Do you need to have dinner? What to eat for dinner with proper nutrition? Questions to a specialist

The evening zhor familiar to many arises due to improper eating behavior during the day, when instead of a full breakfast, lunch and snacks, you eat as you can.

Alas, if you do not follow the rules, a late “breakthrough” to the refrigerator is inevitable. How to rebuild your regime, and what should be the right dinner, I will try to tell in this article.

How to prevent evening zhor?

Rule number 1 - eat breakfast

Breakfast is the very first and most important meal of the day. It "starts" metabolic processes, including fat burning. Skipping breakfast slows down calorie consumption during the day, and you will eventually get better, but most importantly, there is a high risk of overeating in the evening, which, combined with a slow metabolism, will speed up the weight gain process.

Breakfast consisting of cereal made from sugar and cornmeal or a white bread sandwich with sausage is also not an option.

The right breakfast for losing weight is complex carbohydrates (cereals, whole grain bread with bran), fruits or dried fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, boiled eggs or scrambled eggs.

Some healthy breakfast options:

150 g of porridge on the water with apple slices, 1 boiled egg, unsweetened tea.
150 g of low-fat cottage cheese with 50 g of dried fruits, 2 loaves of bread, tea.
Omelet from 1 egg, 1 protein and milk with a little vegetable oil, a tomato and a slice of bread, a drink.

Rule #2 - Eat lunch

If the right breakfast can still be prepared, because you wake up, after all, at home, but most people have to dine at work. There are not many options here - take food with you, eat what they give in the dining room, or eat in a cafe or restaurant.

It is best to cook something dietary at home and take a so-called lunch box with you. In principle, if you take a vegetable salad and steamed fish with you, they will not spoil in a few hours without a refrigerator. I do this, because the canteen of the institution where I work now does not please with dietary dishes ...

Sometimes, when there is no time (or reluctance) to cook, I take fitness bread with cheese, a couple of apples and yogurt with me. This ration is enough for me for a day. Grain bread without yeast or fitness bread, fruits and sour milk often save me from “starvation” at work, without consequences for the figure, and there are plenty of useful substances in them. I advise you to do the same. A busy schedule or time pressure at work is not at all a reason to skip snacks or eat everything “that is not nailed down”!

In restaurants, canteens or cafes, choose the simplest dishes - steamed vegetables, baked or stewed meat, cereals and drinks without sugar.

Start your lunch with a salad or just chopped vegetables.

Then the soup - preferably a light vegetable or broth.

The main dish is lean protein foods and cereals or boiled potatoes for a side dish.

Rule number 3 - if it's far from dinner, have a snack

After 2 - 2.5 hours after eating, you can have a snack if the next full meal is still far away. A snack is 1 fruit plus a piece of cheese, yogurt with bread, a handful of nuts and dried fruits, sour-milk drinks or sugar-free curds. Such snacks will help you live safely until dinner, leaving no insane feeling of hunger.

Rule number 4 - eat light and satisfying dinner

The main thing to understand is that dinner is not the reason for the formation of fat in your body. Moreover, the right dinner can even make you slimmer, help you fall asleep easier and wake up with ease.

Dinner should be approximately 15-20% of the daily energy requirement. Ideally, it should consist of light protein foods (seafood, fish, cottage cheese, low-fat cheese or other dairy products), stewed vegetables, and a minimum amount of fat.

An option for a proper light dinner can be a baked apple and a glass of kefir or a little cottage cheese, plus green tea, a good dinner for losing weight - green or just scrambled eggs with vegetables.

This should be enough if you followed my recommendations during the day, ate properly and went to bed two hours after a light dinner.

Hearty and light dinner

But what if you could not have a normal lunch (this is an exception, not a variant of the norm!) And go to bed late? In this case, a dinner of fish and stewed vegetables should be supplemented with complex carbohydrates - a slice of bread, a small amount of rice, and after a couple of hours, drink a glass of kefir or another low-fat sour-milk drink without sugar.

Fish and cottage cheese are wonderful "evening" sources of protein. Supplement them with vegetables, complex carbohydrates, then your dinner will be healthy, satisfying, but not “heavy”. You can even cook yourself delicious pasta with vegetables (pasta, of course, without oil and a little).

If you eat 4-5 or even 6 times a day, but in small portions, you will be able to avoid bouts of evening hunger and provide your body with all the nutrients and nutrients it needs. And forget about the habit of eating in a hurry - it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to understand that the body is full, so pausing during dinner will be very helpful.

How and when to have dinner

It is better to have dinner in good company, but not in front of the TV or with a newspaper in front of your eyes. So you eat less. After all, it is always more difficult to overeat when someone other than the TV is watching you. The situation should not excite your excessive appetite, use light-colored dishes, you can also turn on calm music.

