Healthy Dinner Helper

Cut Down On Carbs

Limit yourself to one or two servings of carbohydrates. One serving would be ½ cup of pasta, potatoes, rice, or stuffing; two servings would be one cup.

Double the Veggies

Fill the hole in your plate with veggies. Here’s your best shot at meeting your vegetable quota for the day. Even if you’re having a salad on the side, put at least ½ cup of veggies, such as sautéed carrots or green beans, on your plate. Rely on frozen vegetables and prewashed, bagged, salad greens if you’re short on time.

Bypass Bread

Leave the bread at the store. Bread isn’t bad for you, but if you had a sandwich for lunch, that’s probably all the bread you need for the day. Adding bread to dinner means you may not eat other, healthier foods, and almost always adds butter to your meal.

Eat Lean Protein

Keep your protein lean. Think turkey meatballs instead of beef, flank steak instead of ground beef, and chicken without skin instead of fried chicken. Tofu, beans, and shrimp are also good protein sources.

Keep It Simple

Stick with water as your beverage of choice. Or, if you like milk, have a glass of fat-free. Wine is fine occasionally if your doctors okays it, but pop adds calories without providing any nutrition. Most of us don’t drink enough water during the day and come home feeling wilted. Drink a cold glassful at dinner to rehydrate.  

Serve It Right

Dish the food onto plates instead of serving a dish on the table for everyone to dig into. You’re likely to eat less.

Close the Kitchen

After dinner (or dessert, if you have it), close up the kitchen. For many people, late-night eating is a prime reason for consuming too many calories during the day.

Make Smart Substitutions

Replace fatty staples, with health, easy to prep alternatives. Try swapping an ordinary potato for a sweet potato, or switching from creamy ranch dressing to oil and vinegar to decrease saturated fat.