When trying to lose weight, it’s hard at first to know what to eat. You want to make sure you’re not hungry – a downfall to any diet – but you also don’t want to jeopardize your weight loss by eating too much. So how do you find a happy medium? You do it by balancing your food groups.
Here are some tips that can help you control the right amount of proteins, carbs, fiber, and fats throughout the day.
Beginner’s Guide To Balancing Food Groups
Let’s Get Visual
Let’s break this concept of balancing food groups down into a visual. Take a look at your plate and divide it in half. Fill one-half of it with vegetables and fruit. Now, split the other half in two and fill one side with meat or a high-quality protein choice like eggs, cottage cheese, or legumes. The remaining portion of your plate can be completed with a whole-grain choice like a hearty multi-grain bread or other complex carbohydrate.
Breakfast
In taking a look at your day, let’s take define what each meal and snack should look like.
For breakfast, you always want to have a high protein meal because it sets your body into fat-burning mode right away and also keeps hunger pangs at bay longer.
Greek yogurt is very high in protein and has a thick consistency to it, making it an ideal and filling choice to start your day. If you are lactose intolerant, have a couple of eggs. Add a cup of fresh fruit and a slice of whole grain toast, a handful of almonds or walnuts, and even a half of an avocado so you are off to a good start to your day.
Morning or Afternoon Snack
A handful of vegetables like carrots or a small bunch of grapes with a slice of low-fat cheese or perhaps a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter or hummus will keep you full and humming along into your next meal. It will also keep the sugar cravings at bay!
Lunch
Make the majority of this meal vegetables. Vegetable soup, salad, or just a mixture of fresh vegetables and low-fat dip should be the foundation of what you eat.
Add three to four ounces of lean meat like chicken without the skin, lean beef, or legumes if you are vegetarian, plus a few whole grain crackers. You have enough healthy protein and fiber to fill you until late afternoon.
Dinner
Again, this meal should be half a plate of vegetables – say, tossed green salad (add the other half of avocado too) with a sweet potato on the side – and then a cut of lean meat or fish and you have another successful meal. Quick and easy too!
This plan is easy to follow, quick to prepare for home or office, and you can structure it to fit any eating plan lifestyle, like keto or low carb. The Beginner’s Guide To Balancing Food Groups is a great starting point to get control of your food habits.
I hope it helps you!
Hi! I’m Chris! Just a Midlife Wife sharing about life’s journey; screaming and kicking through it while supposedly aging gracefully…
Focusing on healthy living, low carb & keto, things I am loving right now, and life in general.