How to “Create the Perfect Plate” – Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner

The food pyramid has been drummed into every American’s head – several servings of fruits and vegetables, a slightly lower amount of servings of protein, and an even smaller amount of grains and dairy. With these dietary guidelines, it seems like eating healthy shouldn’t be a difficult task. But apparently it is, as reflected by the 23% of teenagers in America who suffer from pre-diabetes or diabetes. The reality is distributing these ‘serving recommendations’ on a meal–by–meal basis is hard to plan for, and even harder to execute on. 

This is where Dr. Mark Hyman’s latest release, The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook, knocks it out of the park.  Dr. Hyman helps us ‘create the perfect plate’ by not only discussing the ideal daily consumption of the different food groups, but by also providing us with recipes that will allow us to do so! 

Dr. Hyman describes the perfect the plate as one that consists of:

1. 50% low starch, low glycemic vegetables
2. 25% lean protein (fish, chicken, eggs, meat, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole soy.
3. 25% slow burning carbohydrates.

When I first read this, the first two items made sense, but slow burning carbs…what foods contain slow cooked carbs? To clarify, Dr. Hyman uses a memorable stop light approach, classifying carbs into either ‘Green’, ‘Yellow’, or ‘Red’ Categories.

Green Carbs= Eat Freely Yellow Carbs= Eat in Moderation Red Carbs= Eat rarely

-       Green Light. These include carb sources that you can eat freely, because they contain a low glycemic and carbohydrate load. This category includes foods like arugula, asparagus, Bok Choy, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, kale, mushrooms and tomatoes.

-       Yellow Light. These include carbs that you should eat in moderation. Whole grains like quinoa and black rice, legumes, and low-to-medium fructose- containing fruits fall under this category (blackberries, raspberries, apples, pears, nectarines).

-       Red Light. These include foods you should eat rarely, including vegetables with high glycemic loads like pumpkins and sweet potatoes, and high-sugar fruits like bananas, grapes, melon, and pineapples.

Detailed, straightforward, and memorable categorizations like the ‘stoplight table of carbohydrates’ make the Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook a great reference guide; however, it is the recipes that make it a particularly handy.

The 175 recipes provided in the cookbook are separated into five categories: Breakfast, Soups, Salad, Entrees, and Dessert. To give you a flavor of the strangely creative, and surprisingly mouthwatering recipes, I’ll give you my favorite from each category. 

-       Breakfast: The ‘Popeye the Sailor’ Energy Boost. This breakfast shake includes chia seeds, avocado, and spinach, amongst other healthy ingredients. It helps kick off your morning with a great blend of phytochemicals and protein, which keeping the sugar intake low.

‘Popeye the Sailor’ Energy Boost - A Great Recipe

-       Soups: Blissful Butternut Bisque. This is a creamy, flavorful vegan soup rich with fiber, Vitamin B, and nutrients. It also contains an exotic flare with its use of the South Asian ingredient ghee, a clarified butter.

-       Salad: Shrimp & Avocado Salad. This salad allows me to indulge in my favorite foods in a refreshing and delicious way. To really flavor it up, mango, lime, and sesame ingredients are tossed in!

Shrimp & Avocado Salad - A Genius Lunch!

-       Entrees: Sweet Potato Burger. If you thought you’d have to give up burgers, you were wrong! This healthy take on a burger uses almond flour, beans, and sweet potatoes for the staple ingredients, with Cajun spice, lemon, garlic and avocado suggest for extra zest.

-       Dessert: Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Cups. This dessert leaves the hydrogenated fats behind, instead containing coconut and peanuts.

These are just a sampling of hundreds of great recipes in the Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook. After following Dr. Hyman’s six-week meal plan, you’ll undoubtedly be healthier, and also be happier.

Dr. Hyman dedicated this book to ‘all those who seek to take back their health.’ I’d say he did just that.