Looks pretty healthy right? So what is it about this meal that could be sabotaging not only your weight loss, but also your health?
It all comes down to portions.
Too much of a good thing?
Lean protein and whole grains are of course healthy. But here’s the problem. As a rule of thumb your plate at dinner time should be just a quarter carbohydrate. Carbohydrates include rice, pasta, noodles, quinoa, or other grains or starchy vegetables such as potato, sweet potato, corn, peas, pumpkin, parsnip etc.
Half of your plate should be non-starchy vegetables such as carrot, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, greens, capsicum, snow peas, celery etc.
The protein portion should be roughly the size of the palm of your hand, just 100-150g. So just about that last quarter of your plate. Having too much protein and carbohydrate at meal times is one of the most common mistakes of those wanting to lose weight, as this habit can result in a might more energy dense meal than ideal for weight loss.
Not enough of a better thing.
Too much protein or carbohydrate also means that you aren’t likely to be getting in anywhere near a number of vegetables serves that you should be aiming for (5 serves a day). Aim to make non-starchy vegetables the bulk of your meal, and even better… make enough for leftovers the next day so you get that midday veggie hit as well!
Speaking of lunches
Many of us struggle to fit in 2.5 cups of cooked vegetables or 5 cups of salad vegetables in at one sitting, so aiming to include vegetables in at lunch as well as dinner makes this much more achievable. Plus, vegetables are high in fibre and have a high water content so can help keep you feeling full and satisfied.
