Healthy Eating and what does it look like

This is easy to envisage when making simple meat and veges, but it can fall apart when we make mixed meals such as stir-fries, curries or pasta dishes. It’s all too easy to end up with a meal that’s essentially two-thirds pasta and one third meat, with minimal vegetables.

It is recommended that during each meal, we have a colourful variety of different food types on our plates (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), as per image below:

What does one serve look like?

At dinner we usually aim for one serve of protein, at least two serves of vegetables and one to two serves of carbs. Meal size will depend on energy needs:

• 125-150g raw lean red or white meat = size and thickness of your palm

• 125-150g raw fish = size of your hand

• 1 cup raw leafy vegetables or sprouts = 2 handfuls

• 1 carrot = 1 handful

• 1 small capsicum or 1/2 large = 1 handful

• 1/3 cup cooked brown rice = 1 tennis ball

You can think of food portions in tennis balls and also in palmfuls

• Use a size of your thumb for fatty and oily food dressings

• Use a cupped palm size for white carbohydrate (pasta, potatoes, and bread)

• Use fistfuls for serving rice servings, cereal, fresh fruit

But when it comes to green and dark green, pink, purple, red, purple vegetables you can eat more.

Want to more more about carbohydrates, proteins and fats? Read this blog and find out more...