Though dinner is usually the heaviest meal consumed in the day, a large number of health advocates recommend the inverted pyramid for eating our three daily meals. They propose that dinner should be the lightest meal of the day, lunch in between and breakfast the heaviest. Unfortunately, this is not as easy to observe as work, preparation time and a lot of other factors get in the way. What’s commoner is a cup of coffee in the morning, a sandwich with a soup or salad for lunch, and a heavy dinner.

A paradigm shift and extra efforts should be taken to make changes for the better. Start off by taking the time to eat breakfast. Just eating breakfast, whether it’s healthy or not, is the first step to getting used to having something substantial to break the fast after several hours of sleep. Eat a sensible lunch and for dinner, try out healthy recipes that are easy to prepare and easy to digest as one normally has little physical activity between dinner and going to sleep.

A heavy dinner could very well be a means to compensate for having no breakfast and a lousy rushed lunch. It could be the mind telling the body that it needs something substantial to make up for two meals lacking in satisfaction and nutrition.

When preparing your evening meal, keep it simple because the more complicated it is, the more likely it is difficult to digest. Simpler food preparation also means less pots and pans to wash! Options could be a pan-fried fish fillet, slice of chicken breast without skin or lean pork scallopini pounded thinly to make it appear bigger and more filling. Steam some brown rice of vegetables to serve as a side dish. Or better yet prepare a raw organic salad of garden greens and low fat dressing. A bowl of hearty soup served with crusty wheat bread is an excellent option for dinner on a cold winter night. If you’re among the few who enjoys eating his or her vegetables, consider a wholly vegetarian or even vegan dinner.

For dessert, go light with a slice of fruit. If you really have to have a more substantial sweet dessert, take only half a portion and save the rest for the next day. Go easy on the soda and drink fruit and vegetable juice or regular good old refreshing water instead with a slice of lemon or lime!

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Eggplant in Tomato-Wine Sauce
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