Over Christmas we eat many meals outside the home. We give you the key to enjoying them in a healthy way.
Tips for your health from Health Insurance Spain :
- Organise meals using a weekly meal plan.
- Bear in mind the meals you will eat outside the home, as they are usually a special menu.
- Avoid meals where you end up always eating the same or throwing away food.
Follow the eatwell plate
This is a good and practical idea, which specifies the proportion of each food group you should consider when choosing your meals.
Imagine that the meal is a plate; half of the plate should be covered with fruit and vegetables; as far as possible, the more colours, the better.
The other half of the plate should be divided into two equal parts; one of them for healthy protein, that is, proteins from
pulses, meat, eggs and fish. It is important to always give priority to fish over meat, as you should limit your intake of red and processed meats, such as cold meats and cured ham.
Finally, the other quarter of the plate that is left corresponds to carbohydrates, that is, foods made from tubers and grains. Of these two, grains are always recommended, particularly, wholegrain.
The plate should be dressed with a healthy fat. In Spain it is common to use extra virgin olive oil, although there are other options, such as seed oil or nut oil.
[Health Insurance Spain] Plan for dinners outside the home
On the days that you are going to have lunch outside the home or have a larger lunch, you should try to meet these proportions in some meals.
Similarly, you should avoid eating ready meals or prepared meals, as they come with sauces and often contain a large number of poor quality hidden ingredients, especially fats and sugars.
As you should increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, check the seasonal calendar for these. By doing this, you will increase your intake of nutrients, as they are at their optimum point of ripeness.