It is better to have dinner no later than two to three hours before bedtime, so that food does not interfere with normal sleep, and sleep does not interfere with proper digestion. Before going to bed, you can drink a glass of low-fat sour-milk drink.

Proper nutrition involves not so much losing weight as maintaining a normal weight and a healthy lifestyle. Knowing what you can and cannot eat with such a diet, as well as what foods to give preference to in the evening, is very important. In order for the daily menu to be not only useful, but also varied, there are various dinner options with proper nutrition.

Fundamental rules

According to numerous studies in the field of nutrition, the evening meal is important for the normal functioning of the body. Refusal of dinner leads to:

irritability;
increased fatigue;
stress
insomnia;
overeating during the day.

To eat really right, it is important not only to give preference to certain healthy foods, but also to follow simple rules:

You shouldn't starve. The last meal should be 3-4 hours before bedtime, so that the food has time to digest, and the feeling of hunger does not bother when falling asleep.
Portion size. In the evening, you should not overeat, 150-200 grams of food is enough.
Calorie content. The total calorie content of meals eaten for dinner should not exceed 500 kcal, in compliance with the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (KBZhU).
Compound. The diet contains protein (responsible for the formation of muscle mass), complex carbohydrates (provide a long-lasting feeling of satiety), fiber (promotes proper digestion).
Cooking method. Proper nutrition suggests that foods (fruits, vegetables, herbs) are eaten raw or prepared in one of the following ways: steamed, boiled, baked, stewed, grilled.
Refusal of fruits. Fruits and berries should not be eaten in the evening, or strictly limit their amount (if the goal of losing weight is not worth it), as they increase appetite.
Sport. It is important to combine proper nutrition with adequate physical activity (aerobics, fitness, yoga, strength sports) so that energy expenditure is equivalent to that obtained from food. You can have dinner an hour after training.
Snack. If the feeling of hunger comes just before going to bed, you can eliminate it by drinking a glass of kefir.
Water. The principles of proper nutrition should be observed simultaneously with the control of water balance, it is required to drink 1.5 - 2 liters of water per day (depending on weight).
Dishes. At night, you should not cook complex dishes from a large number of ingredients, as such food is digested more slowly.

Important! The calorie content of dishes is not the only thing to consider when adhering to proper nutrition, because it is not the quantity, but the quality of the calories consumed that matters more. A dinner of proteins and slow carbohydrates is absolutely not equivalent in terms of benefits to an evening cake or sweets, despite the identical number of calories.

Prohibited Products

When switching to proper nutrition, it is important to understand which foods will have to be categorically abandoned.

Harmful products that negatively affect the figure are:

Any confectionery and bakery products.
Pasta (except durum wheat vermicelli in limited quantities).
Potato.
White rice (brown and wild can and should be).
Nuts.
Dried fruits.
Cottage cheese and yogurt containing sugar (industrial production).
Sweet fruits (peach, grapes, melon, banana).
Legumes and cabbage (stimulate the processes of gas formation and are not recommended for use in the evening).
Fast food and semi-finished products.

Worth knowing! Instead of fruits for dinner, you can eat a small amount of berries, preferably sour ones. Fructose, found in most fruits, including apples, attracts water molecules and when consumed in the evening leads to morning puffiness.

In the case when proper nutrition is used as a temporary diet for weight loss and is not a permanent way of life, the restrictions on foods allowed for dinner will be stricter:

Cottage cheese. In the process of losing weight, you should not eat cottage cheese for snakes, as it affects the level of insulin in the blood and blocks the production of somatropin, which is responsible for weight loss.
Cereals. Any cereal is a pure carbohydrate, gradually turning into energy, in which there is no need before bedtime, so cereals for dinner, including those cooked on water, should be discarded.
Pickles. Pickled cucumbers and other pickles should not be eaten for dinner, as the high salt content retains water in the body and slows down the metabolic process, and hence weight loss.

Worth knowing! In addition to general restrictions, it is also worth considering personal tastes and preferences when choosing the right products.

Approved Products

In the process of preparing dinner, it is worth dwelling on healthy foods and dishes that help calm the nervous system and calmly go to sleep.

Suitable meals for an evening meal of proper nutrition are:

boiled lean meat (rabbit, turkey, chicken, beef are suitable);
eggs;
kefir, curdled milk, white yogurt, cottage cheese;
lean fish (cod, flounder, tuna, trout, pink salmon, perch);
seafood (shrimp, squid, scallops, mussels);
fresh vegetables;
berries and unsweetened fruits;
greenery;
cereals;
vegetable oils;
warm milk (only separately from any other products).

Worth knowing! In the absence of contraindications, dinner, built on the rules of proper nutrition, can be seasoned with spices and spices. Beneficial effect on metabolic processes and stimulate weight loss: ginger, garlic, mustard, horseradish, cardamom.

