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What does your dinner plate look like?
I made this little image to remind myself of what the ideal meal looks like. Sometimes it can be hard to pull together a full and well-rounded meal when life gets in the way. In the past I have found myself having far too much of one of these categories and completely ignoring the rest. To combat that, maybe this image will help. Feel free to print it out and hang it in your kitchen, or pin it in your recipe folder on Pinterest!
Roughly one third of the well-balanced plate is made up of green stuff like fruits and veggies. Another third are starchy foods like whole grain pasta, rice, potatoes, corn — usually these are things that are white or yellow-ish in colour. Then the final third should be proteins like lean meat, fish, eggs, or beans, and milk or dairy products like yogurt, or cheese. I included a tiny sliver for treats { foods high in sugar, fat, or unpronounceable ingredients }, but that is not part of the ideally nutritional plate. It’s just the part that takes care of our emotional well-being when we’re having one of those days. Add this only if you really need it, and don’t have more than a little!
Ryan + I try to only put foods on our plate that someone’s great-grandmother would recognize; none of this packaged and processed food that is so plentiful these days. Those packaged things are made up of filler ingredients, and offer little or no actual nutritional value. My great-grandmother certainly wouldn’t recognize go-gurt, or hot dogs, and would have no idea why dinner rolls came in a cardboard container. If you think about it, one hundred years ago hardly anyone was overweight! Today, we cut so many corners with pre-made or “easy” dinner ideas, that we’re missing out on the things that make food good for us and keep us healthy! So, make dinner yourself with whole foods and you’ll stay healthy!
Happy eating!
xx.
