Making meals that are healthy can be tough.
So taking the thought out of what to make or how to put it together makes everything easier.
Enter Precision Nutrition’s infographic on creating the perfect meal.
You’ve seen me post images and details about how much is the right size serve for you using your hand as a measure.
This takes it a step further and shows you how to put it together.
It’s a simple 4 step process where only 4 main ingredients are needed.
Start by combining a protein, a vegetable, a smart carb and a healthy fat.
Your meal can come to life just by putting these things together.
The infographic would be a great addition to the front of your fridge to show you how to simply put the different foods together.
It even walks you through how to prepare the ingredients and the time needed to make it happen.
Because of its size, I can’t post the image clearly, so click below to see the full size image and article from PN. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/create-the-perfect-meal-infographic?LinkId=7968772
Why is it so important that you combine the ingredients this way?
If you have just one or two of those ingredients you are left missing vital nutrients your body needs.
You are also more likely to store fat and not build muscle as quickly, or even lose muscle, which is the last thing we want.
It includes all 4 groups because when put together in that format, allow the body to burn more fat and build more muscle.
For example, a meal of pasta with sauce is very carb heavy with little to no vegetables or protein.
It may have some healthy fat or it may have some unhealthy fat.
It’s not a balanced meal.
A roast dinner with meat, green vegetables, roast sweet potato and cooked in coconut oil will be far better balanced.
You also need to not overeat the delicious roast sweet potatoes. Got me hungry for some now.
What about dining out?
If you go to a restaurant, look through the menu and find the dish that best combines all 4 ingredients.
There is usually one or two things on the menu at least, plus you can also ask for steamed vegetables instead of a carb heavy plate. Staff are usually obliging at this.
One of my favourite dishes is chicken cashew nut at Tao in Innaloo.
It combines chicken, vegetables & cashews in a delicious combination. If I’ve been training that day, I’ll have rice.
If not I’ll skip it or just have a small amount.
Be aware that restaurant servings are sometimes much larger than what you need.
Learn some self-control and push the plate away! I struggle with this one often as I love food.
If you can use this strategy more often than not, you’ll find your eating gets under control much easier.
I don’t have to think much about what I prepare any more as I do this without thinking.
Last night I cooked up some beef mince with steak spices, combined it with some shredded cheese, several cups of broccoli and cauliflower, a tablespoon of olive oil and plenty of Himalayan salt.
It was a very basic dinner as I had a cracking migraine, but it filled me up and left me satisfied.
For lunch I had 6 eggs scrambled with silverbeet, spring onion, coriander and tomato.
While there’s no smart carb in either of those meals, it was my intention to leave them out as I wasn’t training yesterday and didn’t need the extra calories from them.
Hope that makes meal times easier for you.
I know it helps dramatically with food preparation.
Just use that formula as often as possible and your body will start to change how you want it to.
