Anatomy of a Meal
Nutrition is confusing, especially when there are so many blogs, opinions, and documentaries out there with conflicting information.
The reality for most people is that it doesn’t need to be complicated. There are tweaks that will always be made for an individual’s health concern (pre-diabetes, PCOS, pregnancy, breastfeeding, vegetarian or vegan preference…), but for the most, we can keep this basic anatomy.
With every meal:
Protein (meat, eggs, nuts/seeds, tofu/tempeh, legumes...) - ¼ plate
Vegetable and/or fruit - ½ plate
Complex carbohydrate (grain, sweet potato, legumes, fruit, starchy vegetables) - ¼ plate
Healthy fat (1 TBSP olive oil drizzled on top, eggs, meat, avocado, nuts/seeds, coconut oil, avocado oil…) - drizzled on top or as a topping.
You’ll notice that many of these categories overlap, and I really truly want you to strive for this in as many meals as possible. I’ll breakdown a few meals here:
Oatmeal - to make oatmeal a complete meal, I want you to add berries and hemp seeds (or another nut/seed/protein powder). If you opt for protein powder then we want a little bit of healthy fat too (coconut oil or canned coconut milk are great).
Smoothie - to make this a complete meal you need to be adding protein (nut/seeds/tofu/protein powder) and healthy fats (nuts/seeds can double as healthy fat, or if using protein powder add 1 TBSP olive oil!)
Salad - to make this a complete meal you need to add protein, healthy fat, and complex carbohydrate. Dressings are a great way to get healthy fat. Protein could be nuts/seeds, meat, tofu, chickpeas, lentils, etc. Lentils, chickpeas, and nuts/seeds could double as a complex carb, but if those aren’t present add sweet potato, rice, quinoa, or a side toast!
When you start to think of your meals as these 4 categories (healthy fat, healthy protein, fruit/veg, and complex carbohydrate) it becomes much simpler! This is something I discuss with my kids too in lunch packing, they can choose their lunch as long as we have something that fits each category. And don’t forget the water or herbal tea or carbonated water for hydration!