What does a healthy meal look like anyway?

You have likely pondered this question if you want to lose weight or care about your health or fitness.  I can attest because it’s a question I have spent countless hours scouring the internet high and low.  So what does a healthy meal look like? I’m going to break down what a healthy meal consists of, specifically to help you build lean body mass.

Let’s jump in.

A healthy meal plan is not

• Restrictive – limiting foods or entire food groups
• Overly strict – leaving no room for adjustments
• Going to leave you hungry all day
• Vegan, keto, or some other fad diet
• One size fits all – every person is different and should adjust according to their personal needs

First of all there are many versions of “healthy meal.”  And for the record, I’m not knocking any other person’s version of a healthy meal.  However, most should agree that,

A healthy meal should be

• Satisfying – your meal should be fulfilling and gratifying  
• Delicious – you should enjoy the taste of your meal
• Satiating – your meal should fill you up, but not to overly stuffed
• Sustainable – you should feel you can maintain eating this way based on the above being met
• Not one size fits all – every person is different and should adjust according to their personal needs

My journey to finding a healthy balanced meal

To back up a little bit here, I want to tell you how I came to this conclusion of what a healthy meal looks like.  I feel it’s important I share this because I want you to know my motivations and intention with what healthy looks like. 

When I was about 25 my metabolism took a turn.  I started an office job, I wasn’t working out (and hadn’t been for many years, at least consistently).  I started gaining weight and didn’t know how to handle it. Honestly it hit me off guard. All of the sudden I was getting softer and bigger and never before had to worry about that.  

Before the office job I was working in jobs where I was on my feet most of the day.  In college I was walking all over campus, in high school I was highly active. Weight was never a problem…

Until… 

Yep, sitting all day.

I struggled a long time trying to figure out how to eat for my body type.  I ALWAYS felt hungry. I never felt completely satisfied, or that anything I was doing was sustainable.  If I was actually losing weight, I’d be starving myself, only to over-rotate the other direction at a later time.  The yo-yo dieting was real.  

I tried fad diets – paleo was the hot ticket at the time.  This worked somewhat but more so taught me how to eat whole, real foods vs. processed foods and how to substitute items for dairy, which I decided to give up in an attempt to clear my skin.  

All in all it took me 7 years from when I started to really find a nutrition plan that worked for me.  My mission was to eat in a way that felt satisfying and filling while being able to sustain the plan without feeling overly restricted.  Meaning, I could still have some treats – namely wine, chocolate, and the occasional donut or pizza.  

Sound too good to be true?  It’s not!! There’s a balance. That balance comes into play when you look at the full picture of what you eat. Of course you want to eat well most days, but what does that REALLY look like? My goal of this post was to answer just that.

You’ll also probably want to check out these…

• Dieting But Not Losing Weight? These 7 Things Could Be Sabotaging Your Weight Loss
• Simple Healthy Habits for Busy Working Women
• Food Obsession | Here’s How I Changed My Relationship With Food

What does a healthy meal consist of?

Food = Energy = Calories

Any meal consists of calories in the form of macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates, and fats.  

For a meal to be considered healthy the types of protein, carbs, and fats are VERY important.  

You want to opt for whole foods (aka foods with one ingredient).  Avoid processed foods in a box or can. These often contain added ingredients to preserve them longer that our bodies don’t process well.   

For more detail on this, check out 5 Simple Clean Eating Rules to Follow and this list of healthy macro foods.

You will build your meals with these three macros (protein, carbs, fat) for each healthy meal.  

Protein

To build lean body mass, opt for lean protein like chicken breast or white wild caught fish.  For a complete macro food list click here.  Animal protein (chicken, beef, turkey) will always contain some amount of fat.  That’s normal. But the type of protein you choose, chicken breast vs chicken thighs for example will dramatically affect the amount of fat you consume in each bite.  

Protein is vital to building lean body mass.  We are constantly using protein through a process called protein turnover.  Our bodies are made up predominantly of protein, second only to water. Contrary to popular belief *cough vegan propaganda* we need a lot of protein.  There is a difference between sufficient amounts and optimal amounts for performance and lean body mass. The majority of women are actually protein deficient!

I always aim for consuming 1 gram of protein for each lb of body weight in a day.  If you weigh 150 lbs, eat 150 grams of protein. That means a healthy meal looks like 40 grams of protein for my size and energy needs.  I usually eat 3 meals and 1-2 snacks each day so this helps me achieve that goal. 

