Healthy dieting involves reducing calorie consumption, regulating portions and planning meals that provide enough calories to keep energy high while also cutting the total amount each day to reduce weight. A healthy diet meal plan involves a day of meals and snacks. While it is possible to plan a full day of calories and meals without assistance, diet meal plans offered by health agencies provide quick and easy menu options.
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Interactive Menu Planner
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute offers reduced-calorie diet menus incorporating meal planning from traditional American, Southern, Mexican-American and Asian-American cuisine. The traditional plans offer a choice of a 1,200- or 1,600-calorie menu option. A special lacto-ovo vegetarian cuisine program, also with 1,200- and 1,600-calorie options, focuses on meals offering fresh salads, soups, omelets, rice and fresh fruit. All diet meal plans incorporate exchange lists to the basic meal plans to allow dieters a greater range of food options.
American Diabetes Association Meal Plans
Healthy eating and dieting meal plans address special diet concerns or people at risk of medical conditions, such as diabetes. The American Diabetes Association introduces a plan to provide healthy meal options requiring less than 30 minutes of preparation. While meal planners with diabetes must manage blood glucose levels carefully, obese dieters must also be concerned with irregular, blood glucose levels. The official meal plan book of the organization, "Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy," includes a step-by-step guide to shopping for meals, "planning nutritious meals, and even eating healthy restaurant meals," according to the American Diabetes Association website.
Mayo Clinic Meal Plans
The Mayo Clinic Diet claims to embrace a "habit-based approach." The diet meal plan incorporates two general parts. The first focuses on losing weight, a total loss of 6 to 10 lbs. in the first two weeks is the program goal. The second part of the Mayo program incorporates using the diet meal plans in an approach that integrates the meals into your lifestyle. This demonstrates a viable option for dieters hoping to incorporate basic lifestyle changes in weight loss. The "Lose It" initial phase allows dieters to lose a significant amount of weight to build enthusiasm. The second phase of meal plans, labeled "Live It," stabilizes weight loss at 1 to 2 lbs. each week through preparation of planned meals and exercise.
MyPyramid Meal Planner
MyPyramid Meal Planner, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, allows online, interactive personalization through an easy-to-use website. Personal details must be added to the online template, including age, physical activity level, gender and weight, to create menus. An option to add favorite foods selected from the recommended list is also a feature. A program extension allows dieters to copy personal menu plans to other family members registered on the plan website. An educational option explains the science behind the diet and food choices. The foundation of this diet meal plan is the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid that establishes a visual diagram, a pyramid, for the basic food groups and the amount of nutrients required each day for a healthy diet.
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