Tips For Creating A Balanced Meal

Creating a balanced meal is not as difficult as it sounds. If fact, it’s quite easy if you use a few guidelines. One guideline available to you is the USDA Food Pyramid, which is a schematic image depicting the major food groups along with the servings you should strive to eat from each group. Nevertheless, there is a much easier, more practical guideline to use to ensure that you are eating/providing a balanced diet.

The simplest way to create a balanced meal is to picture in your mind a round empty plate. To fill the plate with food, you begin by imagining ½ of the plate filled with non-starchy fruits & vegetable; ¼ of the plate filled with starchy carbohydrates; and ¼ of the plate filled with lean proteins. With this image in mind, you’re able to fill a marginal center portion with healthy fats.

Here’s a more specific breakdown of your plate. Non-starchy vegetables and fruits include ‘leafy’ greens, summer squashes, okra and other low-calorie vegetables. Fruit types include any fresh fruit, such as melons, grapes, plums, pears and the like. Canned fruits are not good choices, as they're typically void of nutrition in the form of fiber and vitamins. Starchy vegetables include all whole grains, - such as rice, barley, smelt, and quinoa – as well the products make from these grains, potatoes, corn, beans, and legumes. Lean protein choices include white meat poultry, pork loin choices, lean beef choices, low-fat diary products, fish, and nuts/seeds.

Finally, you may grace your plate with a small amount of healthy fats, which include all fats from vegetables sources, often referred to as unsaturated fats because they don’t originate from animal ‘saturated’ fats. These include olive oil, canola (corn) oil, and other vegetable sources.