A Sample Balanced Diet Plan by Ami Paneri Upadhyay

While preparing a diet chart few things should be taken care like

• Caffeine specially taken on empty stomach has worse effects, so I have avoided it as bed tea or coffee, you can take it with meals, but avoid taking it on empty stomach.
• On the contrary, fruits are best while taken on empty stomach, so take them as first thing in the morning, or after 2 hours of your meal. Avoid fruit immediately after any meal.
• If our food is digested before we fall asleep, our body has better chances to have the all nutrients it needs. So have your last meal (Dinner) two hours prior to bedtime.
• When our body does not get food at regular interval of time, it develops food anxiety and it might take it as a starvation, and because of that it turns itself into starvation mode, meaning it burns less calories at rest, and feeling less hungry, low metabolism etc. so overall, if the gap between meals would be much longer, the food we eat would be converted as fat instead of used for energy. So eat frequently & never have more than 3 hours gap in between meals.
• Avoid calorie dense food like fried food, sweets, pastries etc.

Sample diet:

6-6.30 am: (Within half hour of waking up) – any mid size fruit. ( mango, apple, banana, bowl of papaya, muskmelon, watermelon, orange,)

7.30-8 am: (within an hour of meal 1) serving of carbs with lean protein ( museli/oat, poha, upma, sandwich, idli-sambhar, dosa, pancakes, sprouts salad) + milk products (Milk, cheese, curds)

9.30 – 11 am: (mid meal) handful of peanuts/chana/almonds/walnuts/khakhra etc

12.30 – 1 pm: (Lunch) 3-4 chapati/1 tbsp rice + 1 bowl dal/pulses + 1 bowl vegetable(leafy one is preferred)  + few pieces of raw veggies (salad)

2.30 -3 pm: (mid meal) 1 bowl curd/ 1 cup milk/ 1 cheese slice

4.30 – 5 pm: (mid meal) Brown bread sandwich/ khakhra with cheese spread/ dhokla / idli /plain dosa

6.30- 7 pm: (mid meal) any fruit/ milk/ butter milk

Now this meal should contain least carbohydrate. And at least one milk product to ensure good sleep at night.

8- 8.30 (dinner) :  1-2 chapati / 1 tbsp long grain rice + dal  + salad + 1 bowl veg.

For elderly people or someone who works late at night, they should take one more meal.

10- 10.30 – 1 glass plain milk.

Nutrition value:

Energy: 2200 cal
Calcium: 1.1 g
Iron: 43 mg
Retinol (vitamin A): 800 microgram
Thiamin (vitamin B1) : 1.9 mg
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2): 1.4 mg

Source : http://wellbeingindia.net