How to Build a Balanced Meal
Often times, when talking to someone it becomes pretty apparent that they know what it means to eat healthy but implementing it is the hard part. I have said in an earlier post to build your meal around your produce. Making produce the main focus of the meal allows for noticing variety in colors, textures and tastes.
Do you find it difficult to plan out meals for the entire week with variety, balance and nutritionally sound? Follow these steps as a guide to build your next meal:
1)Plan ahead, decide what you could see yourself eating for the week and write a grocery list based off of your plans
2)Decide on your produce for the week, trying to include three different colors in your meals each day.
3)Don’t limit yourself to fresh produce– frozen produce is often the better option in the winter months. Produce is frozen at their peak ripeness, meaning it is the most nutrient dense and during the cold weather there is much more available in the frozen section.
4)Meal preparation is key for so many people. I am really big on ingredient prepping instead of preparing an entire meal and deciding later on which days to eat what. By ingredient prepping, I am able to prepare my vegetables, protein options and carbohydrate options so that each night I can pick and choose what I want to eat and in what combination.
5)Imagine a dinner plate: half of your plate should be plant based. By allowing for half of the plate to be fruit and vegetables, you are ensuring that you are getting many of the key nutrients you need.
6)Choose a variety of protein options and remember portion control. Keep in mind that a half cup is one serving size for beans and the size of your palm is the serving size for meat.
7)A half cup is also the serving for grains, it is often worth it to try to take notice of your personal portion sizes for a week to see where you are at. Determining how many calories you are having is beneficial to understand what changes you need or want to make.
8)Keep in mind, a serving size is NOT a one size fits all– you may need more food than one serving offers and that is OK. Take a few minutes to recognize your hunger cues and if they are still present, allow yourself a second serving.
9)Maintaining a list of different fruit and vegetables that you enjoy eating is a good step to creating variety. Sometimes it is really easy to get stuck in a rut of repeating food items.
10)Be mindful of what worked and what didn’t in this weeks planning and change what needs to be changed for the next week. If you didn’t love the way something tastes or felt hungry all week and did not prep enough ingredients, it’s OK. Making small changes each week will eventually create a well-oiled meal-prepping machine.