Many people these days have realized the importance of eating healthy and nutritious foods. This increased awareness on healthy eating habits can be attributed to the rising incidence of lifestyle-related diseases like heart ailments and cancer, and people have become cognizant of the fact that the food they eat can lead to a variety of ailments in the future. Given this trend, lesser families are now eating at fastfood outlets, preferring to stay home and enjoy home-cooked meals. Parents are now faced with the task of choosing healthy lunch and dinner meals for their families. But preparing nutritious and delicious meals can be easy and quick as long as parents know a wide variety of recipes.
What is healthy meal?
Healthy lunch and dinner meals feature almost exclusively whole and unprocessed foods, avoiding foods rich in sugars, trans fats and sodium. Healthy meals allow an individual to reach minimum food recommended intake like 6 ounce of grains, 3 cups of dairy, and 2 ½ cups of vegetables daily. Healthy meals are also prepared through roasting, grilling and broiling as these processes bring out the natural flavors of meat. For vegetables, roasting and steaming are the prepared methods as these procedures preserve the natural low-calorie qualities of vegetables.
Ideally, the plate of a healthy lunch or dinner is divided into three sections. Half of the plate is loaded with whole grain bread, brown rice or starchy vegetable. One quarter is for vegetables and fruits rich in fiber, cooked or prepared without any additional fats. One quarter is for foods rich in lean protein like fish, chicken breast or egg whites.
What Consists A Healthy Lunch?
Preparing the midday meal is often a difficult task for busy parents who don’t have the time to cook a healthy and delicious lunch for their family. But lunch should not take a lot of time to prepare. There are some proven meals that are not only nutritious but also appeal to all members of the family- from the parents to teenagers to the kids. These include chicken salad coupled with whole grain bread, as well as meatball pitas where pita replaces the roll and lean ground turkey is used instead of beef. Kids and teenagers will love a combination of hummus, vegetables and pitas that should also appeal to adults who love Mediterranean dishes.
Preparing A Healthy Dinner
Unlike lunch, dinner allows parents to have more time in preparing their meals. Still, parents don’t have to waste a lot of time in cooking dinner as there are easy-to-prepare meals that all members of the family should love. One example is broiling fish and topping it with vinaigrette with diced tomatoes, olive oil and red wine vinegar. This would go well with rice and steamed asparagus. Alternatively, mix whole grain pasta with Parmesan cheese, olive oil green peas and diced chicken breast. The meal will be complete with a side dish of baby spinach salad with chopped walnuts and apple and tossed with apple cider vinegar dressing.
