An easy 5-step guide to making healthy, delicious meals every time

The key to optimizing your health and keeping the pounds off is to develop healthy eating habits for life. This means:

• Eating fresh, minimally processed foods
• Creating meals that are balanced between lean proteins, vegetables, smart carbs (i.e. fiber and nutrients intact, for example yams), and healthy fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, for example olive oil)
• Knowing appropriate portion sizes

Knowing what the right portion size is can be difficult since many of us have a hard time conceptualizing food in terms of ounces, grams or cups. An easy and effective way to determine portion size is using your hand as a guide. You can download and print this Portion Control Guide for more detail. But essentially, our hand is proportionate to your body, its size never changes, and it’s always with you, making it the perfect tool for measuring food and nutrients. No calorie counting is required!

For women, one portion of each macronutrient is generally appropriate for each meal. For men, two portions are generally appropriate. 

Here is a handy 5-step guide to creating hundreds of easy, healthy and delicious meals. The steps are:

1. Choose an ingredient from the four categories: protein, vegetable, carb, fat
2. Portion your ingredients
3. Choose herbs and spices to flavor the meal
4. Cook the food
5. Put it all on the plate and garnish with fresh herbs, lemon juice, etc. 

The full guide can be printed out and posted it in your kitchen to inspire you when you are thinking about what to make for dinner. And hopefully it will get you in the habit of creating balanced, healthy, calorie controlled meals!