Keeping Yourself Healthy By Building Delicious Meal Plans

What you eat is a large part of keeping yourself healthy, which is why building delicious meal plans, that are full of goodness is the best thing that you can do.

However, it might not feel as though this is easy, but trust me, it is probably a lot more simple than you think.

You see it all the time, people are overcomplicating how to make a healthy meal, and it puts others off doing it for themselves.

So, in this article, we’re going to be looking at how you can create some delicious meals with the goal of keeping yourself healthy.

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FRUIT

First, in some meals, fruit plays a vital part.

This is especially the case at a meal like breakfast time when you need to start the day, but you probably don’t want to be eating broccoli.

As such, one of the best things that you can eat for breakfast is fruit and yogurt.

It is full of vitamins and minerals, which means that you’re giving your body what it needs, and you can keep up with the fruit during the day as a healthy snack.

The only thing that you’ve got to be aware of is that a lot of fruit has a high level of natural sugars, which you want to try to keep down as much as possible.

While fruit is a great source of certain nutrients, it’s not something that you should be eating in excess, or you will end up consuming too much sugar.

INCORPORATING VEGETABLES IN YOUR MEAL PLANS

Vegetables are a lot easier to work into any meal than fruit because there are so many, and they work with most savory dishes.

For example, if you are going to create something like a Chinese chicken salad, there are plenty of vegetables involved in this.

The more vegetables you are eating, the healthier it is for you.

When people talk about the recommended 5 a day, it is often thought that both fruit and vegetables are included.

It is true to an extent, but vegetables are far healthier than fruits, so you should try to get them into most of your meals.

Vegetables are easy to swap in to replace some of the items in your meal that aren’t so good for you.

For example, instead of those fries that you love so much, how about swapping them for some carrot sticks?

These are a far healthier option than the fries that you are used to having, and they taste great!

It’s simple swaps like this that can make all the difference.

KEEPING HEALTHY WITH PROTEIN

Finally, you are going to need to get enough protein in your diet to keep you healthy.

If you eat meat, then you know that there is a lot of protein there, but if you don’t, then you need to look to alternatives.

 MORE INFORMATION AT:

17 Best Protein Sources for Vegans and Vegetarians 

Nuts, some vegetables, lentils, and a number of other things contain protein.

Make sure that you are eating enough, or your body is going to run into some problems.

Make sure to read my article on

HOW TO CREATE A HEALTHY HABIT OF MEAL PLANNING.

It includes a delicious pork chop and vegetable meal, ideal for two people.

I place mine on the front of the refrigerator, as a reminder and to alleviate that old question of, “what’s for dinner?”

Meal Planning

Weekly meal planning not only takes the worry about “what to make for dinner,” but it can help save you money as well.

Make sure to include a vegetable and a protein for every dinner for optimum nutritional balance.

Below is a great weeknight dinner which would pair great with a quick salad, or just some raw broccoli.

Chicken thighs elevate the flavor and cook evenly in the skillet.

Print Pin

Effortless Chicken Thighs in a Creamy Sauce

Chicken thighs are more flavorful than the breast cut and covering the thighs with a creamy sauce makes them more delightful.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword chicken, cooking for two, cream sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2 people

Author JoAnn

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
• Kosher salt
• pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 whole onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Instructions

• Seasoned both sides of chicken thighs with salt and pepper. [mv_img id="5716"]
  
• While chicken acclimates, prep the other ingredients.
• Heated EVOO in a cast-iron skillet, medium heat, swirling the oil to coat the entire skillet.
• Once oil was heated up (I tested by dropping in a piece of the chopped onion to make sure it would start cooking immediately),
• I placed all thighs in the skillet, skin side down (remember mine had no skin), in the skillet, cooking for 13 minutes.
• Turned the chicken and cooked the other side, 12 minutes.
• Removed the chicken from the pan and placed on a plate.

  Put the chicken in a preheated 200º oven.
• Skillet still hot and on medium heat, I dropped in all chopped onion. 

  Stirring occasionally till onions were translucent, approximately 7 minutes.
• Added chopped garlic.

   Stirring until I could smell the garlic really well, (about 30 seconds) then I added the tomatoes and stirred the mixture.
• Finally, add the spinach. 

  Using tongs, I mixed in the spinach, cooking until the spinach was wilted, approximately 5 minutes.
• Add the heavy cream, a dash of salt, and pinch of pepper.

   Stir the mixture and leave until it reaches a boil, it should take approximately 7-8 minutes. [mv_img id="5715"]
  
• Once at a light boil, add the Parmesan cheese, stirring till the sauce has thickened slightly.
• Add the chicken back to the pan, spooning sauce on top of the chicken.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and allow chicken to cook in the sauce for 10 minutes.
• Serve.