At Sleekgeek, we understand that “knowing” and “doing” are two very different things.

You probably have a rough idea which healthy foods you should be eating more of (such as those on the Sleekgeek Food List) and which less-healthy foods you should be eating less of, right?

The real question is how do you actually put that knowledge into practice in an easy and do-able manner?

This is where the Sleekgeek Healthy Meal Template comes into play. It’s all about keeping things simple and do-able. In fact, the simpler the meal the better (at least in the beginning anyways)!

Consistency before complicated

When starting out, your absolute top priority is to find a system that is sustainable.

This means something that you can do consistently and frequently for a long period of time. Your healthy efforts should be easily repeatable, day in and day out.

We all know that life gets “messy”. Things never go as expected, we have good times and bad times, ups and downs… It’s inevitable.

Therefore, we believe that no diet should be built around perfect conditions or unsustainable efforts. You should be able to eat good, healthy meals even when you are short on time, sleep, energy, and motivation.

Sure, a gourmet Jamie Oliver-style meal might be fun, but most of us don’t have the skill, nor the hours of time and loads of money to throw at each and every meal.

Our advice is to master the basics first. Once you’ve been eating healthy meals consistently long enough to form solid habits, you can then become more adventurous by expanding the variety and complexity of your meals.

So let’s become superstars at walking before we learn to run, alright?

The healthy meal template

The Sleekgeek Healthy Meal Template is a simple system that you can use to start constructing healthy meals TODAY, without needing any fancy ingredients, special knowledge, or loads of time and effort.

It gives you a place to start, and a place to fall back to if you ever get lost.

Every meal, every day, is as easy as going 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4!

The Formula:

Quality Protein + Colourful Vegetables + Smart Carbohydrates + Healthy Fats = Meal

See? Easy!

Using the Sleekgeek Healthy Meal Template you combine one or more proteins, vegetables, carbohydrates, and fats to create a healthy, well-balanced meal.

You can pick and choose foods from the Sleekgeek Food List, swapping them in and out based on your preferences, what foods you have available, and what food combinations you think go well together.
You can even scale your choices up and down depending on how much time, energy, and money you have available. Some days you might want something super quick and easy, other days you might want something a little bit more complicated and fancy. It’s up to you.

We will also give you some easy Portion Control Guidelines so that you can tailor this template to fit your exact needs.

Some Examples

Here are some very basic sample meals put together with foods from the Sleekgeek Food List.

Meal Example 1:

It could be as simple and boring as:

Grilled Chicken Breast (quality protein)
+ Steamed Broccoli (colourful veg)
+ Pre-Cooked Rice (smart carb)
+ Sliced Avocado (healthy fat)
= Meal!

Meal Example 2:

Or you can fancy things right up a bit with:

Baked Salmon (quality protein)
+ Sauteed Mushrooms (colourful veg)
+ Baked Sweet Potato (smart carb)
+ Sprinkling of Sesame Seeds (healthy fat)
= Meal!

Meal Example 3:

If you are looking for something quick and easy to take to work:

Tin of Tuna (quality protein)
+ Colourful Bell Peppers (colourful veg)
+ Apple (smart carb)
+ Small Handful of Almonds (healthy fat)
= Meal!

Meal Example 4:

Of course, there are plenty of vegetarian options too! How about:

Tofu (quality protein)
+ Sliced Radishes (colourful veg)
+ Cooked Buckwheat (smart carb)
+ Sprinkling of Pumpkin Seeds (healthy fat)
= Meal!

(As a vegan or vegetarian, you can double up on protein sources as many common foods such as beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas, and pulses fit both the quality protein and smart carb lists. Meat eaters can do this too if they wish to get extra protein.)

Meal Example 5:

Or perhaps you want a quick and easy breakfast such as:

Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (quality protein)
+ Mixed Berries* (colourful ~~veg~~ fruit)
+ Rolled Oats (smart carb)
+ Chopped Walnuts (healthy fat)
= Meal!

(Note we substituted mixed berries for the usual colourful veg, see explanation below the image.)