In the evening, it is preferable to consume a large amount of proteins, as they are responsible for the renewal of old cells and the creation of new ones without turning into fat. Protein foods are digested for a long time, providing a long-lasting feeling of satiety and allowing you to reduce the calorie content of dinner.

Red meat is digested for a very long time due to the high content of connective tissue, so it is recommended to eat quickly digestible animal products for dinner: eggs, white meat, fish and seafood.

Complex carbohydrates, fiber and vegetables (except potatoes) can be a side dish and addition to protein meals and should be consumed daily. Vegetables can be either raw (salad) or cooked (grilled, stew). It is permissible to season vegetable dishes with a small amount of vegetable oil.

Worth knowing! You can have a quick dinner with a mixture of low-fat cottage cheese and natural yogurt, with a small amount of seasonal berries.

Dinner time

The time of the last meal is not limited to 18 pm and directly depends on the period of going to bed. You should not eat after six if you plan to go to bed at 9-10 pm, however, if the activity continues until midnight, you will certainly feel hungry.

Eating up in the evening for future use, as well as going to bed hungry, are the wrong options. If you go to bed late, you can have dinner at 8 pm, and drink a glass of kefir at night.

Important! Lack of food is just as harmful as its excess.

With proper nutrition, not only the foods consumed are important, but also the regularity of meals, because if the body does not receive the necessary energy from foods on time, it begins to build up reserves of adipose tissue. Eating before bed leads to weight gain inevitably, since energy is not consumed at night.

The evening menu directly depends on the energy spent during the day:

With the predominance of mental activity over physical activity during the day. It is recommended to have dinner with protein dishes and fiber.
With high physical activity and high energy expenditure, evening meals should contain both proteins and carbohydrates.

Important! A balanced diet is that the main source of energy (carbohydrates) should be consumed in the morning. Therefore, the most plentiful and high-calorie breakfast should be, not dinner.

Calorie calculation

Keeping a food diary is essential to keep track of your calorie intake. Today, there are many PC programs and applications for smartphones that help to carry out the necessary calculations in a simple and accessible form.

The calorie content of dishes is calculated based on the proportions of the main ingredients, and allows you to correctly calculate the portion and choose the right products.

The total calorie content of meals consumed during the day is determined taking into account:

Height and body weight.
Daily physical activity.
Primary goals (weight maintenance, weight loss or mass gain).

Important! The correct KBZhU (balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet) is: 50 percent carbohydrates, 30% protein, 20% fat.

Serving size and calorie content for men and women will differ, while it is important to fill up on cooked food, but do not overeat, it is better to get up from the table with a slight feeling of hunger.

A proper dinner should contain approximately 70 grams of protein food and 180 grams of vegetables. If it is very difficult to give up sweets, you can try to cook

The total calorie content of dinner should not exceed 250-350 kcal. Light proteins (fatty sauce, ketchup, butter) should be discarded. After eating, it is worth moving a little: go for a walk, play with children, do light housework.

Meal options

In order not to feel food restrictions and make proper nutrition a way of life, you should eat a variety of foods and dishes:

Options for a variety of dinners for the week are presented in the table:

Dish	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Option 1	Vegetable soup; whole grain bread (1 piece); baked apple; tea with melissa	Buckwheat porridge; pumpkin cutlet; wild pear compote	vegetable stew; a handful of nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts) cornbread; Herb tea	onion soup; 2-3 potato pancakes; cereal bar; lime tea	Zucchini casserole; buckwheat bread; berry juice	Quinoa porridge (with honey); tofu cheese; chamomile tea	Vegetable pilaf; fruit and berry salad (tangerine, strawberry, raspberry); homemade sugar free lemonade
Option 2	Broccoli baked with cheese; boiled egg; tea with mint	Cottage cheese casserole; unsweetened apple; vegetable juice	Fish cutlets; steamed cauliflower; tea	boiled turkey; stewed carrots; fruit drink	boiled salmon; brown rice; unsweetened fruit drink	Cottage cheese (up to 6% fat, 150 g); unsweetened fruits; tea	Steamed omelet with green beans; unsweetened fruit

Important! Depending on current goals and personal preferences, dinner products can be changed to those similar in composition and calorie content.

Proper nutrition is not a diet, and it is worth adhering to its principles on an ongoing basis in order to maintain ideal weight, maintain beauty and youth, get rid of insomnia and stress. The greatest effectiveness of PP is manifested when it is combined with physical activity and the rejection of bad habits.

Content:

Proper diet and well-designed diet is the key to a slim figure and excellent health. Proper nutrition is gaining popularity more and more, and many people are beginning to adhere to it. But not everyone has sufficient knowledge about what foods to eat and when it is better to do it. The evening meal raises the most questions. Therefore, let's try to figure out what to eat for dinner with proper nutrition.

Is dinner useful: maybe it’s better not to eat at all in the evening?

