Hi lovelies!

One of the things that actually stuck with me from my studies in nutrition was understanding the importance of eating wholesome, calorie-controlled meals.
In general, though I always try my best to ensure a well-balanced meal at all times of the day- I do eat my heaviest meals consisting of more carbohydrates and fats during the day, keeping my last meal mainly protein focused. This is simply because when we are awake, our body works at its basal metabolic rate and when we are sleeping it works at its resting metabolic rate– which is much slower, taking more time to digest food and burn off calories. Clearly, this means we all need to be extra mindful of what we eat before we hit the sack. While meal planning, I must stress the importance of ensuring that you are meeting all of the nutritional requirements of your body overall per day.  Everyone has different requirements based on gender, activity levels, health conditions and so on. There are various calculators and charts you can use online to check where you stand, I really like Canada’s Food Guides as it was curated by the government of Canada and hence provides for more credibility…
Circling back to the main point of this article now- with all of life’s business in the way, I find it extremely hard to switch up my menu all the time, but honestly, I leave variety for the weekends where I allow myself to indulge anyway. So over the years, I have discovered some great staples that I rotate around for the week, and here they are- my top 5 favorite dinner recipes which are under 500 calories, wholesome, easy to make and so delicious: 

1.  Baked salmon, asparagus, and potatoes.
*Remeber that this recipe’s serving size is for 2 meals.

2.  Garlic shrimp on toast.
*I keep the sides of toast wholewheat and stop at 2 slices. I will also add a side of steamed broccoli to make the meal more wholesome.

3.  Chickpea Salad
*Since this meal is extremely filling, I don’t usually have it with any additional sides.

4.  Crispy Tofu
*Sometimes when I am extra hungry I will have this with a half a cup of brown rice- they pair excellently together.

5.  Quinoa Tuna
*Feel free to replace the quinoa with brown rice here, I just prefer the quinoa because it has more fiber and protein and fewer carbohydrates than rice.

Hope you enjoyed! If you have any other similar recipes you think I would like, please send them over- I will be eternally grateful.

Love,
Tasha
xoxo