Healthy eating is the core of a healthy diet plan. Indeed, you need to cut your calorie intake in order to lose weight, but reducing your calorie intake without proper meal plans is not a very smart move. Not only will you experience hunger and lack of nutrients throughout the day, you’ll also very likely gain that weight back once you return to your normal eating habits.

A healthy diet plan will include proper portions of food in its program so you can lose weight AND STAY HEALTHY at the same time. Check out a few examples of healthy meals:

Breakfast alternatives:
- Healthy French Toast
- Chocolate Strawberry Oatmeal

Meals alternatives:
- Warm Quinoa Salad
- Mediterranean Roast Turkey
- Almond Crusted Chicken

Snack alternatives:
- Walnut Butter
- Zucchini Hummus
- Homemade Guacamole

Beverages alternatives:
- Tea Juice
- Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake

Check out the best program for long term healthy weight loss

Here’s the rule:

1. Eat enough calories
Reducing your calorie intake drastically will impact on your ability to perform daily activities. During a diet, you will very likely have less than the recommended 2,000 calories but DO NOT take less than 1,200 calories.

Meal plans like the plan above will give you 1200-1600 calories per day which is enough to support your body throughout a day’s activities. It is really not recommended to reduce to less than that unless you are under medical supervision.

2. Eat a balanced diet
Although you are on a diet, banning one or more food groups from your meal plans is not advisable. Instead, a healthy diet plan should include a variety of foods from various food groups in the right proportions.

3. Keep adequate meal portions throughout the day
Some diets force the dieter to cut their meal portions drastically, but lack of food will result in hunger and various side effects like difficulty in concentrating, anxiety, headaches, etc. From the example above, you can see that even if the portion is small, the plan includes four meals with short intervals, so you can avoid hunger.

If you are somehow forced to eat out and can’t stick to the diet plan, just stick to the regular portion no matter how much the restaurant discounts or promotes their super-size packet.

4. Control your milk and dairy foods intake
Milk and dairy foods have high saturated fat content, so it is not advisable to consume them in large quantities. However, they are good calcium sources, which is important for bone and teeth. Consume them in moderate quantities and choose the low fat version.

5. Make sure to include meat, fish, eggs, and beans in your meal plans
These food groups are major sources of protein, which is needed for growth and repairs. You can see that the example above includes them all. Be very careful with red meat since it contains high levels of saturated fats.

6. Limit saturated fat, trans fat, and sugar
A healthy diet plan must still include fat in its meal plans, but avoid saturated and trans fat as much as possible since these two types of fats are associated with many chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. It should also avoid too much sugary foods since it will make your weight management difficult.

7. Including exercise sessions
Exercise is a must in a healthy diet plan. You don’t need hours of cardio or weight training although those sure can help; instead, mild exercise such as yoga or a light jog will do. Just do it consistently; there is no use in doing 2 hours weight training today if you end up quitting next week.

Note: being in a diet doesn’t mean that you can’t eat your favorite foods or snacks that contain high saturated fat, sugar, or salt. Putting too strict restriction on your diet will make you depressed and more likely to drop the program halfway. Occasionally, it is okay to have them as long as you keep it at low portions; it is even better if your diet includes this (also known as ‘cheat day’) in its program.

If you are going for a diet, make sure you choose the right diet plan that not only will make you lose weight, but also keep you healthy in the process. Properly designed meal plans and exercise sessions are the key here; check my recommendation in Diet Solution Program.

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