The Top 3 Keys To A Healthy Meal

If you want your meals to be healthy all you need to do is to choose the right ingredients. There are foods and food groups that we should consume a lot of, others that we should eat not so much of and again others we should really keep to a minimum. If you stick to these recommendations, your meals will be healthy.

Key 1: Loads of cereals, fruit and vegetables
The first thing to make certain is that your meal includes a portion of cereals (be it now wheat, rice, corn or others) or cereal products like pasta or bread. They will keep you full for longer than sugar based foods, because their carbohydrates are absorbed slower and over a longer period. Especially whole wheat products are excellent because they are even more nutritious, high in fiber and fill you much quicker. The effect is that you simply eat less.
Your meal also needs to offer a big portion of vegetables and/ or fruit. These are the healthiest foods we can find, packed with highly important vitamins, minerals and fiber. Most of them contain only little fat and rather the healthy fats. You can barely eat too much of these foods.

Key 2: Animal products, legumen and nuts – in moderation
The second key to a healthy meal is to use meat, fish, poultry, milk products, legumen, nuts and eggs – but all in moderation. Make them an addition to your meal, not the main ingredient. We do need these foods, but we don’t need so much of them. They also contain important vitamins and are an excellent source for proteins as animal proteins are much more similar to what our body needs then vegetable proteins. But they also contain quite a bit of fat, and unfortunately that kind of fat is not as healthy as the fat in vegetables. If you overeat these foods, the fat you consume too much will make you pick up weight and can also have other negative impacts on your health. Don’t worry, even if you just eat little of them, you will still get enough proteins.

Key 3: Sweeteners, fat and luxuries – as little as possible
Thirdly, you should use as little as possible sweeteners and added fat like oil in your meal. Also keep alcohol, coffee and black tea at a minimum. You don’t need these, and consumed in high amounts they will be rather harmful for your body. Every now and then a glass of wine is okay, but not a whole bottle with each meal.

As you can see, preparing a healthy meal is not at all difficult. And this kind of eating can be so delicious you won’t miss your “unhealthy” meals at the end of the day.

Bettina B. is an occupational therapist with special interest in healthy cooking and weight loss, and a stay-at-home mom.

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