The balanced dinner / Day 1

What constitutes a balanced dinner?

Get prepared!

Sounds simple, but it can really help

Dinner is often the only meal of the day that we have time to cook. Think about what you want to eat beforehand, because there’s nothing worse than standing in front of an empty or overfilled fridge. On the weekend you can think about what you want to cook during the week and make a shopping list. That way you don’t have to think much and can resist the temptation of ordering in or having a ready meal. These should be the exception since they often contain a lot of fat, sugar and salt.

Shopping lists prevent impulse buys.

This is how you put your meal together!

What do you fancy today? Fish fillet on a bed of vegetables and parsley potatoes or flatbread filled with chicken and vegetables?

We’ll show you how to balance the different components.

The right balance

The five-part rule

A balanced dinner consists of 3 components as you can see in the picture. 2/5 of the plate should be filled with fruit and veg. Another 2/5 of the plate should be filled with high-protein foods. 1/5 of the plate is for starchy foods. What’s important is the proportions of the different elements.

Use fat sparingly

Fat is very high in calories!

Sounds simple and it is. It’s all about the balance between the different components again. In theory, you can eat as much as you like as long as you stick to the right proportions and only eat until you’re full. You should have fats in moderation. Bear in mind that cheese and sausage as well as nuts, avocado and certain types of fish like herring have a high fat content. Additional fat – like butter on your bread (cream cheese does just as well) or oil for frying – isn’t always necessary.

Use high-quality vegetable fats and oils and reduce the number of hidden fats.

A balanced family meal / Day 2

Tips for balanced family meals

Get the whole family eating healthy

Family not impressed with your change in diet and not generally a fan of vegetables? Then you’ll need all the help you can get! We’ve put together 7 tips on how to make stress-free, balanced meals for the whole family.

Balanced meals will do your children and partner some good too!

No cooking today!

Cold meals can also be balanced.

We’re not going to cook today. You don’t need to make three course dinners every day. Your family will definitely understand! Just try wholewheat bread, a low-fat topping like chicken breast or cream cheese with herbs and raw food like tomatoes, cucumber or peppers.

You don’t have to cook every day and the dishes don’t have to be time-consuming!

Involve everyone in the planning !

Make decisions together to make everyone happy.

It’s all about planning. You can think about what you want to eat together on the weekend and do the shopping accordingly. If your loved ones are involved in the decision process they can’t complain afterwards. Try to put together the family’s favourite meals in the right proportions.

Try to stick to your list.

Balanced dinners for everyone

The whole family will benefit from them

A balanced diet will improve everyone’s health. You’ll be doing your family a favour by sharing the same meals. They’ll feel the benefits of a balanced, varied diet and gradually get used to it.

Even if it’s hard at the beginning, your family will benefit from a healthy diet.

Flexibility is the key to a balanced diet

…quite literally

Even the best plan should stay flexible. Never eat a meal that you won’t enjoy just because you’ve planned it. Be creative and find something else to cook with the same ingredients. Maybe you’ll discover your new favourite dish that way.

Planning is good, but being flexible also has its advantages.

Be creative!

Works almost every time

There are a lot of things that children don’t like. That’s why they should flick through the cookbooks themselves and quite literally build an appetite. It’s also easy to hide vegetables in a tomato pasta sauce, in gratins or grated into pancakes or burgers.

Vegetables can make a lot of dishes lighter and more balanced!

Stress-free dinner

Two birds with one stone

Cook larger portions and freeze them. That way you have a healthy meal ready when you don’t have time to cook.

Yesterday’s leftovers often make a great lunch too.

Ask for help

Share the load

Since everyone’s eating, they can also help with the preparation. You don’t have to do everything alone. Also, if the children help with cooking, they’ll become familiar with fresh ingredients and learn how to prepare a balanced meal. It also means they’ll be able to do more than open a can later in life!

Children who help with the cooking are more open to homemade dishes!

What our food is made of / Day 3

Our main nutrients: fat

Fat isn’t bad for you!

Fat is the nutrient with the highest calorie count and delivers more than double the amount of energy as carbohydrates and proteins. That’s why fats and high-fat food should be had in moderation. However, you shouldn’t cut fat out of your diet completely because it also delivers vital fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin E. You need small amounts of high-quality vegetable oils (like rapeseed oil, flaxseed oil and olive oil) and nuts on a daily basis. Certain oily fish like salmon and herring also contain omega 3 fatty acids. These fatty acids are good for the heart and the blood vessels. Our body can’t make these fatty acids itself which is why they’re called essential fatty acids. They’re an integral part of every cell in the body.

Fats are important! Some fatty acids can’t be produced by our bodies which is why they’re called essential fatty acids.

Saturated fatty acids

In moderation, not in masses!

Saturated fatty acids are less important for our health and can be found in ready meals, chips, butter, sausage and meat. These fatty acids often occur in animal products and can be produced by the body. Having too much of them raises the level of unhealthy LDL-cholesterol in our blood, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes. You don’t need to follow any extra rules to reduce your consumption of saturated fats. Just keep cutting down on processed food and have vegetable rather than animal fats.

Your body can produce saturated fat itself, they’re not essential.

