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I am trying to figure out portion size and meal planning.
I have a basic idea of what I should be doing. I struggle a little bit with what the best portion sized are right for my height and weight.
My primary goal is simply to be healthier. I want to have a healthy(nutritional) diet and get more excercise. I have been exercising a lot more since September. I've slacked off the past few weeks with the Holidays and my yoga class shutting down for the Holidays, but I'm ready to get back on track.
I would like to hear from some others about what they consider to be a healthy daily meal plan.
What is your typical breakfast lunch and dinner for a day, or even a week.
I am thinking that it's good to change it up from day to day. For example, eating oatmeal for breakfast a few days a week, then eggs a couple days a week...
I look forward to reading what others have to say on this topic.
Eat healthier is a bit vague. Are you trying to avoid chronic diseases or something else? You'll get conflicting advice all over the place, but here are a few tips everyone can agree on.
One easy tip: try to eat 7-9 servings of produce per day. More veggies than fruits. Of these servings, make sure they are colorful. Try to eat a green, red, yellow or orange, blue or purple and white fruit or veggie daily.
Green: broccoli, green beans, leafy greens
Red: tomatoes, watermelon, red bell peppers, beets, red grapefruit
Yellow/Orange: carrots, mangos, winter squash, oranges, bell peppers
blue /purple: blueberries, blackberries, purple kale
white: apples, onions, garlic, cauliflower, leeks
Get as many of these colors in daily as you can. Try to get 1 leafy green serving in daily as well. These are really beneficial.
Other tips:
Avoid transfats. These have been shown to cause a world of problems. You are better off with any other form of fat besides transfats, including saturated fats
Add more mono-unsaturated fats to your diet from olive oil, olives, avocados, nuts, nut oils, and canola oil
As for saturated fats: there are conflicting opinions. My take is you can have them in moderation, but choose better ones. For example coconut oil has a bunch of antioxidants so it can't be that horrible. If you buy butter from grass-fed cows it has more omega-3s than the ones from regular cows. There are also other vitamins from the grass cow fed butters/cheeses/etc. So these are actually better for you.
That site does it for you for free and you can switch out stuff you don't like for something that will meet the same type of nutritional needs. For example say it suggested turkey, you can choose a different protein you like instead if you didn't want turkey. Its free and if you have an account if gives you all the correct portions for your size, activity and goals.
II would like to hear from some others about what they consider to be a healthy daily meal plan.
Here's my usual:
Breakfast - Eggs and two or three vegetables
Lunch - Soup or salad made out of meat or fish and vegetables
Snack - Handful of nuts (normally almonds or pistachios)
Dinner - Meat or fish and two or more vegetables
Dessert - Fruit with a small amount of homemade unsweetened granola and cream
Typical day:
breakfast: greek yogurt + fruit or scrambled eggs, fruit and whole grain toast
snack: almonds or a latte
lunch: salad with fish, chicken or steak and some rice, quinoa, bulgur or similar
snack: fruit or yogurt or carrot sticks depending on what I am missing
dinner: 2 servings of veggies, some meat or beans, some whole grains (rice or whatever)
dessert: fruit salad or fruit topped with greek yogurt
Sometimes I'll have a sandwich and salad for lunch. On weekends I might have a pastry or waffles or dim sum for brunch. Sometimes I'll skip the grains with a meal depending on how I am feeling.
Breakfast: Dannon light yogurt, 1/2 cup of honey bunches of oats with almonds cereal, bananna. I make a parfait. 1 cup coffee with 1/4 lowfat milk
Lunch: 2 slices light whole wheat bread, 2 oz sliced turkey or ham, 2 pickle slices, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, piece of fruit. Sometimes I have a salad or I make tuna salad.
Snack: Special K fruit crisp bar, peice of fruit or some pretzels
Dinner: chicken, turkey or fish, 2 veggies and either brown rice, pasta or a potato. I eat 1 cup rice or pasta. I am on weight watchers points plus so I change up what I eat everyday. This was just a sample of what my day might consist of. Portion control is the key. I measure my food out on food scale and I use measuring cups.
What is the difference between Greek Yogurt and regular yogurt. I've been seeing a lot more references to Greek yogurt in the past year.
Proper greek yogurt has been strained so it is both thicker and creamier than regular yogurt. As a result, it is much higher in protein than regular yogurt (~15 grams for 5oz).
Initially it was only available in plain, but now there are lots of flavors. Even the flavored ones are lower in sugar than typical yogurt. It is also much more filling than a regular cup of yogurt.
I'm by no means no expert and I just started, but so far, I want to say that my stomach got a bit flatter, and the love handles look at bit trimmed up. Still long ways to go, but I see progress.
breakfast: egg whites, oatmeal, cottage cheese, spinach
snack: protein bar
lunch spanish salad with chicken, blueberries
snack plain greek low fat yogurt, apple
dinner: chicken breast, spinach, asparagus
things to add in case I need get hungry: apples, blue berries, almonds etc.
I bought a digital scale so I feel confident I eat around 1400 to 1600 calories. I'm still learning and adjusting.
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