| Get With the Program! Basics |
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| The healthiest vegetables are always green. Greens are undoubtedly healthy, but vegetables and fruits in other colors—red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple—all bring different nutrients to the table. You’ll get the most antioxidants, vitamins and minerals if you keep your plate colorful. |
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Your best strategy is to eat three meals every day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—plus two snacks, midmorning and midafternoon. I suggest you try to make each meal 25 to 30 percent of your total daily calories, with snacks making up the remaining 10 to 25 percent. The size of the portions will vary according to the number of calories you, personally, need to eat in a day. If you’re inclined to have one meal bigger than the others, make that larger meal lunch. That way you’ll still have half a day to burn off the extra calories.
Here are some ideas that’ll give you a sense of what kinds of meals and snacks make up a well-planned daily diet.
 Breakfast
• A bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and sliced strawberries
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• Low-sugar cereal mix with 1 percent or skim milk and a glass of orange or grapefruit juice
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• Scrambled Egg Whites with Spinach and Orange. For recipe, click here
Lunch
• White-meat turkey or chicken sandwich on whole-grain bread and a cup of roasted tomato soup (for recipe, click here).
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• Salad with assorted vegetables, canned tuna and low-fat dressing
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• Teriyaki fish or chicken with brown rice and vegetables
Dinner
 • Fish with salsa, grilled asparagus and brown rice
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• Spinach Penne with Spicy Roast Pepper Sauce (for recipe, click here) and a garden salad
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• Grilled chicken breast with a small baked potato topped with steamed broccoli and grated cheese
Snacks
Snacks give your metabolism a little boost, and they give you an energy lift. You should have two a day, midmorning and midafternoon, preferably about 75 to 150 calories each and, in the best cases, containing both protein and carbohydrates. Here are some ideas to get you snacking.
• A cup of raw vegetables and fat-free ranch dressing
• A piece of fruit
• A handful of pretzels
• A handful of air-popped popcorn spiced up with Worcestershire sauce, vinegar or cayenne pepper
• A cup of homemade soup (not cream-based)
• A baked potato topped with salsa
• A baked sweet potato
• A low-fat frozen yogurt bar
• A frozen fruit bar
• Low-fat or fat-free yogurt with one teaspoon maple syrup and sliced bananas
• One cup steamed edamame
• One rice cake (check the label to make sure it’s not loaded with sugar)
• One cup of brown rice
• A handful of raw walnuts, almonds or cashews
• One ounce low-fat cheese
• A low-fat cookie
For more tips to a balanced diet, click here.
For more information check out my books Get With the Program! and The Get With the Program! Guide to Good Eating.
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