Trans fatty acids

Double trouble

These fats occur when vegetable oils harden. They reduce the good cholesterol in our blood and increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. So double trouble. Since trans fatty acids are almost exclusively found in industrially produced foods, stick to natural foods wherever possible. Trans fats are common in biscuits, puff pastry, chips and crisps.

Eat natural foods wherever possible!

Skipping dinner / Day 4

Does fasting help you lose weight?

We expose the truth behind the myth.

Eating late doesn’t make you fat. Whether you gain, lose or maintain weight depends on how much you eat over the course of the day and also how much you exercise. In other words, it’s about balancing your energy levels. When you eat is of secondary importance, both for your body and your digestion. The issue with meals in the evening is that you often lose track of how much you’re eating. If you’re chatting with friends and having a glass of wine, you often underestimate the quantity of food. And that’s without snacks in front of the TV. Careless eating is more often than not what makes us consume too many calories.

What’s important is the amount of calories you consume, not the time you eat at.

It all comes down to this

Don’t go hungry in the evening!

It’s not about when you eat, it’s about what you eat and how much. You should have a light dinner that’s not too high in fat or calories. Because after dinner you’re probably not going to be as active as during the day and so don’t need that much energy anymore. But if you go hungry in the evening you might find yourself snacking later on!

Don’t skip it, maintain a balance!

Diet and sleep / Day 5

The right meal for a good night sleep

Your diet influences many areas of your life, including your sleep. With our tips, you can improve your sleep dramatically! Try not to go to sleep immediately after eating because the body will be more busy with digestion than with the regeneration that happens overnight. Lying down also increases the risk of heartburn.

A couple of tips can help you improve your sleep!

Alcohol and sleep

Abstain if possible!

Be careful with alcohol. You might fall asleep quicker after drinking, but your sleep tends to be less restful. You’ll also find it harder to fall asleep again once awake. Quite apart from that, alcohol has many negative effects on your health as well as containing a lot of calories. The energy of pure alcohol is comparable to that of fat! You don’t need that kind of energy in the evening.

Bye-bye heartburn!

How to prevent heartburn

A balanced diet can help you prevent heartburn.

Leave a good amount of time between dinner and going to bed – about 2 to 3 hours. If you lie down immediately after eating you increase the risk of heartburn! What you eat also effects the likelihood of heartburn. High-fat foods are difficult to digest and will sit in your stomach. Very late, excessive eating, alcohol and high-fat food before going to bed increases the risk of heartburn too. Dishes and drinks that are too hot could irritate the stomach as well. What irritates an individual varies from person to person.

Try not to eat too much in the evening and avoid alcohol and high-fat foods.

Evening snacks / Day 6

Snacks on the sofa

Don’t eat in front of the TV or computer or in passing in the evenings. When we’re distracted, we lose track of how much we eat. We also stop enjoying our food because we’re not concentrating on what we’re eating. If you fancy something sweet or salty in the course of the evening, have a small portion and really enjoy it.

There’s a better time to do it.

Have your portion of sweets as dessert after dinner. That way you can enjoy it as a treat at the end of the meal instead of eating because you’re craving sweets, which makes it hard to control your portion sizes.

Seasonal fruit tastes sweet and makes a great dessert.

Tips for snacking

The exception to the rule

You don’t have to resist every time!

We often eat more than we want in front of the TV. Portion your treats and combine them with some vegetable sticks.

Portion your treats and then put the packet out of sight.

Careful with nuts

Quality over quantity

You already know that nuts contain healthy fats. However, even healthy fats have lots of calories. Make sure to control your portions. Nuts with shells are the best because you have to crack them open first before you can eat them.

Nuts are definitely better than crisps, but a small handful a day – about 20-30 g – is more than enough.

Balanced dinners in the long run / Day 7

Tips for balanced dinners long-term

Follow a few simple tips for balanced meals in the evening. Remember it’s not all or nothing. Even small changes can have a big impact. And exceptions also have their place, as long as you don’t get sucked into old habits.

Make sure to maintain the right balance when you put together your dinners.

The right balance

Preparing a balanced dinner

Put together your dinner every day using 3 components. Fill two fifths of your plate with fruit and vegetables and two fifths with high-protein foods like meat, dairy products, fish, eggs and tofu. The final fifth should be filled with starchy foods like potatoes, pasta, bread, oats, rice. The portion should correspond to how much energy you need.

Different food groups make up a balanced meal. What’s important is how they relate to each another – not the amount of each component.

Fat in moderation

Less in the evenings

Reduce your fat intake in the evenings, especially the hidden fats. Fat is naturally high in energy and high-fat food also encourages heartburn. Go for high-quality vegetable oils and fats.

A light meal in the evening will improve your sleep.

Don’t skip it!

Fasting in the evening isn’t a good idea

Don’t skip your dinner – just fill up on a balanced meal. If you don’t eat in the evening you just make your cravings stronger and might be tempted to snack later on.

What you should avoid in the evenings

Abstain if possible

Alcohol has many negative effects

Cut down on alcohol as it has a lot of negative effects on your health as well as being addictive and containing a lot of calories. It also affects sleep and encourages heartburn.

Alcohol should remain the exception!

Tips for heartburn

If you have heartburn you should avoid alcohol, fatty food and large meals in the evening. Leave 2 – 3 hours between eating and sleeping – this is ideal for your body.

Modifying your eating habits can prevent heartburn.