How To Eat Healthy: Spanish Meal Plans

The tasty cuisine of Spain should not be mistaken for Mexican or Latin-Caribbean food. The food in Spain consists of many ingredients that are fresh and healthy, such as cold-water fish, fresh vegetables, olives and legumes. Spanish cuisine mostly consists of baked, seared and grilled foods and very rarely fried foods.

Step 1

Choose recipes that contain lots of vegetables such as fire roasted peppers or gazpacho. Gazpacho is a cold, raw soup that contains tomatoes, red onion, celery, bell pepper, scallions, garlic and parsley. These vegetables contain vitamin B, C, E, minerals and antioxidants. You prepare this soup by adding the vegetables to vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice and olive oil, then pureeing the ingredients. The soup is chilled for a few hours before serving.

Step 2

Make dishes with fresh sea food, such as gambas a la plancha (grilled prawns) or tapas (snacks) such as sardines, atum (tuna) and anchoas (anchovies). To prepare gambas a la plancha, whisk together 1/2 cup of olive oil, the juice of one lemon and salt. Coat 24 shrimp in this mixture and lay in a hot skillet. Sear on both sides for one minute. Lower the heat and cook on each side for a minute or two until golden.

Step 3

Steer clear of recipes that contain unhealthy oils, like saturated fats and trans fats, and choose recipes that contain olive oil, which contains polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

Step 4

Plan meals that contain all of the five food groups and foods that contain a low count of cholesterol, saturated fat, salt, breading or fatty meats.

Step 5

Choose fruit snacks. Spanish traditional tapas such as pintxos de ahumado con fruta (smoked fish and fruit) mixes fresh smoked fish and fruit together for a antioxidant-filled snack. This recipe contains smoked salmon, trout and mackerel as well as cherry tomatoes, green and red grapes, kiwi fruit, green olives, assorted berries and lemon juice. You lay out the smoked fish slices and arrange the fruit on the fish. Roll the fruit in the fish, place on a skewer, add salt then squirt lemon juice on it.