Planning Healthy Meals

If planning a healthy meal seems difficult, adopt a few guidelines to make composing nutritious meals a good habit and daily reality. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has targeted the nutrients the average diet needs more of, those that need to be limited and a few that can vastly improve your health. Meeting these standards most of the time will help to keep you fit and allow you to enjoy indulgences such as desserts and sodas occasionally, without threatening your weight or your well-being.

Emphasize Vitamins, Minerals and Fiber

The majority of your diet should come from foods with high ratios of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber to low calories. This nutrient combination sustains your metabolism and also reduces your risk for heart disease. The American Heart Association suggests including vegetables, fruits and whole grains in your daily meal plans. Foods such as tomatoes, spinach, carrots, oranges, berries, oatmeal and brown rice provide nutrient density and variety. Low-sugar, whole-grain breakfast cereals represent sources of extra nutrition, with their fortified vitamin and iron contents.

Restrict Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium and Sugar

Emphasizing beneficial nutrients will naturally displace potentially damaging saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, sodium and sugar. These elements may cause weight gain or cardiovascular stress or damage, increasing your likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, cancer or heart disease. To plan healthy meals, read food labels and choose items with lower contents of these substances. Avoiding fatty meats, fried foods and packaged foods with added salt or sugar will help you meet these criteria.

Include Dairy Products or Substitutes

Low-fat dairy products have less saturated fat and cholesterol and high amounts of calcium toward your recommended daily values. Because American diets have gradually replaced milk beverages with soda or coffee, the USDA considers calcium a nutrient of concern. Its deficiency can lead to more bone fractures, dental problems and heart arrhythmias. Include fat-free or 1-percent milk, yogurt or cheese in your meals, or calcium-fortified soy or rice beverages.

Replace Some Meats With Fish or Beans

Reducing your consumption of meats and poultry by substituting other protein foods is a healthy choice for your meal plans. Besides limiting your saturated fat intake, eating fish in place of meats increases your intake of vitamin D, another nutrient of concern in many diets. Eating beans, lentils or peas adds zero cholesterol to your daily totals, while boosting your healthy dietary fiber.