How to prepare a healthy meal?

Hi, there, thank you for reading my blog, I am really happy that you are here and that you want to find out more about healthy meal preparation.

First of all I know that this a very popular topic nowadays and people want to know about it, so I want to give you the right answer. There are many pictures, articles and posts going around on the internet about healthy meals, diets and so on, but let's face it, not everything is true and not everything is for everyone or even doable.

grilled chicken wings with sweet potatoes and green beans

You can also hear so much about foods that are unhealthy and basically nowadays it sounds like everything is: flour, gluten, lactose, milk,dairy, egg, soy, chocolate, sweets of course, white rice, oil, white bread, cakes and then list goes on with the not to dos and eats.

This is getting a little bit disturbing and frustrating, especially now that you hear all about it on social media as well.

I would like to emphasize it at first that food in general is not unhealthy and is not making you fat,however it is possible that if you make the wrong combinations and then you can prepare an unhealthy meal.

White flour and white bread in general are not unhealthy, of course the whole grain versions are healthier but that does not make the white bread unhealthy. Of course if you overeat white bread and it is part of all your meals daily, it can make you gain weight.

Another thing that it worth to mention that there are several diets on Earth, there is keto diet which is low in carbs but they eat most of their fuel from fat and protein, then there are vegans who do not eat meat or any animal related products, there are vegetarians, pescaterians, people who do not eat gluten, lactose etc. These are all several diet types and it does not actually mean that someone who is not eating carbs or fish or meat is because those things are unhealthy. These are just diets and its people’s own decision why they follow these due to different reasons.

You have to know that a healthy meal always contains all the macro nutrients so protein, carbs, fats and also contains certain micro nutrients so some vitamins and minerals.

Therefore when you prepare or cook a meal, you have to make sure that the meal you prepare will contains carbs, protein and some fats also. So basically think of a meat or fish that you would like to prepare or the replacement protein source of these in case you are vegan or vegetarian and next to the protein source add some side dishes which are plant based, these could be rice, pasta,potatoes for more carbs and some vegetables: broccoli,salad, corn, beans, dark green leafy vegetables,carrots, aubergine, tomatoes, courgette, pumpkin, sweet potatoes etc. If you want to lower the carbs you can also skip the rice and instead only add vegetables to the meat or other protein source that you chose, most vegetables contain some carbs as well, some has more some has less, so again this depends on you.

Stir fried salmon with mixed salad

Personally what I like to prepare is some meat, with side rice, pasta, potatoes or sweet potatoes and at least 2 types of vegetables on the side either raw as a salad or steamed and sometimes both I have a salad and some steamed vedges as well.

Once you have decided what you will make you will need to think of how you are going to prepare them.

The healthy way of preparing a meal:

• Boiling

• Steaming

• Poaching

• Broiling

• Stir-frying

• Grilling

• Roasting

No matter which of the above options you choose, make sure you go easy on the oils, so therefore frying in oil is not that of a healthy option and eating many fried foods can higher your cholesterol levels.

If you choose to use oils in your cooking try to use healthy oils such as olive oil, coconut oil, canola oil, flax seed oil, avocado oil or sesame oil, these are considered healthy fats.

Recap: Foods are in general not unhealthy but the way of combining or preparing them can create nutrient dense or less nutrient dense

Nutrition guide.pdf

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meal. Most healthy meals you prepare need to contain protein, carbs and fats and some vitamins and minerals. The best way of preparations to get healthy meals are: boiling, roasting with less oil, grilling, steaming,broiling, stir-frying, poaching. When using oil try to opt for the ones with healthy fats: olive oil, coconut oil, canola oil, flax seed oil, avocado oil or sesame oil.

I am pretty sure if you are considering the above mentioned options, you will be able to put together a healthy meal for your family.

If you want to learn more about healthy eating, then download my free Nutrition guide e-book.:

DOWNLOAD HERE

Give me a comment if you want to share your thoughts!

Cheers,

Szilvi