Free Diet Menus & Meal Planners
Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
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Menus, Meal Planners
You're wanting to lose those unhealthy pounds and just can't find a diet plan that suits your personal needs - as well as your daily schedule. Sound familiar?
If so, this is a quite common fault with weight loss plans.
But to be fair, even our most trusted and treasured source for adequate nutrition - the pointy food pyramid isn't perfect and is an ever-changing work in progress.
The perfect diet plan is one that can be easily amended to fit your needs and you just can't get much better than one whose foundation is the Food Pyramid.
Plans that are built on other factors tend to be lacking in nutritional values required by the human body - and they are generally more fad than fab.
Here is a free diet menu for one day in the life of a healthy dieter that can assist with your meal planning.
Note that all of the foods are as close to their natural state as possible with toppings, sauces, butter and associated fats, gravy, sugar - as well as food additives being limited because natural equals healthy weight where caloric values and dietary fat grams are concerned.
Add two fruit selections throughout the day as well as coffee, tea or other low calorie beverages; sugar substitutes and low fat creamers can be used to keep caloric values minimal.
The Breakfast Meal Plate
Enjoy a hearty breakfast because the label itself defines this meal 'break (the overnight) fast'. We'll start with a dose of protein and fiber so that we'll feel full until lunch - and take note that this free diet menu is built upon a daily caloric intake of about 1,500 calories which is safe for the majority of dieters.
Exceptions include individuals with existing health issues, those who are considered obese as they will require more calories until weight recedes, pregnant and nursing individuals and those who require special dietary needs.
1 boiled egg
1 serving of whole grain oats
3/4 cup of reduced fat milk
1/2 cup of fresh fruit
Notice that one food group is MIA? That would be Mister Vegetable - but no worries as we'll bump him up amid lunch and dinner.
The Lunch Meal Plate
This meal plate should also be substantial but not so large that we can't add food for dinner time.
1 cup of whole grain pasta, cooked
1/2 cup of seasoned tomato sauce or marinara
grated Parmesan cheese
1 whole grain bread stick
2 cups of the following vegetables and you can use any variety and you can mix and match as you wish: mushrooms, bell peppers, onion, garlic, leeks, summer squash such as zucchini and yellow squash, petite tomatoes.
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Combine the pasta and sauce. In a non-stick pan, add the mixed vegetables that you have chosen. Cook until they are tender; use cooking spray if necessary to prevent sticking. Add the vegetables to the pasta and sauce and stir to combine.
You can sprinkle your pasta with the Parmesan cheese if you wish.
The Dinner OR Supper Meal Plate
We are winding-down our internal clock for the day - so in turn, we must start to wind-down our energy consumption as it's not going to burn as proficiently as it did earlier in the day.
3 hard taco corn tortilla shells, warmed
3 ounces of seasoned extra lean ground beef; you can season with ground chili powder, ground cumin and cilantro if you wish
3 cups of the following mix: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped onion of any variety, chopped cilantro
1 ounce of reduced fat shredded cheese
Vegetarians can substitute beans for the ground beef.
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