Dinner, like any other meal, is an integral part of the diet, but for some reason it is given little importance, and sometimes completely excluded.

In the minds of many people, the rule “you can’t eat after six” has become stronger. This means that the last meal should take place no later than 18:00. This method allegedly helps with weight loss. But this method only works if you go to bed at 9-10 pm. Nutritionists and doctors have long proven that the last meal should take place 4 hours before bedtime, and 2-3 hours is allowed. This time will allow the body to process the nutrients received from food before going to bed.

With the exception of the evening meal, the body remains hungry for a long time, since breakfast will come only in the morning. Of course, this will lead to a decrease in calorie intake and weight loss if additional physical activity is included. If it is absent, then a prolonged hunger strike will lead to a slowdown in metabolic processes, which is fraught with a lack of progress in getting rid of extra pounds. Sometimes this approach can lead to weight gain.

Attention! Prolonged fasting also leads to problems with the digestive system, such as gastritis and stomach ulcers.

What should be the right dinner

As it turned out, you can eat in the evening, but the food must be correct and in the right amount. Basic rules for a healthy dinner:

Dinner should take place a few hours before going to bed.
The calorie content of the meal should be low, and the products should be natural and easy to digest. No buns, biscuits with tea or sandwiches.
It is necessary to monitor how products affect our body. For example, some foods stimulate the nervous system, so you may have trouble sleeping. It is better to eat food that will favorably affect the quality of sleep.
The calorie content of a serving should not exceed one-fifth of the daily calorie intake.

Before you deal with the question: what you can eat for dinner, let's decide on the list of prohibited foods. These include all high-calorie and fatty foods: sausages, fried meat (especially pork and lamb), meat broths, potatoes fried with lard, smoked foods and others. For dinner, it is better not to eat carbohydrate foods, especially those rich in simple carbohydrates: muffins, pastries, confectionery, bread. It is not recommended to include healthy foods high in fat and carbohydrates in the evening meal: cereals, cereals, nuts, fruits.

A proper dinner should consist of protein foods and fiber. Protein foods include: chicken, fish, seafood, eggs, legumes, and low-fat cottage cheese. Fiber is best consumed in the form of vegetables: cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, various greens, broccoli and others.

Dinner options: what you can and should eat

There are many options for dinner when losing weight, they are all combined from the following products:

Meat products. Meat should have a minimum amount of fat, so chicken, rabbit meat, turkey, veal are suitable for an evening meal. For a change, you can wind minced meat from the selected type of meat.
Fish and seafood. It is better to choose fish with a low fat content, that is, it is not recommended to eat red (fatty) fish. The ideal option would be: pollock, tilapia, flounder, cod, dorado, sea bass and others. Seafood (shrimp, scallops, mussels, squid and others) are famous for their almost complete lack of fat and high protein content.
Cottage cheese. The presence of casein in it will allow you to feed the body with amino acids for a long time (in the evening and at night).
Vegetables. They are rich in dietary fiber, which contributes to comfortable digestion. For dinner, you can not eat starchy vegetables (potatoes).

protein dinner

For effective weight loss, in addition to nutrition, you need to train, which means that it is necessary that the body receives the right amount of protein for muscle growth.

Examples of protein foods for a proper dinner have already been listed. The best options for a protein-rich meal are the following: cottage cheese omelet, grilled chicken, steamed fish, baked rabbit, low-fat cottage cheese with greens, lean meat cutlets cooked without oil and others.

Important! Pair your protein meals with your favorite vegetables for a balanced, healthy dinner.

Dinner after workout

It happens that training takes place in the evening, so the standard post-workout nutrition with the inclusion of quickly digestible carbohydrates is not suitable for dinner.

Immediately after the evening workout, you can drink a glass of protein shake, and when you come home, you are allowed to eat a dish consisting mainly of vegetables and protein. With a strong feeling of hunger, you can add a small amount of buckwheat or brown rice.

Cooking healthy food - do not try to fry!

In addition to the right choice and combination of products, the method of preparation also plays an important role. With proper nutrition, food can be boiled, stewed, baked, steamed or grilled without oil.

In no case should you fry food in a large amount of vegetable oil. This leads not only to a sharp increase in the calorie content of the dish due to the absorption of oil, but also to the appearance of carcinogens and other harmful substances that adversely affect health.

Vegetables and fruits are best consumed fresh, as they retain most of the vitamins, fiber, trace elements and other nutrients.

