Healthy Menus
A healthy menu is one that contains a good balance of the main food groups, with the food being both natural and fresh, avoiding any processed salted or sugared products, with the food being cooked or prepared in a manner that keeps the nutrients within the food, without adding excessive calories or additives from cooking oils or sauces.
Your goal when preparing a healthy meal, is to look firstly at the most important ingredient, which is your protein (chicken breast - salmon - egg white omelet) and then add your next food group, your complex carbohydrate (brown rice - wholemeal bread - jacket potatoes) and combine this with fibrous green vegetables. It's also important to remember that you will need to get at least 15 - 20% of your total calorie intake from fats, ideally the Essential Fatty Acids EFA's.
As you will learn in When - Why - How section, you should aim to be eating at least 5 - 6 meals a day, where a meal actually equates to food rather than a protein shake or smoothie, as the aim is to keep your bodies inner digestive system working, and by working it will actually be burning up to 30% of the calories consumed in your meals. The process of breaking down food from its natural state (chicken breast) to a working protein building block (amino acids) creates a large deficit in the calories consumed, a protein drink or processed carbohydrate has minimal thermic benefits for your bodies inner furnace (digestive system).
Due to the large variety of meals that can be combined, its better to know what you can and should eat, rather than trying to create healthy recipes for every individual, as not everyone likes tomatoes, celery, broccoli, brussels, peppers, olives, avocados, swede - these are just a few foods that I personally don't like, even though they are healthy.
The nutritional section is a must read, you need to know about the different food groups, what they do, and how they are best eaten before you can even think about preparing your meals. If you have skipped to this section because of your love for cooking, then you will be disappointed, as you won't find hundreds of healthy recipes to try.
Eating takes time, preparing your meals takes time, however plan your day at the end of your last, and you should have your meals prepared and your daily schedule planned.