How to compose a balanced meal ?

Eating a healthy diet helps prevent the development of certain chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. All the studies show the strong link between a healthy diet and health. To stay in shape, avoid illness, lose weight or keep it off, it’s essential to eat a balanced diet.

Balanced meal : what is it composed of ?

A balanced meal should cover the body’s needs. When asked how to lose weight naturally, WeightWatchers, the leader in weight loss, indicates the importance of meeting the body’s nutritional needs in 3 categories:

• Macronutrients Simple carbohydrates (fast sugars), complex carbohydrates (slow sugars), lipids and proteins;
• Micronutrients vitamins, minerals, trace elements;
• Fiber soluble and insoluble fibers.

That’s why WeightWatchers offers healthy and tasty recipes, as well as nutritional advice.

Breakfast

Who has never heard the famous phrase “breakfast is the most important meal of the day ? “And for good reason, it represents the first nutritional intake of the day, A balanced meal must include the following elements, which make it an essential meal that supplies energy to the muscles and the brain.

For both adults and children, a balanced breakfast should contain

• A drink Drink: sleep dehydrates the body (breathing, sweating, morning urine), so it is necessary to consume a drink as soon as you wake up, at least 250 ml of water, coffee, tea or milk.
• A cereal-based product carbohydrates: very good carbohydrate intake, toast, rusks, oatmeal or muesli are to be preferred. Caution: processed products such as industrial cereals are part of the sweetened products whose consumption must remain very limited.
• A dairy product Breakfast is a source of calcium and vitamins A, D and B. Products such as yogurt or cottage cheese are recommended.
• A piece of fruit A balanced meal: it is preferable to eat fresh fruit and not juice in order to have a nutritional contribution rich in fiber and vitamin C.
• A small amount of sugar and fat A few spoonfuls of honey, nuts or a spoonful of jam should be eaten to combine healthy eating with pleasure.

This menu may seem very filling, but it is necessary to adapt the quantities and, of course, to respect the feeling of satiety.

The WeightWatchers weight loss program contains many tips on food and nutrition, but also on physical activity, sleep and state of mind.

Lunch

A balanced lunch includes 4 essential food groups: vegetables, protein sources such as meat or a substitute, starchy foods and a dairy product. This composition ensures the necessary nutritional intake for the body, in addition to promoting the transit and assimilation of nutrients by the body.

A healthy lunch can then have the following structure:

• One portion (80 – 100 g) of vegetable: raw, salad, stir-fry..
• A meat (minimum 100 g): fish, red meat, chicken or tofu and egg;
• Starchy foods: rice, potatoes, pasta, lentils..
• A dairy product: yogurt as a dessert, cottage cheese..
• A fruit: fresh fruit, compote..
• Water: other drinks should be avoided !

Dinner

Dinner is the last meal of the day. To sleep well, it is necessary to eat light and to avoid at all costs high-calorie carbohydrates, such as corn, soy and soybean.-i.e. white cereals, bread, butter, cheese and industrial salted or sweetened products.

On the contrary, it is necessary to favor low-calorie products, which are true sources of vitamins, minerals, fibers and proteins. We then give pride of place to vegetables (bell pepper, cabbage, broccoli …) and prefer lean meats such as cod or poultry without skin, as well as legumes and substitutes for starchy foods such as sweet potato.

It is out of the question to deprive yourself of dessert: soy yoghurts are good sources of low-calorie proteins, as well as certain citrus fruits such as grapefruit, apples and red fruits.

Should you eat snacks during the day ?

Snacks are not always a must. They can however help some cravings pass until mealtime, and may be necessary depending on what time you get up.

Indeed, a person who has breakfast at 6:30 am and lunch at 1 pm may need a snack between the two meals. Generally, digestion takes place in 4 hours, so it is normal to be hungry in these cases.

A snacks during the day, Whether in the morning around 11am or in the afternoon around 4pm, it can be composed of one or two of the following foods: apple, apricot, a handful of nuts, hard-boiled egg, plain yogurt, a piece of bread or raw vegetables.