Meals By Meags - A Balanced Diet

WHAT DOES A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?

OKAY. Do NOT close this window. You're gonna wanna read this. This has been my absolute number one question, and perhaps YOU have asked it. HOW do I eat clean? What does that mean? What does that INVOLVE? I'm going to attempt to break it down for you.

If you've ever done a fitness program, or perhaps you've started to get an inkling towards wanting to learn more about nutrition so you've looked some things up - let's get real- there is TOO ssooooo much information out there! Where do you even begin!? I remember when I first wanted to lose weight and learn more about nutrition, I was absolutely bombarded my figures and facts! Don't eat gluten! Give up dairy! Low fat! Low cal! Read macros! Cut sugar! No caffeine! Let me be the first to say, SHIT GETS INTENSE!!!!! I follow some fitness buffs (haha, such a great pun) who read ingredients, some who count cals, some who read macros. How was I even going to begin starting this journey when there were so many options available to me? Which was gonna stress me out the least? I did NOT want fitness to seem like a chore, and I'm sure you don't either. But it's one thing to say "have this much protein and this much low glycemic carbs." Some people may have a hard time grasping that. VISUAL LEARNERS, need to just get a straight up LAY OUT of what they should be doing, do make connections (B.Ed HOLLA). 

SOOOOO without further ado, instead of sending you a meal plan, or giving you fifteen hundred examples of healthy foods (because a lot of articles do that, and while they're helpful, for a beginner they can be a bit overwhelming!) I'm just gonna lay out a DAY IN THE LIFE OF MEAGS. What I eat. How balanced my diet is. How often and how much. A few things I want you to take into account before taking everything I say super seriously.

a) I am NOT nor do I CLAIM to be a fitness pro/academically trained as a nutritionist. These are things that have worked for me. I have learned a LOT about nutrition based on academic articles, a lot of info and training from Team BeachBody and personal experience with a program called the 21 day fix.

b) I am a woman all of 5'1 and 119lbs. When I started this meal plan I was 132lbs and sticking to this consistently helped me drop 13 pounds in less than a month. So, if you're a young adult I'd say between 100-150 lbs, this will work for you if you want to LOSE or MAINTAIN a healthy weight/diet. IF you weigh more than that, that's OKAY. But I don't want to malnourish you or have you be super hungry. SO, you might want to consider adding a serving of protein or veggies. Likewise, if you are say a 6 foot man who is trying to put on serious muscle mass, YOU GOTTA EAT MORE BRO. Follow these guidelines but you might want to add an entire MEAL extra onto this and eat 6 meals a day versus five.

OKAY. Let's get to it!!!!! Here are some facts before we jump in! 

Fact #1: I do not count calories or read macros. I eat good whole foods. You should be able to identify what is healthy. Try to avoid things with lots of sugar. AKA anything thats processed or eating out of a box (like kraft dinner or whatever)

Fact #2: I do NOT neglect things I like. Ergo, I eat gluten, I eat meat, and I eat dairy. One of the biggest misconceptions is that to be healthy you should go no carb. Say what!?!? I eat carbs almost EVERY day. There is a difference between a quarter cup of quinoa and a bag of LAYS chips. PEOPLE. Especially if you are exercising daily, PLEASE eat carbs. Fuel your body, give it energy. Geeze louise. 

Fact #3: I am not planning on competing in a bikini comp anytime (soon...mwahah). So, I try to be kind to myself! If you are venturing into the world of clean eating, don't stress yourself out to the point where you feel like crap every time you mess up! If it's not your goal to be CHISELED in 5 weeks then don't treat it as such. One of the things I do to keep myself sane is have a cheat meal EVERY WEEK. So once a week, I will eat chips, or pizza, or McDicks, or WHATEVER I FRIGGIN WANT because I feel as though I deserve it. An awesome girl that I follow on instagram (@darleneeeeA) even told me that she has entire cheat DAYS on Sundays to refrain from driving herself nuts, and this girl is a little lady beast, so I'm just gonna go ahead and take her word for it!

Now I'm rambling. HERE WE GO. This is what I would eat in a typical day!

BREAKFAST (8:00am):

SHAKEOLOGY. This is the super fabulous PROTEIN/VITAMIN shake I drink in the morning. It's a meal replacement. So, if you're unfamiliar with Shakeology, just know that I drink a protein shake. It's quick and easy and I'm usually too lazy to make anything else when I first wake up. I also drink tea or coffee in the morning (ixnay the cream folks) and read some personal development books.

