Create Healthy Balanced Meals

Learning how to create meals with a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat is an important part of stabilizing your blood sugar and reaching your goals. The following step-by-step instructions will teach you how to easily create balanced meals, whether at home, dining out, traveling or on the go. After, check out our Food List & “Cheat Sheet” to get started creating your own balanced meals.

1. Start with the PROTEIN ( must be a COMPLETE PROTEIN* )

There are 2 groups of PROTEIN: LEAN PROTEIN and NON-LEAN PROTEIN

LEAN PROTEIN: High in Protein & LOW in Fat
Lean protein sources include food items like chicken breast, turkey breast, protein powder and egg whites, for example.

NON – LEAN PROTEIN: High in Protein & HIGH in Fat
Non – Lean protein sources are higher in fat and include food items like red meat, salmon and pork chops for example.

If you choose a LEAN PROTEIN, add a FAT and CARBOHYDRATE to make a complete meal

If you choose a NON-LEAN PROTEIN, add a CARBOHYDRATE ONLY (protein already contains the fat)

* Complete protein sources include animal protein or soy protein and contain all of the essential amino acids (building blocks of protein) that you need to stabilize your blood sugar. Non-complete proteins such as plant, grain or nut sources should not be counted as your protein source in your meal because they do NOT contain essential amino acids.

For example, though peanut butter contains protein and fat, it should be counted as your source of fat in your meal because it is not from an animal or soy.

2. Next, add a FAT ( add FAT to LEAN PROTEINS only )

FATS include nuts, nut butters, oils, dressings, butter, mayonnaise, avocado, etc.

Though you can include any fat in your meal, natural, unsaturated fats from non-animal sources like nut butters and olive oil are heart healthy and will yield you the best results.

3. Next, add a CARBOHYDRATE

CARBOHYDRATES include fruit, vegetables, grains, potatoes and sugar (like jam for example)

Because carbohydrates have such a significant effect on your blood sugar, it’s important to aim for mostly natural, un-processed sources such as fruit, vegetables, sweet potatoes or oatmeal for example.

 

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