Learn to Plan the Harvard Plate

The Harvard Plate Method helps you eat healthier every day without complications. If you also plan your menu for the entire week in advance, this will take you even further towards the goal of taking care of your nutrition and, therefore, your health.

But why plan a menu for the week? What foods should you add to your diet? What is the healthy plate theory? Dietitian Maria del Carmen Díaz Sánchez, from the Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Unit of the Quironsalud Alicante Hospital, gives us answers to all questions and offers recommendations for maintaining a healthy diet without complications.

Why should the weekly menu be organized?

It’s true that planning what we will eat during the week takes effort, but it also provides us with many benefits.

On the one hand, having a shopping list means financial savings because we will avoid buying food we don’t need.

It also saves time because We can prepare the week’s meals in advance and freeze them.so that then all you have to do is defrost them, heat them up and eat them.

All this is also good for health, because no need to resort to quick meals and plain, which are often less healthy and more expensive options.

How to plan a healthy menu for the whole week

We must include several food groups, and in sufficient quantities, throughout the week. Likewise, for it to be balanced, it must contain the nutrients each person needs based on their age, health, and activity level.

Recommended Daily Products

• Vegetable. At least we should include 2 servings until now.
• Fruits. Least, 3 servings daily.
• Nuts. We can also consume them daily, but in moderation.
• Lactic. Preferably they are semi-skimmed and we should include 3 or 4 servings until now.
• Flakes. Each day includes at least a portion cereals per day, preferably whole grains.
• Water. Is the most important drink both during meals and between meals.
• Fats. Don’t exclude them from your diet as they are essential. Instead, choose healthy fats found in olive oil or avocados and consume them in moderation.

Food every week

• Legumes. It is advisable to add 4 servings a week.
• Fish. It’s important to consume 3 or 4 servings weekly. We also recommend choosing between small or medium-sized white and blue fish.
• Meat. A healthy weekly menu should include 3-4 servings lean meat per week, one of them could be red meat.
• Eggs. How minimum 4 a week.

What does the Harvard plate contain?

This healthy plate theory makes it easy to calculate the required portions of food at each meal. To do this, you need to divide the plate into the following percentages and products:

He 50% should consist of vegetables, which can be raw or cooked, as well as fruits. This will represent 200 grams of salad or vegetables on every plate. Moreover, to get enough vitamin C, we should try to consume some of these servings raw.

25% should be allocated to flour carbohydrates.For example, pasta, potatoes, rice, preferably whole grain, bread or legumes. This will mean about 50 grams or 30 if you want to lose weight.

The remaining quarter or 25% of the plate is reserved for proteins. It is advisable to include white meat, such as chicken, rabbit or turkey; fish, eggs or nuts. They will be in grams from 100 to 150 grams meat, fish, dairy products or eggs at every meal. As for nuts, they make a good snack, so it is recommended to eat 3 to 7 handfuls per week.

8 tips for eating healthier

Other recommendations for ensuring a healthy and balanced diet on a daily basis:

1. Try to cook most of your meals vegetables and fruits.
2. Don’t think of potatoes as vegetables.
3. Choose whole grains, be it barley, oats, rice or wheat. Compared to refined grains and rice, its effect on blood glucose and insulin levels is more moderate.
4. Take into account protein value. Foods rich in healthy proteins include fish, chicken, legumes and nuts, which can also be added to salads.
5. I prefer healthy vegetable oils for example, olive, corn, soybean or sunflower oil.
6. Avoid drinking alcoholic beverages or sweet.
7. Hold physically active.
8. Limit your consumption of ultra-processed foods., semi-finished or sweet, like something sporadic. Remember that they are not healthy.