Ladies, I am certain that finding healthy meal plans for women can be a bit challenging at times. Today I will narrow it down to what typically works best for women.
Every single body; female, male, young, or old is extremely different. The most important thing is finding what works for YOU! On average, depending on your activity levels, most women should consume between 1600-2000 calories a day. Of these calories 45%-65% should come from carbohydrates, 10%-35% should come from protein, and 20%-35% should come from fat. NO MORE THAN 7% of your caloric intake should come from SATURATED FATS.
This can be a bit challenging at times, but with time you will figure out which foods make you feel the best, and which ones you will choose to limit from your diet. It is trial and error, but with patience, persistence, and motivation your healthy meal plan will come together a lot more smoothly than you would have ever anticipated.
Now, I will give you some ideas of what some healthy choices from each group would be, and make sure to consume one from each group at meal time.
Carbohydrates- When measuring out your carbohydrates, make sure that the serving is no larger than the palm of your hand. Unless they are vegetables, in which case, eat them up!
-Whole grain/whole wheat /rye/pumpernickel/gluten-free breads
-Whole grain, brown, or wild rice-plain oatmeal
-Sweet potatoes/ yams
-Whole wheat/whole grain/rice noodles
Protein- Make sure that the serving of protein is approximately 4-6oz.
-Boneless skinless chicken breast
-Egg whites
-Extra lean ground beef (limit to once a week)
-Salmon (limit to a couple times a week due to the higher fat content)
-White fish – haddock, tilapia, cod, herring
-Low sodium tuna
Fat -limit fats to about a tablespoon per serving.
-Olive oil-almonds/walnuts
-All natural peanut butter/almond butter/soy butter
-Avocado
-Flax seed
So now you may be thinking that these are the only foods you can eat. These are just healthy options to offer you some guidance when trying to plan healthy meal plans for women.
When making your meals always try to incorporate a serving from each of these groups. You want to make sure that your diet is varied enough so you get a large spectrum of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Now, the most important thing to all of this is MAKE SURE YOU PLAN, PLAN, PLAN.
Planning and preparing your meals in advance is a sure way to stay on track. Make sure you are packing enough food for the day so that your blood sugar levels don’t plummet. When this happens it makes it a lot harder to stay on track because our focus always seems to diminish as our hunger goes up!
When planning healthy meal plans for women, we must always remember what we are trying to achieve. Is it weight-loss, muscle-gain, maintenance, or just overall health? Regardless, remember food is fuel. We eat to fuel our bodies to do the things we need it them to do. Whether it be to go to the gym every day, take a walk with our husbands, take our kids to swimming lessons, these are all things that we need our health for. Without our health life can become extremely challenging. If we can make the choice to live for health and treat our bodies with the respect they deserve, then chances are, our bodies will return the favour!
