Eat Healthy: Meal Planning Tips for a Better Life

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Along with exercise, one needs to eat healthy to maintain the best physical and mental health condition.

We need to exercise and eat healthy to keep our bodies and mind in the best shape. With good habits, we tend to promote healthy living that inspires everyone to stay fit and have good food. Meal preparations and fun exercises go hand-in-hand to keep the person living the best life.

Eleanor Gaccetta’s Generations of Good Food is a compilation of 200 recipes that span six generations. These recipes have been taught and modified through generations, keeping the family healthy and knowledgeable about how to infuse new style in traditional recipes. Eleanor’s recipe book includes main dishes, bread, pies, cakes, cookies, and candy. She also made sure that the recipes are healthy and easy-to-follow. This book is for the novice and experienced cooks.

The Basic Food Groups

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are always on the healthier side of things when it comes to food. These are rich in vitamins and fiber that help boost the immune system, promote growth & development, improve metabolism, and aid digestion. To get the most out of this food group, think of those in the color orange, green, red, and purple.

Whole Grains

Whole grains are a great source of carbohydrates for energy production. This food group also help provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients. When you want to eat healthy, whole grains help control cholesterol levels, blood pressure, weight, and blood sugar. Brown rice and whole wheat pasta are some of the healthiest examples in this group.

Lean Proteins

Proteins are important for muscle building. This food group also helps you meet the needs for vitamins and minerals. Healthier options for lean proteins, include lean meats, seafood, legumes, eggs, low-fat Greek Yogurt, and lentils.

Low-Fat Dairy

Low-fat dairy products help lower blood pressure, weight, and the risk of getting stroke, colon cancer, and osteoporosis. It allows a person to get a solid nutritional base for losing weight. People who tend to eat healthy incorporate milk and its alternatives in their meals.

How does one plan a meal for healthier living?

Here are USDA dietary patterns that give people an idea of how they can eat healthily:

U.S.-Style Eating Pattern

The healthy U.S. – Style Eating Pattern features typical foods Americans consume. This eating pattern includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, soy products, and seeds. Americans who eat healthy meals use these food groups in their recipes and give them a flavorful and hearty twist in preparations.

Mediterranean – Style Eating Pattern

People who want to eat healthy use this pattern for less dairy in their meal preps. This eating pattern is a plant-based diet that uses moderate amounts of dairy, poultry, eggs, and seafood. It features more fruits and vegetables.

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Vegetarian Eating Pattern

This eating pattern should not be confused with a strict vegan diet. It features more vegetables and fruits in the recipe, and does not contain meat, poultry, or seafood. However, it does use fat-free or low-fat dairy and eggs. The vegetarian dietary pattern also uses more soy products, beans, peas, nuts, seeds, and whole grains more than the U.S. – Style Eating Pattern in its recipes.

How to Do Meal Planning?

A lot of people tend to ask what they need to do when planning for a meal to eat healthy. There are a variety of food choices that people can prepare on their dining table. However, one should always consider the nutritional value of the food being prepared. If you are health conscious, you must see to it that you are getting delicious foods that carry nutritional values to your health.

Here are tips for planning hearty and flavorful meals:

Plan the meals in advance.

Meal planning involves taking into ponder the types of meals you want to eat in a day or the week. You can put a variety of meal preparations in containers to be consumed in the future. You may also prepare recipes for the day that you can look into when you want to prepare fresh foods in the kitchen.

Look for budget-friendly options.

When you want to eat healthy, it does not always mean that you have to get the most expensive foods in the market. You always have the more affordable options that should still provide you with the same healthy results. Having a budget-friendly goal for your meals means that you have to have control over your finances for the week. When planning in advance, always keep in mind that your foods should also be within your budget bracket.

Consider the preparation time.

So, are you planning a plant-based meal for the week, or are you leaning into a protein-rich diet? When you have plans for the types of foods you want to eat, you should always consider the preparation time of these foods. Vegetarian meals tend to be more time-friendly when prepared compared to meat-based foods, which could take minutes or hours to make the meat tender and ready for a recipe.

Stay creative!

You might think healthy foods are devoid of flavor because some people tend to stay away from too much salt or too much sugar. Guess what? You can still eat healthy and create the most flavorful meal. You need to learn more about the ingredients in the recipe and keep the balance of the taste at bay. You can always use traditional recipes and put a healthier twist to them. Stay creative in the kitchen!

When you eat healthy, you live a happier and better life. So, you go and plan the best and healthiest meals for you and your family. A delicious meal can create the best memories.

Get a copy of Eleanor Gaccetta’s Generations of Good Food today! It is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google Books and her website www.onecaregiversjourney.com.