Mejores tips para hacer cenas saludables y deliciosas

Neither so frugal that it barely feeds, nor so late and copious that it makes it difficult to sleep. It has been some time since the idea that ‘you have to have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar’ was overcome, implying that the last meal of the day should be rather sparse. Nor is it advisable to turn dinner into a hypercaloric tribute that condenses us to a long and heavy digestion. Virtue lies in the middle ground, or in other words, we are going to see a good handful of practical ideas for healthy dinners for the whole family.

Basic principles of a healthy dinner.

• Foods of nutritional quality. Common recommendation for the rest of the meals of the day. We are going to give room to fresh or minimally processed products, especially of vegetable origin, and keep at bay processed foods of low nutritional quality, such as most precooked foods, due to their high content of unhealthy fats, salt and/or sugar.

• Plato from Harvard. Although it is not a panacea for healthy eating, it is a good tool for organizing a lunch or dinner. It is based on the predominant presence of vegetables (approximately half of the plate). The rest is distributed between whole grains or tubers (carbohydrates) and a healthy source of protein, such as lean meats, fish, legumes or eggs.

• Fresh fruit, yes, but not just fruit.It is not bad to eat fruit for dinner, but eating it as the only food group is poor in nutrients.

• Moderation. There is no written rule regarding the amount of food for dinner. However, if we are looking for quick and healthy dinners for the whole family, it is best not to overeat with portions. This will avoid heavy digestions or heartburn that can make it difficult for us to fall asleep.

• Light preparations. Better grilled, steamed or baked than fried or with heavy sauces.

• Not too lateAdvances in chrononutrition (adapting food intake to the circadian clock) warn of the negative effects of eating dinner late. Rich and healthy dinners should take place between 2 and 3 hours before going to bed.

Protein food options for healthy dinners.

Proteins are basic macronutrients in our diet and cannot be missing in healthy dinners. The key is to alternate their food sources between the following options:

• Poultry (chicken and turkey) and lean cuts of other meats
• Eggs
• Legumes
• Fish or seafood
• Soy in its different forms (textured, tofu, etc.)
• Tempeh
• Seitan
• Fresh cheeses and sugar-free dairy products.

Side dishes and other accompaniments

Whether as a starter or as a side dish for protein-rich foods, if we are looking for healthy and light dinners, we cannot miss seasonal vegetables in the form of salads, stews, soups, creams…

We must not forget about food sources of carbohydrates, such as whole-grain bread, tubers (for example, baked potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes), whole-grain pasta, brown rice and other whole grains.

Tips for preparing healthy dinners

Take advantage of batch cooking

To ensure that we have healthy and quick dinners every night, without having to complicate things in the kitchen, a good strategy is to use batch cooking. By dedicating a couple of hours on the weekend to cooking dinners, we will have easy and healthy dinners from Monday to Friday.

Include variety

A healthy dinner doesn’t have to be a cakewalk with the excuse that we’re tired and don’t want to make a mess in the kitchen. Here are some of the easy-to-prepare, defrost and reheat ideas that are most popular in dieticians-nutritionists’ offices and that make it easier to put together a healthy dinner:

• Vegetable creams: asparagus and spinach, carrot and pumpkin, zucchini, tomato, cauliflower… A vegetable starter rich in nutrients.

• Mixed stew. With green beans, artichokes, carrots, peas, leeks… You can add a hard-boiled egg to provide protein and turn it into an easy and healthy main course. It can be a flagship main course.

• Ratatouille or vegetable stir-fry that can be used as a garnish, or as a complement to dishes of rice with chicken, pasta with tuna, couscous…

• Moussaka (a type of Greek lasagna with aubergine slices and gratin). It can be made with meat, chicken or in a vegetarian version with legumes. A slightly more substantial single dish, but very nutritious and tasty.

• Stuffed zucchini. A classic of leftover cooking, as they can be filled with leftover vegetables, that sad chicken fillet, a little textured soy, roast meat, some fish fillets or the seafood left over from the paella. Just mix and gratinate with a little grated cheese. Adding bechamel is optional: they are softer, but also heavier.

Cut and eat

Many healthy dinner recipes are a matter of cutting, plating and eating. Here are some examples:

• Salads. With chicken, tuna, sprouts, fresh cheese… They can be prepared with lettuce, lamb’s lettuce, endive…
• Crudités with yogurt sauce or humus
• Sliced ​​tomatoes with mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and basil. It is perfect as a main dish if it has a generous portion of cheese, or as a starter with grilled fish.

Tortillas and scrambled eggs

A classic that never fails. Healthy egg dinner options range from the classic potato omelette, with or without onion, to its more imaginative varieties (with sweet potato, pumpkin, peppers, broccoli…). Scrambled eggs and French omelette go wonderfully with peppers, diced tomatoes, peas…

Juan Obrero, Category Manager at ALDI, reminds us that whether we are going to consume fresh vegetables or if we are going to subject them to some kind of heat treatment, “they must always be washed, without exception, whether they have a peel or skin and we are going to peel them, or if we are going to consume them with the skin. If they are prepared raw, it is better to take disinfection measures.”

Healthy dinners to lose weight

Just as there are no foods that make you gain weight or lose weight, we cannot blame our weight gain only on dinner, but rather on the total calorie count throughout the day in relation to our caloric expenditure.

The Academy’s advice is clear: we cannot speak of healthy dinners for weight loss in the strictest sense. Nor does it make sense to think of healthy dinners that do not make you gain weight. And even less so, eliminate foods or food groups at random to reduce calories, as happens when you only eat fruit or only protein foods for dinner.

Quick and easy healthy dinner recipes

Quick in the kitchen doesn’t have to mean ultra-processed food heated in the microwave. There are plenty of healthy dinner ideas with preparations that barely require any prep and cooking time. Here are just a few ideas:

• Eggplant timbales grilled, tomato and mozzarella or any other fresh or semi-cured cheese

• Grilled vegetables seasonal: asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, onions… Use the frying pan to make a grilled chicken fillet later.

• Sautéed preserved vegetablesGreen beans, borage, chard… A few garlic cloves to taste and a splash of olive oil and we have the evening’s vegetable contribution ready.

• Legumes cooked with a sofrito. An easy-to-prepare and easy-to-digest vegetarian dish. Try chickpeas with pumpkin and saffron threads (or curry), peas with carrots…

• Homemade burgers with legumes. Prepare them on the weekend, knead and freeze in individual portions. You can use chickpeas, beans, peas… Before dinner, just fry them back and forth in the pan and garnish the dish with a garnish of vegetables. Add some cherry tomatoes and a handful of washed mesclun lettuce, it takes just a few seconds and leaves us with a colorful and very healthy dish.

• Shrimp tacos with pico de gallo. Simply fry the prawns, add chilli and a pico de gallo with tomato and red onion that is prepared in the blink of an eye. The chef’s trick is to season with a little lime juice and coriander to taste.

Post Expert: John the Worker

John the Worker. Agricultural engineer and F&V Category Manager at ALDI SPAIN. Previously, he was Key Account Manager Export – Agromediterránea, responsible for F&V purchasing and sales at Grupo AN, and F&V Quality Control Technician – Just Quality Systems (Netherlands).

Content endorsed by the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics