How to create a well-balanced healthy meal in 5 steps [Infographic]

Create hundreds of tasty and healthy meal combinations using this 5-step guide to get a good balance of protein, vegetables, smart carbs, and healthy fats.

I’ve written before about how knowing is not the same as doing. You probably know 50 million different things that you should be doing to improve your health, get fitter, build better relationships, become more financially stable, or less stressed. The problem is: Figuring out how to do that consistently – especially when life gets really busy – can be difficult.

This is where Precision Nutrition’s new infographic comes into play [explained and featured below].

Warning: This guide could change your life!

As a Precision Nutrition Certified Coach, I’ve been working hard to bring their wisdom on helping people develop life-long healthy eating habits to the Sleekgeek community and the rest of South Africa. That means encouraging people to:

• Eat fresh, minimally-processed food as often as possible.
• Include a good balance of protein, veggies, smart carbs, and healthy fats.
• Adjust portions to meet health and body composition goals.

Thankfully, PN has come up with an amazing cheat sheet to help you build amazing meals that pack in maximum flavour and nutrition with minimal effort.

Using the simple instructions in this infographic, you’ll be able to mix and match ingredients and flavour profiles to come up with literally thousands of easy, delicious, health-supporting meals.

How to Create the Perfect Meal in 5 Steps:

Step 1: Choose one ingredient from each of the four columns.

In Step 1 of the infographic below, you will find 4 columns containing a selection of proteins, vegetables, smart carbs, and healthy fats.

Along with each selection, PN’s all-star chef (Jennifer Nickle) adds some simple but professional guidelines on how to prepare those foods for maximum flavour and nutrition.

Step 2: Portion your ingredients.

In Step 2, you put to use PN’s simple portion control and serving size guidelines that take the hassle out of counting calories and doing math with each meal.

These are rough guidelines using your palm, fist, cupped hand, and thumb as measuring references that you can adjust up or down according to how frequently you eat, how active you are, the results you are getting, and so on.

Step 3: Choose aromatics and garnishes.

In Step 3, you select a regional flavour profile that you wish to taste and then choose 3 or more ingredients from its list to flavour your meal.

Choices are Italian, French, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, Moroccan, Indian, Caribbean, Southwest, and Spanish flavours – all made with a choice of 3 out of 5-7 ingredients.

You can also check out this How to Recreate 36 World Cuisines with 3 Spices Infographic if you want more ideas.

Step 4: Cook the food.

In Step 4, you prepare the foods selected in Step 1 with the cooking guidelines and preparation tips also shown there and combine it with the aromatics and garnishes from Step 3.

PN also gives additional flavour tips such as sauté onions in your pan alongside green vegetables to add sweetness and texture or sprinkle dried chilli flakes / grate fresh horseradish on your protein to build flavour and add a bit of a kick.

Step 5: Put it all together on your plate.

In Step 5, you wrap it all up by putting your selected protein, vegetables, smart carbs, and healthy fats together on your plate.

PN also gives some sample meals to help you get your imagination going.

Infographic (click to enlarge):

Source: Precision Nutrition.

If you are like us and absolutely love infographics, check out what else we have featured here.