Healthy Diet Plan

A Healthy Life through Nutritious Food

Take 3 main meals and 2 healthy snacks per day.
Note: you can follow an 16-18 hours intermittent fasting diet
which includes only lunch, evening snack and dinner for the
weight loss purpose, if you are not on any medication.
For a balanced diet, set your plate (9’’ diameter) as follows;
- Green leafy/non-starchy vegetables – ½ of the plate
- Protein rich foods – ¼ of the plate
- Carbohydrates rich foods – ¼ of the plate
It is better to take milk/ milk based food items and fruits in between main meals (as snacks) around 10.00 am ,4.00 pm or at night

Carbohydrates

Rice (Red parboiled/ red basmati/ any rice variety with bran), foods prepared with kurakkan flour, and atta flour

Bread, string hoppers, hoppers, roti, jack fruit, bread fruit, manioc, potato, sweet potato, and any other yam varieties

Per meal you can have:

1 cup (porcelain tea cup) of rice OR
5-7 string hoppers OR
2 slices of bread (loaf of bread cut
into 9 equal size pieces) OR
1 dosa or 3 plain hoppers

Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables – kankung, spinach, gotukola, mukunuwenna, sarana, kathurumurunga, moringa leaves (add more onions and less amount of scraped coconut when preparing green leafy mellum)

Other (non-starchy vegetables) – bitter gourd, snake gourd, ridged gourd, cucumber, raddish, knol khol, kohila, tender jack fruit, long beans, ladies fingers, brinjal, ash plantain, tomato, leeks, carrot, beet root, cabbage, capsicum
Per meal you can have 9 table spoons of cooked vegetables OR 3 cups of uncooked vegetable salad.

Protein

For a main meal, have a piece of fish or chicken. If you take an egg, consume any other high protein food item with it as well.

Fish – sea fish, lake fish, sprats, dried fish, shrimp, prawn, cuttlefish
(prepared as ambulthiyal, or as a curry without adding coconut milk)
Meat – chicken (skinless) – without adding coconut milk
Eggs – 1 -2 eggs OR 2 egg omelet
Grains – chick pea, green gram, cowpea, soya beans, ulundu, dhal – about 3 tbsp

Vegetarians can fulfill their protein requirement from soya meat, mushroom, tofu etc.

Reduce consumption of jack fruit, dhal, yams and beans, as they contain high amount of carbohydrates.

Healthy Snack Ideas

Fruits
Milk/ milk products (yoghurt/ curd etc.)
Peanuts/ cashew nuts (about 20 nuts)
Cheese (about thumb size piece)
Vegetable soup

Take not more than 3 snacks per day.

Example 01	Example 02	Example 03
Peanuts (about 20 nuts)	2 low calorie fruits and 1 yoghurt	Milk product and 2 servings of fruits

Fruits

As mentioned above, have 2 medium size fruits with another snack.

Low calorie fruits – green apple, mandarin, orange, guava, amberella, naminan, Sri Lankan olives,
star fruit, wood-apple
Medium calorie fruits – watermelon, red apple, pineapple, beli fruit, papaya, ripe jack fruit
High calorie fruits (avoid or small quantities only ) – mango, dates, banana, avocado, grapes
You can have fruit salad without adding sugar.
Avoid fruit juices.

Milk and milk products

1-2 glasses of non-fat milk (2-3 tbsp of non-fat milk powder per day) OR
1-2 cups of curd OR
1 cup of yoghurt
Plain tea or black coffee (if no sugar added can drink several times per day)
Drink 1.5 – 2 L (9 glasses) of water daily.

Foods to be taken less

Milk products	Full cream milk, curd, Milk packets, yoghurt drinks Pasteurized milk, milk shakes Falooda
Meat items	Sausages Bacon Liver Pork (lean cuts preferred ) Beef Chicken with skin
Milk products	Full cream milk, curd, Milk packets, yoghurt drinks Pasteurized milk, milk shakes Falooda
Oily food	Food cooked with coconut oil Bakery products, cakes , pastries French fries, murukku Biscuits, margarine Repeated use of vegetable oil OR used for deep frying purposes
Vegetables	Jack fruit, potato, yams
High salty and sugary foods	Chocolate Cola & carbonated beverages Jam Ice cream Fruit juice packets , milk packets Sauce Toffee Pudding Watalappan Chocolate mousse Other sweets
Vegetables to be taken less if you are diabetic or trying to lose weight	Potato Sweet potato Jack fruit Bread fruit Pumpkin Carrot Beet root
Fruits to be taken less if you are diabetic or trying to loose weight	Banana Mango Pineapple Watermelon Orange Grapes Red apple

Sample meal plan

Breakfast	6.00 am – Tea 8.00 am – String hoppers (6-7), Egg – 1, Coconut sambol
Mid-morning snack	10.00 am – Medium size banana – 1
Lunch	12.00 pm – Cooked rice – 1 cup, Vegetables – 9 tbsp, Fish – 1 piece ~30g
Evening snack	4.00 pm – A cup of tea OR yoghurt – 1
Dinner	8.00 pm – Dosa – 2/ bread with fish/chicken ~30g piece with gravy, grapes – 4

Sample meal plan-for weight loss -intermittent fasting

Breakfast	6.00 am – Tea or coffee without sugar Drink water for hunger
Mid-morning snack	10.00 am – Tea or coffee without sugar
Lunch	12.00 pm – Cooked rice – 1 cup, Vegetables – 9 tbsp, Fish – 1 piece ~30g
Evening snack	4.00 pm – A cup of tea OR yoghurt – 1 / Healthy snack as above
Dinner	8.00 pm – 2/ bread with fish/chicken ~30g piece with gravy, Small fruit at night if hungry

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