Healthy and Delicious: 5 Dinner Meals You'll Love

Proper dinner recipes:

Salad "Quail" from boiled chicken fillet or turkey fillet, quail eggs, herbs, cucumbers and green apples. To taste, you can add salt, lemon juice or vegetable oil (olive, linseed, sesame and others).
Royal omelet with eggs and vegetables. The standard set of vegetables are red onions, bell peppers and tomatoes. You can add salt, your favorite spices, herbs and olive oil to taste.
Creative omelet. Add cottage cheese to beaten eggs, mix thoroughly and bake in a pan.
Braised fish with vegetables. Fish can be marinated in spices and lemon juice. Add beaten eggs and fish fillet to the fried vegetables, pour in a little water and simmer until tender.
Chicken fillet baked in foil. As a marinade, you can use kefir or natural yogurt. It is recommended to add vegetables to the fillet (onions, peppers, tomatoes and others to taste).

Thus, we conclude: dinner is an important meal, on which your results will largely depend not only when losing weight, but also while maintaining weight. Skipping it can lead to some health problems. A proper dinner should be light, low-calorie, and consist mainly of protein foods and vegetables.

“Eat breakfast yourself, share lunch with a friend, give dinner to the enemy” is a folk wisdom that many losing weight perceive as a direct guide to action. And they completely exclude dinner from the daily routine, hoping in this way to quickly part with the hated fat folds. However, doctors think differently: you need to have dinner without fail, the main thing is to approach the issue competently. Today we will tell you what is better to eat for dinner to lose weight, and share recipes for delicious low-calorie dishes.

Before plunging into the world of weight loss dinner recipes, let's discuss what the correct evening meal should be. In total, there are 7 main points that you must definitely consider if you plan to lose weight:

Dinner time. There are no universal numbers - for each of us this time is selected individually, since it completely depends on the specific daily routine. The main condition is that the last “reinforcement” should be no later than three, or better, four hours before going to bed. Simply put, if you go to bed at 12 at night, the “not a crumb after six” rule does not apply to you - feel free to have dinner at 8-9 pm and do not worry about your figure.
Physical activity after a meal. Even the most useful dinner for weight loss can be deposited on the sides if after it you “lie down” with a book on the sofa. This does not mean that you need to run a marathon after a meal - take a walk before bed, play with the children, do household chores. A little physical activity after a meal is the key to proper assimilation and digestion of food.
Forbidden products. Forget about grandma's dinners - fried potatoes and meat, pasta, cereals, store-bought sauces, bread, various sweets. The list of what is better to eat for dinner when losing weight does not include simple carbohydrates and starch.
Portion size. Dinner for weight loss with proper nutrition should be light, so you will have to forget about large portions. Put two palms together - this will be your standard portion for dinner. It turns out about 250 grams for girls and 350 for men. Moreover, from this seemingly large volume, protein occupies only a third, and two-thirds is allocated for vegetables or greens.
Calorie content. For dinner, you should eat a maximum of 20-25 percent of your daily calories. That is, up to about 400 kcal, if you need to maintain weight at the same level. For those who want to part with those extra centimeters on their sides and are looking for a low-calorie dinner for weight loss, the numbers are different - about 300-350 kcal.
Individual characteristics. Consider them - almost every one of us has a product that is poorly absorbed. For example, even if you really like beans or peas, but you feel that they are poorly digested in your body, you should not have dinner with them. The list of foods that are well digested include chicken eggs, low-fat cottage cheese, citrus fruits and non-starchy vegetables. To increase the speed of digestion, the product should be stewed, boiled or mashed.
Correct behaviour. We can tell you for a long time what you need to eat for dinner to lose weight, but HOW you eat it is equally important. Forget about dinners at the computer, in front of the TV or with a book in hand. Chew your food properly so it will be better absorbed. It is recommended to drink a glass of plain water 20 minutes before a meal. You should not drink coffee an hour before dinner and an hour after - the drink affects the adrenal glands, which slows down the process of digesting food.

What can you eat for dinner when losing weight: products

And now - about our little friends, useful products from which you can make the right dinner for weight loss. The list turns out to be impressive, so you definitely won’t be left without a tasty treat:

Meat - exclusively low-fat: veal, chicken breast, rabbit, turkey.
A variety of seafood - from crabs to shrimps and mussels.
Fish - low-fat and medium fat: cod, trout, salmon, pike perch, tuna, perch - sea and river, pink salmon and so on.
Fresh juicy vegetables: any cabbage, sweet peppers, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, any greens, onions of all kinds.
Other vegetables stewed or baked in a slow cooker or oven without oil (or with a small amount): carrots, beets, eggplants, sweet corn, pumpkin, zucchini in all variations, any cabbage.
Eggs in different versions: soft-boiled, hard-boiled, in the form of an omelet - with herbs, low-fat cottage cheese or cheese (for example, tofu or cheese).
Dairy products, and better - sour-milk: kefir, unsweetened yogurt, yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese.
Any fruits and berries, with the exception of bananas and grapes.
Nuts - almonds and walnuts, but no more than 5-10 pieces.
Mushrooms and whole grain bread - in small quantities, no more than 50-60 grams.
Warm milk - provided that you use it separately from other products. Suitable for those who are looking for the easiest dinner for weight loss.

Now that you have a rough idea of what is the best dinner to lose weight, let's move on to the most enjoyable part - recipes for low-calorie dishes for an evening meal.

Diet dinner for weight loss: recipes for healthy goodies

The first option for a dinner for weight loss is salads:

Cabbage: chop white, red or Beijing cabbage, grate sweet carrots on a coarse grater. Cut the onion into small cubes and sauté in vegetable oil. Separately, prepare the seasoning: mix crushed garlic, red sweet and bitter peppers, soy sauce and ground cilantro (you can replace other herbs). All this must be added to a hot frying pan with onions and immediately removed from the heat. Then add the resulting mixture to the cabbage and pour the salad with lemon juice. And the question of what to eat for dinner when losing weight will disappear by itself!
Greek: to prepare an excellent diet dinner for weight loss, you need to mix Iceberg lettuce, diced cheese, olives, bell peppers and tomatoes, cherry tomatoes are better. This salad is dressed with oil or natural low-fat yogurt. Perhaps this is one of the most delicious options for dinner to lose weight.
With squid: cut into strips a boiled egg, a couple of cucumbers, 100 grams of the indicated seafood and the same amount of seaweed, mix everything, season with olive oil.

Another option for a proper dinner for weight loss is meat recipes:

Marinated veal: cut off a piece of meat a couple of centimeters thick, beat one side with a hammer, grease with vegetable oil on both sides, lightly sprinkle with red or black pepper and leave all this beauty for half an hour. Salt the meat is not worth it - it is better to sprinkle with lemon juice. You can cook as your heart desires - fry in a hot frying pan without oil, bake in the oven, use a slow cooker - your choice.
Chicken cutlets: do not know what to eat for dinner to lose weight - take this dish into service! All you need is 200 grams of ordinary cabbage, chicken fillet in about the same volume, salt and spices to taste. Turn everything through a meat grinder, form cutlets and bake them in an oven heated to 200 degrees. By the way, these cutlets go well with a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, seasoned with low-fat sour cream.

An approximate direction in the question of what to eat for dinner in order to lose weight, we have indicated to you. Experiment, create new dishes from healthy products and be sure to share your recipes with us!

Dinner is the most controversial meal of the day, especially for women who are watching their figure or trying to lose weight. Refusal of a heavy dinner is considered the basis of a healthy diet. How valid is this statement, is it worth limiting yourself to an evening meal, and what should be the right dinner to benefit health?

In this article you will find answers to the most important and popular questions about rational nutrition before bedtime.

Why you should have dinner

The statement that it is necessary to have dinner strictly before 18 pm has long lost its relevance. This applies only to people-larks who wake up early and go to bed no later than 21.00. The rest can adhere to this principle - have dinner 3-4 hours before going to bed. Thus, if you are used to falling asleep at 12 o'clock at night, you can safely eat at 8 or even 9 pm. In the allotted 3 hours before bedtime, food will have time to be digested, and extra pounds on the waist and hips will not make themselves felt.

French nutritionists have proven that refusing dinner, when the interval between meals is 12 or more hours, is unhealthy. This approach will not help you lose weight, and even more so will not allow you to maintain activity and good health. For the full functioning of the body, glucose is needed, which is wasted at a rate of 6 g per hour. If food does not enter the body for a long time, it begins to use up internal reserves. Do not flatter yourself with the hopes that fat deposits will be the first to “go to work”. First, the proteins contained in the muscles, bones and blood will be used. And then carbohydrates and fats will go into consumption.

Therefore, fasting will primarily affect the state of the musculoskeletal system. The bones will become brittle, the condition of the teeth will deteriorate, and the muscles will not be able to withstand physical exertion. This is especially true for fans of fitness after work. Training leads to increased energy consumption, so evening fasting will only contribute to the depletion of the body.

What else is useful for a proper dinner:

serves as an excellent antidepressant, calms the nerves and promotes sound sleep;
helps to avoid hypovitaminosis and mineral deficiency;
strengthens the immune system and serves as a prevention of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

But the most important thing is that in the evening you can not rush anywhere, but take food slowly, chewing thoroughly. Many people know that it is thorough chewing that contributes to rapid satiety, which means that hunger can be satisfied faster and with less food.

Important! The break between daily meals should be about 4 hours. The optimal interval between the evening and morning meal is 10 hours.

What should dinner be like?

The right dinner for weight loss and well-being should be based on two principles - moderation and digestibility of dishes. According to nutritionists, the evening meal should account for no more than 20-25% of the daily calorie intake. You can focus on the average portion size or the average energy value of the dishes. The size of the evening portion intended for a man should be approximately 350 g, women should reduce it by 100 g.

