How to Eat Healthy - Part 2 Construction

NOTE: This was written before I was vegan and before I was educated on veganism.

To view Part 1 on How to Eat Healthy click here.

The second step to healthy eating is Construction:

The word 'construction' refers to creating a balanced meal. Below I will give you my guidelines and opinions on creating a nutritionally balanced meal.

Before following the steps below I strongly recommend that you thoroughly read the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (click here).

NOTE: Try to drink 2 glasses of water with each meal (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack) in order to consume your daily average of 8 glasses.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast is your first and most important meal of the day. Having a substantial breakfast will fuel you for the day. Energy is needed to avoid becoming very irritable, restless and tired. Breakfast should also be your largest meal of the day. The key food groups that you should be putting into a breakfast meal are:

• Protein: egg, salmon, nuts and seeds
• Grains: muesli, wholegrain toast, rolled oats or a high fiber cereal like Weet Bix
• Dairy: low fat cheese (eg. ricotta), yogurt, milk
• Fruit: banana, berries, apple, oranges, avocado, tomato
• Vegetables: mushrooms, spinach

Put together a small quantity of a few of these groups in order to construct a highly nutrient dense meal.

Example: 2 Weet Bix with 1 cup of almond milk, topped with a small handful of mixed berries and pumpkin seeds.
This meal idea incorporates grains, fruit, protein and dairy, 4 out of the 5 groups.

LUNCH

Your lunch should not be big, rather it should satisfy your stomach until snack time. This meal should be substantial but light. In order to do this I like to have a salad as the base then add proteins, grains and dairy. This way you will gain your 5 out of 5 of the food groups in one meal. The key food groups that you should be putting into breakfast are:

• Protein: egg, salmon, lean meats, quinoa, legumes 
• Grains: rice (wild or brown), brown pasta, wholegrain bread
• Dairy: cheese 
• Fruit: avocado, tomato
• Vegetables: corn, lettuce, spinach, mushroom, capsicum, cucumber, carrot, beans etc...

Just like breakfast, serve a small amount of each in order to create a nutritious meal. 

Example: 1-2 cups of mixed vegetables and fruits, half cup of diced cheese, half cup of cooked wild rice and 1 boiled egg sliced. This meal incorporates 5 out of 5 of the food groups in one meal. 

SNACK

Snack time is fun and versatile! You can have a range of things as a snack. Have your snack between lunch and dinner. Snacks can be sweet or savory so play around with different variations. Your snack should be the smallest meal of the day as it satisfies your cravings in between lunch and dinner. You don't have to limit yourself to one snack during the day. However only have a snack when you are hungry or know that your next meal will not be for a while. 

You don't need to try and have many of the food groups for this meal. Try something simple. Here are two examples: 

Example 1 (Sweet): 1 banana sliced with 2 teaspoons of honey and a pinch of cinnamon.

Example 2 (Savory): A quarter of a cup of mixed nuts and seeds (almonds, cashews, sunflower and pumpkin seeds).

DINNER

Your final meal! Dinner time should be the same size as lunch and the same concept. Try to use as many of the food groups as possible. For dinner I like to base the meal around a protein such as chicken or a lean red meat. Then add 3-4 cooked vegetables and a serve of carbohydrates.

Example: Lean beef (palm size), cooked vegetables such as potato, broccoli, asparagus and pumpkin. Half a cup of a cooked carbohydrate such as quinoa. This meal therefore would have 5 out of 5 of the food groups.

Sorry for the long post! But healthy eating is important.
In Part 3, the final part of the series I will be talking to you about dressing and seasoning your food and the types of unhealthy foods to stay away from.

Stay Healthy!!!