It's fairly easy to determine whether a specific food (broccoli v. French fries) is healthy or unhealthy. But, when you start combining different foods to create a meal, it gets a little more complicated. Then, when you look at the combination of all the meals & snacks you've consumed throughout the day, it's even more complicated.Making sure that you have the correct proportions of macro-nutrients (45%-65% carbohydrate, 10-35% protein and 20-30% fat), as well as the correct amounts of all your vitamins & minerals, is indeed an intricate task.
The best way to ensure that you are keeping everything in proper balance is to record what you've eaten throughout the day and to use a system, such as our online nutrition tracking system, that will calculate how much of each nutrient you've consumed, and how close you are to meeting all your nutrient requirements.
However, if that is not something you are willing or able to do on an ongoing basis, here are some tips to help you balance your nutrition:
1. Include a complex carbohydrate, a protein and a healthy fat in every meal & snack. Examples: turkey & avocado on whole grain bread; brown rice & salmon; blueberries, nonfat yogurt & almonds.
2. The majority of the food you eat should be whole foods rather than processed foods. Whole foods are foods that you would find whole in nature: vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, whole grains, meat. Processed foods come in packages: chips, donuts, candy, cookies. A good rule of thumb: the longer the ingredient list on the package, the more processed that food is.
3. Go to mypyramid.gov find out how many servings from each food group (grains, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat/beans) you should be eating daily.
4. Check out this helpful website to learn more about which foods you can eat in order to get all your vitamins and then go to the next page for information on which foods to eat in order to get all your minerals.
Balancing your nutrition will ensure that you always have the critical nutrients available to your body. It will stabilize blood sugar and prevent cravings, decrease hunger later in the day, and discourage you from overeating and storing the excess calories as fat.
If you're finding it confusing or frustrating to create balanced meal plans, then call Narina or Elaine and set up a Nutrition Consultation appointment. Even just one appointment can help get you on the right track. You can reach us at 818-437-5523.
Click on "comments" below if you have questions for us, or if you have tips about balancing your nutrition that you'd like to share with others.
My goal is to build muscle without gaining weight. Do you recommend snacking on ONLY protein after a workout? Or a protein shake? I want to avoid consuming extra calories.
ReplyDeleteGreat question. Although protein is important for gaining muscle, you still need to refuel with a combination of healthy carbs & protein after a workout. (And actually every meal & snack should include a combination of carbs & protein.)
ReplyDeleteKeep your portions small so that you can control your calorie intake.
We recommend getting protein from whole food sources rather than from a shake. Nuts, seeds, cottage cheese, string cheese, egg white, poultry, fish, legumes are all great sources of protein.