It is better to leave fatty meat or fatty fish, but you should not have dinner with sour-milk products alone. The leading role in the evening meal is played by proteins - they are easily digested and do not cause heaviness in the stomach. Amino acids that make up protein serve as basic building materials for all tissues, have a beneficial effect on the condition of muscles, bones, skin, hair and teeth.

A wide variety of vegetables will be a good "companion" for proteins. They are perfectly combined not only in organoleptic, but also in chemical properties. It should be noted that the volume of vegetables should be twice as much as protein.

If you cannot stand the long three-hour gap before going to bed, a healthy dinner can be divided into two meals - first eat the main course, and after a couple of hours drink a glass of fermented baked milk or kefir.

Eating dinner in front of the TV or behind a computer monitor is a bad habit. Watching movies and TV programs distracts from eating, as a result, you run the risk of overeating, food will be digested longer, and it will be more difficult to fall asleep. Scientists have found out an interesting fact - they claim that slow lyrical music will be an excellent accompaniment for an evening meal. But under rhythmic dance melodies, a person tends to consume more food.

Important! The energy value of dinner should not exceed 400 kilocalories. Those who want to lose weight should reduce this figure to 300 kcal.

What to eat for dinner

The evening meal should include foods that contain a good portion of vitamins, as well as substances that promote quick recovery after a hard day's work. Include in a healthy diet are dishes that give a restful sleep, and also take part in the synthesis of hormones and new cells. What to eat for dinner, this simple reminder will help you decide.

Seafood. Shrimps, squids, mussels and octopuses cover the body's needs for vitamins A, E, B, iodine, calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and selenium. Seafood contains more protein than meat, and it is digested much easier and faster. The easiest way to consume is to make a sea cocktail.
Turkey meat. Dietary meat contains a minimum of fat and cholesterol, which makes the product ideal for weight loss. The digestibility of turkey protein is 95%, which is significantly higher than that of rabbit and chicken meat. You can quickly get enough of turkey meat dishes, which means you won’t be able to eat a lot of them even with severe hunger.
Chicken breast. White chicken meat is much healthier than the dark meat typical of chicken legs. Breast has less fat, cholesterol and indigestible compounds that cause a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. But the vitamins in white chicken are enough to maintain a healthy metabolism. Vitamins B9, B12, PP, A and H are considered especially valuable among them.
Low-fat fish. Little fat is found in pike perch, pike, cod, flounder and pollock. These varieties are digested and assimilated in just a couple of hours, so fish for dinner will be a reasonable solution. Together with fish dishes, the body will receive a large amount of iodine, fluorine, copper and zinc.
Leafy vegetables. The group includes iceberg lettuce, lettuce, watercress, parsley, arugula, craid, dill, basil and Swiss chard. Leafy vegetables are a source of B vitamins. These organic compounds help convert consumed carbohydrates into glucose, which is indispensable for the functioning of all internal organs. Despite the low calorie content of greens, with its help you can easily satisfy your hunger with a minimum portion.
Natural yogurt. The delicacy is rich not only in vital protein, but also in calcium, which strengthens bone tissue. Another value of yogurt is beneficial probiotic bacteria. They destroy the pathogenic microflora of the digestive tract and increase immunity. An important nuance: only a natural product is beneficial, without additives, flavorings and preservatives.
Kefir. The product is considered a classic of healthy eating and is most often included in the evening diet. The drink normalizes metabolic processes, supplies the body with vitamins and minerals, has general strengthening properties and helps to satisfy evening hunger.
Nuts and seeds. They are used not as a main dish, but as a condiment. Almonds, sesame, pine and walnuts, cashews and flaxseeds go well with vegetable salads and meat dishes. Nuts contain a large amount of amino acids and vegetable oils that are beneficial to health.
Eggs. The benefits of chicken eggs are due to the presence of useful amino acids and vitamins - B, C, D, E. 14% - exactly as much daily protein intake can be obtained by eating just one egg for dinner. It is better to cook soft-boiled eggs or cook a steam omelet - in this form, the product is best absorbed.

If a person experiences increased physical activity, he will not be satisfied with one protein per evening. Combining proteins with a small portion of carbohydrate food will help normalize the energy balance. Healthy carbohydrates are found in buckwheat and oatmeal, as well as pasta made from durum wheat.

And what about sweet?

Very often in the evening there is a craving for sweets - this phenomenon is observed with a deficiency of carbohydrates and irregular meals. Warm tea with a spoonful of sugar or flower honey, the same natural yogurt with the addition of berries, fruits or homemade jam will help “stop” a sweet attack.

What to eat for a sweet dinner:

dates are the sweetest of dried fruits, since they are 70% fructose and sucrose, satisfy hunger well and supply cells with amino acids;
dried apricots - in dried apricots, the concentration of sugar, vitamins and minerals is increased;
raisins - not only provides the body with glucose, but is also useful for overloading the nervous system;
marshmallow and marshmallow - have a high content of pectin, are useful for digestive disorders;
marmalade - it is best to choose a product based on a useful seaweed extract (agar-agar).

