Diet meal plans
With everyone in the modern generation becoming health conscious the diet meal plans have come up in a big way. When you select a diet meal plan then you should take one that gives you a balanced diet with all the essential nutrients.
Guidelines for diet meal plans
According to nutritionists an ideal diet meal plan should go by the following guidelines:
You should consume 4-6 small meals and snacks in a day
You should have a stock of fresh and low fat food always around
You should start on your diet mal plan by counting on your calories and later reducing them slowly.
You should always eat food slowly.
Try and avoid food that have a high content of fats and calories
Add fresh fruits and lots of vegetables to your diet
Avoid high sugar foods like candy bars, pastries etc
Use different types of fruits and vegetables in the nutrition plan and start by including 5 vegetables and fruits every day in your meals
Reducing fats in the diet meal plans
When you plan a diet meal then the first thing that should be on your mind is to reduce the fat and calorie content. You can have the following food in your diet meal plan.
For breakfast you can have: dry cereal 3/4 cup; grapefruit 1/; margarine 2 tsp; banana 1/2; jelly or jam 1 Tbsp; whole wheat toast 2 slices; coffee 3/4 cup; skim milk 1 cup.
For lunch you can have: fresh fruit salad 1/2 cup ; fat free vegetable soup 1 cup; skim milk 1 cup; lean hamburger 2 oz; sliced tomato; mozzarella cheese made with skim milk 1 oz ; hamburger bun; angel food cake 1 slice; lettuce; coffee 3/4 cup.
For dinner you can have: broiled chicken breast without skin 3 oz ; carrot/raisin salad 1/2 cup; tomato juice 1/2 cup; herbed rice 1/2 cup; hard dinner roll; broccoli 1/2 cup with low fat cheese sauce 1/4 cup ; margarine 1 tsp; skim milk 1 cup; low fat frozen strawberry yogurt 1/2 cup.
Your sample diet has total content of 2060 calories ; 110gm of proteins, 50 gm of fat ; 299 gm of carbohydrates; 4000mg of sodium and 4245 mg of potassium.
You can include other foods like:
Fruits, vegetables and nuts: all fresh and frozen vegetables and fruit, baked potatoes, dried beans and lentils, walnuts, dried fruit.
Cereal foods: porridge oats, whole meal flour and bread, wholegrain rice and pasta, high fiber breakfast cereals.
Eggs, Dairy Foods: low fat yogurt, cottage or curd cheese, skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, egg whites.
Meat: Lean white meat such as chicken and turkey breast (without skin)
Fish: all white fish; oily fish such as mackerel, herring, pilchards, sardines, kippers, or salmon (not tinned in oil).
Drinks and Soups: tea and coffee; fruit juices; mineral water.
When on diet meal plans you should keep yourself away from fatty red meats, whole milk, butter, ice creams, oils rich in saturated fats, processed meats like hot dogs, sausage, salami etc ; cheese (you can however have cottage cheese); egg yolks.
Sample for diet meal plan
A sample meal for a diet meal plan be as follows :
For breakfast you can have:
12 ounces coffee-w/caffeine
1 each Bagel-plain, Lenders Bake Shop
2 tbsp Peanut butter- creamy
1 tbsp Cream, fluid, half and half
All this contains a total of 17.44 gm proteins, 49.74 gm of carbohydrates; 20.12 gm of fats and 427.55 calories.
For lunch you can have:
3 ounces chicken breast/ white meat
12 ounces Coca cola- diet w/ caffeine
25 cup Croutons-plain
1 large Salad, garden w/tomato and onion
4 tbsp Thousand island-reduced cal. Kraft
This contains a total of 38.00 gm proteins, 36.90 gm of carbohydrates, 8.30 gm of fats and 348.75 calories.
For evening snack you can have
1 medium apple without peeling
This contains 0.30 gm of proteins, 21.0 gm of carbohydrates, no fats and total 81.00 calories
For dinner you can have
3 ounces chicken breast/ white meat
1 cup pasta, corn cooked
1 small
2 tbsp thousand island- reduced cal. Kraft
This contains a total of 31.38 gm proteins, 54.57 gm of carbohydrates, 6.42 gm of fats and 405.65 total calories.
Your ideal diet meal plan should have a perfect combination of low fats and high protein. The high protein diet should be taken in combination with a low carbohydrate diet. This results in slow burning of energy which would ensure maintaining a healthy weight. You can take a high protein diet in breakfast before exercising and in the evening. You can also have a protein shake immediately after exercise to help muscle repair.
Moreover try and reduce the carbohydrate in your diet also as over consumption of carbohydrates leads to increase in weight. There are a number of experts that believe that if you reduce your carbohydrate intake to less than 40g in a day then your body would start burning fat stored in the body. This affects the insulin and would prevent further fat from forming. Once this happens then your desire for carbohydrate diet decreases.
There are some diet meal plans that would suggest that you switch over to vegetarian high fiber diet. If you can compromise on the meat then you can take up this option. The main aim of the vegetarian diet meal plan is to reduce the cholesterol and fats. Such a diet can also decrease the risk of heart diseases and diabetes. However, you are required to plan your vegetarian diet in a way that you dont miss out on the essential nutrients. You would have to decrease your high calorie intake and switch to low fat or no fat foods. You can take spinach, beans, cucumber, broccoli, tomatoes, peas, soymilk, whole grain cereals etc.
So if you are looking forward to starting on a diet meal plan then pick you options fast and meet a dietician who would recommend you the right diet according to your body requirements and type.
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