* We suggest that you aim to have a bit of each food group in each meal, however, it’s not compulsory. If you don’t feel like eating veg for breakfast then you could substitute the veg for some healthy mixed berries like we did in the Protein Oats recipe above, and then double up your veg with lunch, dinner, or get some carrots in as a snack.

P.S. If you add some cinnamon and some apple / pair to the vanilla protein oats, it totally tastes like Milktart!

Speaking of cinnamon…

Herbs, Spices, and Condiments

Learning to use a variety of herbs, spices, and other low-calorie condiments is one of the best skills you can learn to make living a healthier lifestyle so much easier and more enjoyable.

Check out this Cooking Spice Cheatsheet that shows you how to re-create 36 different world cuisine flavours using only 3 ingredients at a time.
And this article on 17 Healthier Condiments and Sauces to Keep in Your Pantry.

Most herbs and spices should be calorie-free with minimal other ingredients, however, we do recommend that you choose individual herbs and spices over pre-made spice mixes.

In terms of condiments, we recommend that you try and stick to calorie-free, homemade, or minimal ingredient options. Having a tablespoon or two of tomato sauce or mayonnaise twice a day is a very quick way to add an extra few hundred calories to your meals. If you do that, we suggest that you reduce the amount of fat and/or carbs in your meals (we will give you suggested portion control guidelines shortly).

Template, not the rule

This Healthy Meal Template is exactly that: A template, not a rule.

It gives you a place to start, and a place to fall back to if you ever get lost.

You should use it as a source of inspiration for your meals and as a guideline to follow when you need some direction, but you should not let it restrict your healthy lifestyle or make life more difficult than it needs to be.

Life gets messy and doesn’t always work out perfectly. Maybe you can’t stomach the thought of vegetables for breakfast, or maybe there are no smart carbs / healthy fats available at your work lunch… Just do your best.

In fact, a template like this can be almost the most beneficial when life does get messy, because it gives you some freedom.

For example: If you are out at a work lunch, you know you can start by finding some protein, loading up on vegetables, and then adding in some carbohydrates and fats to your meal. Maybe not all of those foods will be ideal… But, just doing your best with the slightly less than ideal food choices may help you stay on track with your healthy lifestyle. It may mean that you continue eating well the next day rather than “falling off the wagon” and waiting until Monday to restart.

Over time, you learn what better and better food choices are, and so things get easier and easier.

What to do now?

Take a look at the Sleekgeek Food List and the Healthy Meal Template above, then:

Step 1) Identify 3 of your favourite healthy foods from each category in the food list.
This means choosing 3 quality proteins, 3 colourful vegetables, 3 smart carbs, and 3 healthy fats (ideally, go for some variety). Highlight these foods on the food list if you printed it out already, or if you didn’t then simply write them down on a separate piece of paper or in a notes app on your phone.
Step 2) Group them together to make a healthy meal of your own.
Remember, the formula goes: 1 quality protein + 1 colourful veg + 1 smart carb + 1 healthy fat = meal. Try to choose foods that you think will go well together, but it definitely does not need to be perfect! This is just practice. You will learn over time which food combinations you like and go well together.
Step 3) Make sure that you have at least one healthy meal made for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
You may have automatically created one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner meal in Step 2 above. Or, you may have made yourself three dinners only. Whichever one you did, it’s no problem. If you made three different types of meals then that’s great! If you made three of the same meals, you get to have some extra practice by going back to the food list and identifying some foods that will make a good meal for whichever meals you are missing.
Step 4) Go ahead and try it out.
Remember, this is all about bridging the gap between “knowing” and “doing”. If you really want to be successful you can’t just sit back and read, you actually need to go out and try it in the real world. Yes, we are sure you have a million questions and we will answer them in time, but for now the best thing you can do is just get started. Worry about the finer details later.
Step 5) Share some of your meal ideas.
We’ve created a discussion thread here in the Sleekgeek Facebook Group (link coming soon) where we share some of our own meal ideas and others can do the same. If you feel a bit stuck then this is the place for you.