(1 serving protein)

MID MORNING SNACK (10:00 am):

Natural/Greek Yogurt, Sliced (1/2) Banana, Walnuts

I use a bit of vanilla extract to taste and banana because it's sweet. This is a better option than buying the little flavoured yogurts. You don't HAVE to add walnuts. I just add a few for texture

1 Serving Protein (yogurt)

1 Serving Fruit

(1/2 Serving Healthy fat if walnuts)

LUNCH (12:30pm)

VEGETABLE OMELETTE with BERRIES

I've already written all over this picture. 

1 Serving Fruit (berries)

1 Serving Protein (egg)

1 Serving Veggies

*Another good option if you're away for lunch is the Mason Jar Salad that I blogged about earlier! Be sure to add a protein to it: chicken/eggs/tuna/tempeh or something*

SMALL AFTERNOON SNACK (3:00pm)

TRAIL MIX

NOT THIS MUCH! I made and stored my own trail mix with almonds, pumping/sunflower seeds, walnuts, and a few dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips to sweeten. (Just a few!) Have a small handful to tide you over until dinner. I didn't add a picture but I also have a serving of vegetable here! So maybe a snack bag of some sliced peppers or baby carrots. OR sometimes, I have a slice of Ezekiel toast with peanut butter.

1 Serving Vegetable (Carrots)

1 Serving Seeds/1/2 Healthy Fat

1 Serving GOOD carb (toast)

DINNER (5:00-6:00 pm)

CHICKEN MEATLOAF, QUINOA, GREEN SALAD

Excuse my crappy phone camera quality. I usually have a balanced dinner, with the most food groups. I used kale/cabbage bagged salad and sauteed the quinoa with carrots and onions. So good.

1 Serving Protein (meatloaf)

1 Serving Vegetables (salad)

1 Serving Carb (quinoa)

AFTER DINNER: Stop eating! Drink water a lot and if you are THAT hungry, reach for something that won't undo what you just did. (i.e fresh veggies - baby carrots are a godsend)

SOOOOOO. That may be hard to take in but I thought the pictures would offer a good representation. LETS REVIEW.

I added times not because you HAVE to eat at those times, but because you NEED to eat 5-6 times a day! Every 2-3 hours. Your body needs fuel! When getting healthy, SKIPPING meals is pretty much as bad as OVER-EATING. 

So here, I have eaten FIVE times a day, ever few hours.

In total I have had:

4 Servings of Protein (Breaky, Snack, Lunch, Dinner)

3 Servings of Veggies (Lunch, Snack, Dinner)

2 Serving of Fruit (Snack, Lunch)

2 Servings of GOOD Carbs (Snack, Dinner)

1 Serving of Healthy Fats (spread between Snacks)

= 

BALANCED HEALTHY DIET :) YEEHAW

Now one thing we didn't take into account was PORTION CONTROL, because that will be a kicker for your goals as well. 

In my review above ^, the foods that we should eat the most of are at the TOP. (Protein and Veggies) so let that hierarchy be your guide. What is a serving? It depends on the food group, and the type of food! A chicken breast for example, is a serving of protein. If you diced one up it would probably be almost a cup. So go down the list and think about how you can decrease from a cup. Since carbs and healthy fats are at the bottom, a serving of carbs might be about a  quarter cup, and a healthy fat serving would be even less. Portion control is just something you have to learn as you go. Read a lot, ask questions. And remember MOST of the things I've learned are from a program called The 21 Day Fix. With that program you'll get colour coated containers so will know exactly how much to eat of what food. For now, just focus on the FOODS. Once you have grasped eating a balanced diet, consider your portion sizing. 

TIP: It's a LOT less than what you think you need, and you might be hungry the first few days. To put it into perspective, if you were to go to any Canadian/American restaurant that serves reasonably priced food (Boston Pizza or Jack Astors or Montana's or something), you will probably get ENOUGH on your plate to feed you TWO or THREE times. See if you can take some of it home (a good strategy is asking for a takeout box as SOON as your meal comes).

ALRIGHTY FOLKS. I hope I didn't confuse you too much. Remember to add to this meal plan if your goal is to pack on muscle. Combine this meal plan with at least 25-30 minutes of exercise a day for max results. The higher intensity your exercising is, the more you might want to eat so do it at a time where you know you can eat and replenish right after (i.e don't do it right before your afternoon trail mix snack :p).

ALSO remember I'm not pro. Just learning as I go and trying to spread some of my knowledge with you fine folks.

 Please do message me for questions, but I also encourage you to start learning some things on your own so that you can make your own decisions as to what works best for YOUR health and YOUR body. 

xo Meags