Is there a person out there who will make me a meal plan?

September 13, 2024 11:20 AM

I would love help putting together a meal plan that is tailored to my preferences and restrictions (notably, being a vegetarian) that ALSO meets basic nutritional goals that I know most Americans/myself do not regularly meet (fiber and protein in particular, but also like food pyramid stuff). Who does that?

You might think, "a nutritionist!", but I have tried this. Nutritionist 1, recommended by a friend, was super into pseudoscience, drinking 120 oz of water, and buying mysterious non-FDA-approved branded supplements. Nutritionist 2, recommended by my (very good!) PCP, wanted to talk to me about how I felt about my body (neutral to good, and not what I'm there for anyway!) and was very into "listen to your body" and felt like anything else was too prescriptive. OK, if I listen to my body I'm going to eat a tub of queso with a spoon and call it a day.

I am not really looking to develop a long-standing relationship with this person. I would love to sit down with someone for an hour or two (or like, answer a questionnaire) and then bang out maybe 4-10 days' worth of balanced meal plans. The nutritionists I find online all seem to be basically food therapists, which is lovely and important work but not what I need. I eat reasonably well already so I don't need, like, an intervention.

Who is the right kind of professional to ask here? Is this a personal trainer thing? A dietitian (I know that's different from nutritionist in a sneaky way)? Something else??

Or, if you know of an easy way to figure this out for yourself, please share! I've tried using MyFitnessPal etc. to just like, keep plugging in different combinations of foods to try to get the right amount of fiber/protein/vitamins over the course of the day but it's sort of unbelievably labor-intensive.

posted by goodbyewaffles to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

i did a search for vegetarian dietician and that seemed to get the sort of results you want. here's just one that looked promising.
posted by noloveforned at 11:24 AM on September 13

Were you seeing registered dietitians or nutritionists? If the latter, try the former. They absolutely can help with this.

If you're at all athletic, sports dietitians also would be good options for this, as they are generally focused on ensuring the proper macro and micronutrient balance to properly fuel training.
posted by moosetracks at 11:29 AM on September 13

There is an excellent book called Becoming vegetarian (and they have a counterpart, becoming vegan) written by a health nurse that basically has charts and tables of each vitamin, what foods have it in which concentrations and sample recipes. It explains how much of each vitamin a person needs in a day. They go into detail about how much is actually bio-available, what foods to eat together etc. I can’t recommend it enough. Even as a non-vegetarian we use it as a resource for rounding out nutritional deficiencies in our diets. I feel like this description isn’t doing it justice but please check it out !
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:42 AM on September 13

Yes I have worked with someone who should meet all your criteria (willing to work in one offs, not a quack, very pragmatic meal prep focused). Memail me if you want her details.
posted by seemoorglass at 12:33 PM on September 13

Take a look at Eatthismuch.com. It will come up with meal plans based on your info including dietary preferences. It gives you a breakdown of macronutrients and micronutrients in each day's plan versus your needs. I haven't used it extensively but it seems helpful. I first heard of it here on AskMe!
posted by goodsearch at 12:48 PM on September 13

In the US, registered dietitian is a certification with specific (pretty difficult) qualifications, and "nutritionist" is just a word anyone can call themself. You want a registered dietitian. I'm sorry you got fooled by the quacks with the confusing titles.
posted by hydropsyche at 12:56 PM on September 13

I googled and apparently nutritionist #2 was in fact a registered dietitian (and again, seemed truly great if what you seek is someone to talk about body image with) but it is helpful to know what the distinction is!!

goodsearch that website looks GREAT
posted by goodbyewaffles at 2:03 PM on September 13

I met with someone from plant based dieticians and they made me a meal plan and did not talk to me about my feelings too much. The main package they offer is to do an assessment and then make a meal plan.
posted by technotaco at 7:10 AM on September 14

try ChatGPT. seriously. You can ask for a shopping list and instructions to go with the meal plan. You can also ask for seasonality and other preferences, like "no celery" or whatever you don't like.
posted by PardonMyFrench at 11:24 AM on September 14