A weekly diet meal plan is a blueprint for balanced eating that is designed to suit your health and weight goals. A healthy menu emphasizes filling foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. You should include reduced-fat milk or milk-substitute products and lean protein options to maintain nutritional balance, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Identification
It's important to identify your calorie and nutritional needs before you start planning your meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides meal patterns that break down food-group recommendations for 12 calorie levels. Following serving suggestions designed to help you balance your carbohydrates, proteins and fats gives you a healthy outline for meal planning.
Significance
The quality of your food choices affects your caloric intake, your energy level and your hunger level. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, people tend to eat the same volume of food each day. When you make smarter food choices, you can eat enough to fill up and still cut calories. Planning your meals in advance enables you to organize your food shopping, schedule quick meals for days when you're short on time, and incorporate variety and balanced nutrition into your diet.
Effects
Weekly meal plans help you see the bigger picture. You're less likely to include unhealthy choices in your eating plan when you design your menus in advance. Organizing your meals empowers you to eat smarter. When you don't have a plan for dinner, for example, you might throw together an oversized bowl of pasta with a side of garlic bread. With an organized meal plan, you might instead choose a half-cup of whole-wheat noodles with a half-cup lean meat sauce, a side salad with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette, and baked sweet potato wedges, for example.
Features
Whether you prefer a vegetarian diet or a traditional diet, your meal plans should be balanced. As a general rule of thumb, plan your breakfast to include one to two grain servings, a serving of fruit and 1 cup of low-fat milk or milk substitute. Include two varieties of vegetables in both your lunch and dinner menus, along with a lean protein such as a grilled chicken breast or legumes, and one to two servings of whole grains. Enjoy fruit, nuts, milk or whole grains for snacks.
Considerations
To incorporate variety into your weekly meal plans, start by making a list of foods by category. List vegetables, fruits, grains, snacks, meat substitutes, nuts and seeds, meats and one-dish meals such as stir-fry, lasagna, chili and hearty soups. Create a meal-planning worksheet labeled with the days of the week across the top row, and write breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks down the first column. Use your list of foods to fill in your meal components for each day.
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