto-compatible

What you need

  • 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
  • 2 lb broccoli, cut into large florets
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lemon, half sliced into rounds, half held back
  • 1 tbsp coarse salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder

How you cook it

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F and set a rack in the upper third.
  2. Dry the thighs with paper towels. Wet skin never crisps.
  3. Rub them with 1 tbsp of the oil and all of the salt, pepper and garlic powder, under the skin as well as over it.
  4. Toss the broccoli with the remaining 2 tbsp oil and a pinch of salt on a large sheet pan.
  5. Push the broccoli to the edges, set the thighs skin-up in the middle, and tuck the lemon rounds among the florets.
  6. Roast 30 to 35 minutes, until the skin is brown and crisp and the thighs read 175°F at the bone.
  7. Squeeze the reserved lemon half over everything straight out of the oven and serve.

Get the ingredients

Meat: ButcherBox Pantry: Thrive Market Everything else: Amazon

Ten-Minute Salmon and Asparagus

One pan, one flip, dinner is on the table before the table is set.

  • Serves4 — dinner + 2 lunches
  • Hands-on12 minutes
  • Proteinabout 40 g per serving
  • Net carbsabout 5 g per serving

Keto-compatible

What you need

  • 4 skin-on wild salmon fillets, about 6 oz each
  • 1.5 lb asparagus, woody ends snapped off
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 lemon
  • Salt and pepper

How you cook it

  1. Dry the salmon well and salt the skin side generously.
  2. Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over medium-high until it just begins to shimmer.
  3. Lay the fillets in skin-down and press each one flat with a spatula for 10 seconds so the skin stays down.
  4. Cook undisturbed 5 to 6 minutes, until the flesh turns opaque two-thirds of the way up the side.
  5. Flip, add the butter and the asparagus alongside, and cook 3 more minutes, spooning butter over the fish.
  6. Pull the salmon at 125°F internal and give the asparagus one more minute if it still snaps hard.
  7. Scatter the dill, squeeze the lemon over the pan, and serve.

Get the ingredients

Meat: ButcherBox Pantry: Thrive Market Everything else: Amazon
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