Even Meat And Chocolate Can Fit In A Balanced Diet

Are you ready to eat some bad food? You know, the kind that tastes really good but makes you fat, clogs your arteries or raises your blood sugar?

Actually, there is no one food capable of creating physiological havoc all by itself. As the American Dietetic Association often points out, there are no good foods and no bad foods. There are only good and bad diets.

Of course, there are some foods we need to be really careful with, like eggs, fatty meats and chocolate. But all those favorites can fit, even on weight-control diets or eating plans designed to manage heart disease or diabetes.

Take eggs, for instance. Although they are an inexpensive source of the highest quality protein, they are high in cholesterol. For a small percentage of people, they will slightly raise blood cholesterol levels if eaten to excess. But the American Heart Association says that even on a cholesterol-lowering diet, you can eat four real eggs, including the yolks, each week.

So why not relax and enjoy them? After a breakfast week of whole-grain cereal, fruit and skim milk, try a Saturday or Sunday serving of two poached or soft-boiled eggs, two slices of whole-grain toast with jam and a grapefruit half for a change of pace.

The great shift toward less fatty beef and more chicken is a heart-healthy move. But a little beef now and then can easily fit in a well-balanced diet, particularly lower-fat loin and round cuts. Even the Asian and Mediterranean pyramids concede that beef once a month works just fine. So on your beefy splurge night, enjoy the real thing.

Here’s a well-balanced, one-day diet that derives less than 20 percent of calories from fat, yet includes a generous serving of beef. The diet is based on 1,600 calories and 35 grams of fat for women, and 2,200 calories and 50 fat grams for men; serving amounts are listed for women, with men’s servings following in parentheses where different.

For a sweet treat, keep breakfast and lunch the same but have the chocolate-lover’s dinner instead.

Breakfast

1 cup (1-1/2 cups) Frosted Mini Wheats (or other fat-free cereal)

1 cup skim milk

1 medium banana

Lunch

1 cup (2 cups) black bean soup

1 slice (2 slices) multigrain bread

1 cup nonfat yogurt (artificially sweetened)

1 tangerine

Dinner

6 ounces (8 ounces) broiled beef tenderloin

1 medium (1 large) baked potato

1 tablespoon (2 tablespoons) real sour cream

1 cup broccoli and cauliflower with herbs and fresh lemon

Salad (2 cups romaine lettuce, 1 chopped fresh tomato, chopped slice raw onion) tossed with 2 teaspoons olive oil and 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

5 ounces dry red wine

1 cup fresh strawberries

Chocolate lover’s dinner

3 ounces (6 ounces) turkey breast cutlet, broiled with honey Dijon barbecue sauce

1 cup (1-1/2 cups) steamed white or brown rice

1/2 cup (1 cup) unsweetened cinnamon applesauce

Salad as above

5 ounces dry white wine

3 Godiva or other rich chocolates