The 8 Elements of a Meal
Decision fatigue is real, so, for most of our meals, we don’t actually want options. That’s why most people will go for the same dish at their favorite restaurant, even if they have never tried half of the menu. We want familiarity. We want tried and true meals that we can count on. The solution most people come up with at home is to eat the same meals every day. However, this doesn’t provide much nutritional or culinary variety.
I found a different solution. Rather than counting on familiar foods, I lean into familiar patterns.
I don’t follow recipes. I follow patterns.
For most of history, and even for many people in the world today, people didn’t have the luxury of choosing meals that involved ingredients that weren’t in their homes. They had to find ways to cook with what they already had available.
When we think back to what they used to eat “in the olden days”, we often think about porridge, soups, stews, grains/bread, and roasts. However, they almost never had the exact same meal twice! They relied on the patterns for how to make a soup, porridge, or roast and adapted it based on what was available that season, what crops did better than others that year, etc. That is exactly the principle I am applying here.
I looked at nearly a hundred versions of each of my favorite recipes, found the patterns, and put them in what I call “recipe templates.”
Each template has 8 core elements.
Protein, grain, produce, sauce, herbs, spice, acid, and crunch are what make a meal delicious, while still feeling well-rounded and filling.
The foundation of a Meal
These first four elements are the foundation of a meal. They are what provide the nutritional base to make sure that you have a balanced, filling meal.
Though the general recommendation tends to be half a plate of produce, a quarter protein, a quarter grains, and about 6 Tbsp of fats from cooking, I don’t suggest specifically following that. You have an amazing, wise body that know more about your specific needs than any researcher ever will, so try tapping into that! Maybe your body prefers protein in the morning and produce cooked in fats in the evening. Maybe your body feels weighed down easily in the mornings, so it operates best with just a fruit and then it wants saucy, high-protein lunches.
Satiety
Protein
These foods get a bad rap for being difficult, but they help keep you full and build and maintain muscle. Whether it is meat, beans, lentils, tofu, or a high protein grain like oats or spelt, these foods turn off the “I’m hungry” signal in your brain so you can forget about food between meals. There tends to be four categories of proteins: meat, legumes, eggs, and dairy. Some can be cooked in a slow cooker in the morning for a hands-off dinner that night, in a pressure cooker when you get home if you prefer to cook in the evening, or simmered in a pot that afternoon if you know dinnertime will be crazy. There are options for every type of home!
fiber
Grain
Whole grains are an important part of your diet because they tend to be high in fiber and nutrients that add bulk to your meal and take longer to digest, meaning you will feel full for longer. Grains have a bad reputation in the United States as being one of the biggest culprits of weight gain, but that is because of the common, highly-refined flours that have most of the nutrients and fiber removed from it. Even the “whole wheat” flour in stores only has a tiny amount of the actual whole grain added back into it. Bread made from fresh-milled wheat is actually one of the most nutritionally comprehensive foods you can eat! I’m not saying you need to go out and spend half a grand on a flour mill right now, but I hope you have an open mind about the benefits of grains. Rice, popcorn, bread, and pasta are all common grains in the American diet, but there’s also a very wide variety that many people never explore. We often have bulgur, tarro, or quinoa instead of rice. Millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and oats can also be cooked whole or used as flours. Corn makes delicious, homemade tortillas. Amaranth can be popped like popcorn. Barley can replace noodles in soup. Millet can be eaten like oatmeal. The list goes on!
Micronutrients
Produce
Produce usually refers to fruits and vegetables, and they do a great job of bulking up a meal’s volume with low-calorie fiber. Especially when bought in season, they are a flavor-packed way to get in a variety of quality micronutrients that work together in ways science is just starting to understand. You can use produce that is raw or cooked, fresh or old. In fact, older produce that is wrinkled and has just lost its fresh crunch will often cut down cooking times, so you are done even faster! Frozen and canned produce are also easy to store and great for quick meals.
Flavorful fats
Sauce
Many meals start with a protein, grain, or produce item that gets most of its flavor from a sauce: BBQ sauce on chicken, Caesar dressing on lettuce, marinara on pasta, etc. Most sauces include two core foods that amplify flavors: acids and fats, both of which are often liquid. Homemade sauces are often a great source of healthy fats that a smooth richness to our meal (butter, cheese, avocado, oils, coconut products, egg yolk, nuts, etc). They also make a meal more filling and balanced while helping our joints, skin, and muscles stay soft. If you have a couple of delicious sauces that you can count on, then you will almost always have a delicious meal in your house!
The enhancers
These next four elements are what take a meal from “fine” to “wow!”
Acid
If something feels “off” with the flavor of your meal, it is probably the balance of fats and acid. While many processed foods are uncomfortably acidic, naturally acidic foods tend to fall into two categories: citrus and ferments. No, ferments doesn’t just mean sauerkraut and pickles! There are many types of fermented foods including vinegars, wine, yogurt, cheese, cured meats, chocolate, and worcestershire sauce. They have the amazing gift of being able to balance both bitter and sweet foods while brightening the flavors, tenderizing tough fibers of meat and produce, and helping your body digest proteins. They make flavors pop while brightening the whole dish.
Crunch
There is a reason that crunchy things like cereal and chips are so popular! They are exciting for so many of your senses. Crunch is noisy and pulls your attention to your food with sound. It also adds contrast to soft foods to make them feel creamy instead of mushy. From a biological standpoint, our bodies like crunchy things because it is a sign of freshness and higher nutrients. Adding something crunchy to any dish will almost always elevate it. You can do this by adding crackers to a soup, tossing nuts on a salad, adding crunchy peppers to a soft taco, or broiling that baked potato to get a crispy skin.
Herbs
Herbs are flavor-packed leaves of plants. One of the nice things about herbs is that they can add a lot of flavor to a dish without adding as many calories as most sauces. Dried herbs usually work well, but fresh herbs can also often bring an element of lightness to a dish for those days you are feeling heavy or sluggish.
Spice
Spice can be defined as more of a sharp sensation than a specific flavor. While most people think of spicy peppers, we also get this sensation from ginger, fresh garlic, cumin, horseradish, and whole grain mustard. Spicy foods add dimension to whatever flavors you are using, while creating a sense of “heat” or “kick” that triggers a mild defense response in our bodies, slightly boosting our adrenaline and energy levels while delivering great micronutrients.
A recipe template shows you how to use each of these elements instead of specific ingredients. To help your meals stay well-rounded, each template will discuss ways to incorporate these elements of a meal instead of specific ingredients, and the instructions will provide you with the structure you need to make the dish. If you don’t have one of the elements, that is totally fine! Just use what you have.
Shhh…
Here is your cheat to the system!
To simplify things, the enhancers can be overlapped with your foundation:
- High-protein yogurt is naturally acidic
- Roasted vegetables have a delicious crunch
- Whole grains, such as bulgur or rice, can be quickly elevated with tender herbs and a squeeze of acidic citrus
- Salsa is a sauce that is usually made with fresh herbs, spice, and acid
The simplest category to overlap will be sauce. Many sauces have a fat (olive oil or cream), acid (citrus, vinegar, or wine), spice (at least black pepper), and some type of fresh or dried herbs.