You need to eat these sweets in minimal quantities - just a few berries or one or two lozenges.

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Important! The main part of carbohydrates in the form of cereals, flour products and potatoes should be for breakfast and lunch. Dinner should consist mainly of protein foods.

What foods should be avoided

Definitely not suitable for dinner heavy plentiful food, with a lot of oil and fatty sauces. Packaged fast food, fast food and flour products will be harmful for both well-being and harmony.

When compiling an evening diet for an adult or for a child, you can focus on two conditional lists - black and gray. The black list includes foods that are prohibited for the evening meal. Gray includes dishes, the use of which should be postponed to an earlier time so that they have time to assimilate.

Black list:

all types of sausages - boiled, smoked, raw smoked, dried;
pastries with and without cream - donuts, cakes, buns, cakes, pies, waffles;
carbonated drinks;
chips and other snacks;
white bread with yeast from refined flour;
side dishes of cereals and potatoes;
dumplings and dumplings;
sandwiches;
high-calorie fruits - bananas and grapes;
whole milk;
chocolate and chocolates;
coffee and strong tea.

Greylist:

meat dishes;
dishes with fish;
legumes cooked by boiling or stewing;
dried fruits and low-calorie fruits;
sweet crackers, bread, unleavened cookies.

Important! It is impossible to completely exclude fats from the diet. They are necessary for the production of hormones, cell division and the absorption of vitamins. Among the fats consumed, a quarter should be animal lipids, the rest - vegetable oils.

What to cook for dinner: healthy recipes

The list of products allowed for dinner is quite extensive. Of these, it is quite possible to make delicious and varied dinner options that will satisfy the body's needs for useful compounds.

fish julienne

Products for 5 servings:

lean fish (fillet) - 300 g;
onions - 2 pieces;
wheat flour - 2 large spoons;
cream with a fat content of 10% - ⅔ cup;
Parmesan cheese - 150 g;
olive oil - 1 spoon:
salt and pepper to taste.

How to cook:

Rinse the fish fillet, remove excess water with a paper towel, cut into small pieces.
Peel the onion, chop and fry in olive oil. It should become transparent and soft.
Add fish pieces to the onion, mix well and fry for 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle the fried mixture with flour through a strainer so that there are no lumps.
Pour the cream in a thin stream, mixing well with flour until smooth.
Season with salt and pepper, place in julienne molds and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.
Put in a preheated oven (180 ° C), bake for 10 minutes.

Light fish julienne goes well with any vegetable salad seasoned with vegetable oil.

Salad with vegetables and seafood

List of ingredients for 4 servings:

sea cocktail - 500 g;
leaf lettuce - 1 large bunch;
medium-sized tomatoes - 6 pieces;
olive oil - 3 table. spoons;
half a lemon;
salt and seasonings of your choice.

Cooking:

Boil 2 liters of water, put a sea cocktail into the boiling liquid.
After 5-7 minutes after boiling, remove the pan from the heat, discard the seafood through a colander and rinse with clean cold water.
Randomly chop the tomatoes, tear the lettuce leaves with your hands.
Place all prepared foods in a salad bowl.
Make dressing - mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt and seasonings.
Drizzle dressing over salad, toss and serve.

Lemon juice in the dressing can be replaced with balsamic vinegar, and boiled seafood can be marinated in it if desired.

Chicken breast with bell pepper

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast on the bone or 2 pieces of fillet;
2 red or yellow bell peppers;
soy sauce and yogurt - 1 table each. spoon
1 tsp. a spoonful of mustard and red paprika;
2 cloves of garlic;
salt and pepper.

Step by step preparation:

Remove the skin from the chicken breast, wash under running water. If fillet is used, just wash it.
On the surface of the meat preparation, make several shallow cuts across, salt and pepper, trying to process the cuts as well.
Wash the pepper, cut lengthwise, remove the partitions with seeds, cut into strips.
Place a piece of bell pepper into each breast incision. A combination of peppers of several colors looks beautiful - green, red and yellow.
Make a sauce with yogurt, minced garlic, mustard, soy dressing and red paprika.
Gently cover the prepared breast with the sauce, trying to maintain the original configuration of the dish.
Line an oven dish with foil paper, place the chicken in it and wrap around the edges of the foil.
Bake for 30-40 minutes (depending on the weight of the meat).
Open the foil and bake for another 5-7 minutes in the grill mode, so that the top is browned.

The dish turns out to be very bright and appetizing, suitable not only for everyday, but also for a festive dinner.

Turkey with cheese

Food list for 4 servings:

a piece of turkey fillet weighing 250-300 g;
tomatoes - 2 pieces;
hard cheese - 150-200 g;
a mixture of provencal herbs;
butter - 30 g.