The Harvard Plate for Healthy Eating

The unique dishes They can be a good solution to our meals. We can think about them in advance and make them part of a weekly plan, or they can be the result of a reuse meal, while we “clean” the fridge.

Typical recommendations are based on energy, that is, in the calories consumed. For the general adult population, this type of distribution of macronutrients is proposed, with recommended daily proportions according to the energy they provide:

50-60% of calories from carbohydrates 30-35% from fat 12-15% from protein

So what are we to do? Do we have to spend the day counting calories? This type of dietary approach is of little use to us at home, especially if what we are looking for is speed.

What is the Harvard dish and how to adapt it to your day to day

Although nutrition talks about having a balanced diet, it should be remembered that the balance in the diet depends on many factorssuch as age or lifestyle. In addition, there are many other approaches that can help us to be healthy.

Instead of looking at macro and micronutrients, or calories, most what we want is to be able to see with the naked eye if our plate is more or less balanced.

One of the versions that have become more popular to organize these dishes is the one based on the Harvard Plate recommendationswhich includes vegetable diets among all the possible options.

And it is that the single Harvard dish takes into account vegetable diets, which was already a breakthrough at the time, when it was published. In fact, it is still a more accurate guide than the food pyramid that they provide us in Spain.

We can make a simple adaptation of the plate, which has 4 compartments, and turn them into three. That is, we will do Vegan Harvard Three Compartment Plate.

We are going to leave the fruit for dessert or snack or any other time, or we can perfectly include it in a salad or part of the meal. There is really no daily fruit limit, nor better times, so you can include it whenever you feel like it and when it suits you best.

Vegetables, whole grains and healthy protein

We would have these 3 divisions of our imaginary plate:

Half of the plate would be for vegetablesalways prioritizing that they are seasonal and with the greatest possible diversity.A quarter plate for whole grains in all its varieties. In the case of eating potatoes, it would go in this section, and not in the previous one.The other quarter would be the healthy protein: tofu, legumes, nuts such as walnuts or seeds such as hemp seeds.

Fats, in general, we use more for cooking or dressing, and the recommendation would be to use quality oils, such as extra virgin olive oil. We have other healthy fats, such as avocado (which must be local and seasonal) that we can add to the dish, thus reducing the use of dressings.

It is a dish that is already reminding us of the importance of Do not regularly consume ultra-processed foodsand that in his indications he also tells us to use the healthy cooking techniquessuch as steam, oven, stews, papillote or iron.

Just because of the very small percentage of fats to be used, fried foods are usually discarded for day to day. And all this accompanied by water, tea or coffee, avoiding sugary drinks.

Much easier than counting calories!

Examples of vegan Harvard dishes

Example 1:

Evidently, it is not necessary that we eat the “compartments” of the plate separately. In this case, we can add the rice to the tofu and we would have two great dishes. In fact, they would be two good options to take us in a pair of tuppers to work now in summer.

The quantities are very indicative, but if we are in summer, for example, what we need most are fresh vegetables, and we can add more without any problem.

Example 2:

As you can see, these are dishes that you can make even within a weekly batch cooking.

Finally, it must be added that foods cannot be measured by their macronutrients. The usual thing is that they are a compendium of macros and micros. From there the importance of varying whenever we canat least weekly.

In the case of this dish, for example, chickpeas are the primary source of protein and quinoa, a secondary source. The two foods provide us with carbohydrates and fiber, so the proportions would not really be so close to those of the Harvard plate with servings of meat or fish. But, as we have said, not all people need the same amount of energy daily. And, in addition, we can always adjust the proportions or let ourselves be guided by a dietitian if necessary.

This unique dish would be the typical one that we would hardly eat separately, and that really it is better in a bowl all mixed. But so we can see the proportions we were talking about.

Can you make a pasta dish following the Harvard dish recommendations?

Although it is common for us to eat pasta “with”, we are seeing that the pasta must be a complement to the vegetable part, like the protein. At first it can be very shocking, and I recommend using the Harvard dish proportions and then mixing.

A very simple possibility of doing:

Whole Grain Macaroni Bolognese Textured Soy or Textured Soy with Homemade Tomato Saucezucchini and eggplant baked or stir-fried in the wok

This dish, due to the proportions, sit would be more like “zucchini and eggplant with pasta”.