This will be different for you depending on your needs but adjust accordingly.  

Here are a few examples of what a good amount of protein would look like for a 150 lb woman:

• 6.5 oz of lean ground beef (92% of higher) = 38 g protein
• 6.5 oz of pork tenderloin = 40 g protein
• 6.5 oz mahi mahi – 43 g protein

Some other great sources of lean protein are:

Chicken breast

Ground turkey

Salmon

Ahi tuna

Extra lean ground beef

White wild caught fish (mahi mahi, red snapper, halibut)

Fat 

When shooting for building lean body mass, fat is important (healthy fat that is) but not to the point of over-consuming the necessary amount of energy (calories) in a day.  

A 150lb woman needs about 50-60 g of fat in a day.  

The reason we go lean for protein for a healthy meal is because we consume more fat in our highly processed American diets than you’d dream of. Just look at that bag of tortilla chips in the pantry if you need an example.  How many grams of fat is in one serving? Do you ever just eat one serving? A serving has 6 g of fat right there. Who stops at 12 chips?  

Almost all your snacks and meals will have some amount of fat, the 50 or so grams adds up quickly.  

Even if you don’t consume processed food or fast food, fat is highly energy dense.  Meaning, it has more calories packed into each bite than protein or carbs. That’s also true for healthy fats like coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), or almond butter.

For example, you could live off of a couple tablespoons of coconut oil each day if all you did is lay around and didn’t care about eating in a balanced way (or about food in general).  

To keep a balance, stick to using your fats for cooking with the occasional added tablespoon of your favorite nut butter.  The rest of your fats will come along with your protein sources like I mentioned before. Just think, eggs, fattier sources of meat, and fish all have fat too.  

Here are a few good sources of fat:

Extra virgin olive oil

Coconut oil

Grapeseed oil

Almond butter

Peanut butter

Egg yolks

Avocado

Full-fat coconut milk

Ghee

Grass-fed butter

Carbohydrates

A healthy meal most definitely includes carbs.  But like protein and fat, not all carbs are created equal.  I’ve written extensively about this one and have a few resources I’ve created, the most popular being 16 high-fiber complex carbohydrates.  

Complex carbs or “smart” carbs as they are sometimes called help you to fuel the body while also making you feel full longer.  This is due to their higher good-for-your-gut fiber content which takes the body longer to process.  

Download the full list.

What does a healthy meal look like?  Putting it all together…

• Take a lean protein such as chicken breast.  
• A healthy fat, such as EVOO, perfect for cooking.  
• A smart carb, such as brown rice.  
• Then add a green leafy veggie (again, here’s a list).  

You’ll cook the chicken to your taste, my favorite is with this dry rub chicken recipe.  Cook your rice in a rice cooker.  And then you might choose kale, broccoli, or asparagus as your veggie.  

You can eat the kale raw, toast it in the oven, or on a cast iron with a light drizzle of EVOO, salt, and pepper.  You can do the exact same thing with the cooked rice.  

Examples of what a healthy meal looks like

There are countless food bloggers out there and I’ve created a pinterest board to include some excellent recipes for your healthy meal prepping needs.  Follow me on Pinterest while you’re at it 🙂

Hot Meal Ideas

Salmon dinner easy weeknight dinner

• Salmon cooked in a light drizzle of EVOO
• Quinoa cooked in a rice cooker
• Asparagus roasted with a drizzle of EVOO
• Salt and pepper to taste

Ground turkey easy weeknight dinner

• Ground turkey (93% or higher) cooked on a cast iron, seasoned with kosher salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, rosemary
• Sweet potato
• Broccoli sauteed 

Lean beef burgers for meal prep

• Lean beef (90% lean) shaped into patties
• Tomato
• Onion
• Romaine
• Mustard and paleo ketchup
• Air fryer sweet potato fries

Bonus:  Power Salad Ideas

Arugula salad – great for summer

• Arugula
• Chicken breast
• Cucumber 
• Cherry tomatoes
• Roasted cauliflower
• Apples
• Sweet potatoes (pre-cooked and seared slices)
• Lemon vinaigrette 
• Pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

Kale salad – great for winter

• Kale
• Chicken breast
• Cherry tomatoes
• Sliced apples
• Air fried sweet potatoes
• Bacon bits
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon squeeze
• Pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

Now you know what a healthy meal looks like, happy healthy eating!