Last week, I talked about balance.

I talked about how being intentional with what you eat and consistently making healthier choices can help you take control of your nutrition and hopefully start feeling better.

So, I thought this week I would follow that up with something a little more practical. Let’s talk about what you can actually eat. One of the biggest stigmas around eating healthy is that it has to be expensive, complicated, or time-consuming.

I don’t think that’s true. You don’t need some fancy meal plan. You don’t need to spend hours meal prepping every Sunday. And you definitely don’t need to eat foods you hate.

I thought I would give you a simple breakfast, lunch, and dinner that I enjoy and that can easily fit into a reasonable calorie goal depending on your individual needs.
Breakfast

Probably my favorite meal of the day.

Four eggs cooked with a low-calorie cooking spray, four pieces of turkey bacon, and an English muffin with some light butter.

Nothing fancy. It tastes good, has plenty of protein, and doesn’t take long to make.
Lunch

Grilled chicken, a whole bag of frozen vegetables, and a protein yogurt.

Again, pretty simple.

Frozen vegetables are something I love because they’re cheap, easy to make, and you don’t have to worry about them going bad in your refrigerator three days after you buy them.
Dinner

Steak, vegetables, a salad, and a baked potato.

Yes, you can eat steak and a baked potato while trying to eat healthy.

That’s another thing I think people sometimes get wrong. Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to live on salads and grilled chicken every single day.

You can eat all of the meals I just mentioned and still stay within your goals.

The part you have to pay attention to is everything we sometimes forget to count — Dressings, cheese, butter, oil, sauces, toppings. Those things aren’t necessarily bad either, but the calories can add up pretty quickly without you realizing it.

There is one other thing I’ve learned that has really helped me.

Don’t only look at your nutrition one day at a time. Sometimes it can be easier to look at the entire week.

I think people get into trouble when they set a calorie goal, go over it one day, and immediately think, “Well, I blew it.”

Then one bad meal turns into a bad day. A bad day turns into a bad weekend. And suddenly you’re telling yourself you’ll start over again Monday. You don’t have to do that.

If you eat a little more than you planned one day, acknowledge it and move on. Be a little more mindful over the next few days and keep your overall week moving in the right direction.

I heard an analogy once that explains this perfectly.

If you’re holding a drink and accidentally spill a little bit, what do you do? You clean it up and keep drinking what’s left. You wouldn’t say, “Well, I already spilled some,” and dump the rest of the drink on the floor. So why do we sometimes do that with our nutrition? One meal doesn’t have to turn into an entire weekend of bad choices.

The last warning I have is about cheat days.

I actually think having a cheat meal every once in a while can be a good thing if you do it correctly. Eat something you’ve been craving. Enjoy it. Then get back to your normal routine.

A cheat meal and a cheat day, however, are two very different things.
Let’s say you’re eating in a 500-calorie deficit for six days. That’s roughly a 3,000-calorie deficit. Then Saturday comes and you decide it’s your cheat day. If you somehow eat around 3,000 calories above your maintenance needs that day, you have basically wiped out the deficit you worked all week to create. That’s why understanding the bigger picture matters.

Have the pizza. Get the ice cream. Go out to dinner with your family. Enjoy yourself.

Just don’t let one meal turn into an entire day of eating everything in sight because you think you’ll “start again tomorrow.”

Again, it all comes back to the same word I talked about last week — balance.

You don’t have to eat perfectly every day to make progress. You don’t have to give up the foods you love. And you certainly don’t need to beat yourself up because you ate a little more than you planned.

Pay attention. Make good choices more often than not. Enjoy the foods you love in moderation.

Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.