One easy guideline for any meal is to think about dividing your plate in half. One half of the plate should be filled with vegetables and fruits. One quarter should be proteins (e.g., fish, beans/legumes, lean meat, poultry, tofu, tempeh, eggs, etc.), and the other quarter filled with complex carbohydrates (e.g., brown rice, baked potato, whole grain breads or cereals, pasta, etc.).
In addition, you should include a low-fat dairy product (yogurt, low fat cheese, milk or calcium-fortified soy milk) about 3 times a day. Your diet also needs to have sources of healthy fats or oils 2-3 times a day. Examples of this would be peanut butter, fatty fish such as salmon or tuna, avocado, olives and olive oil.
Try to select foods that represent at least 3 different food groups at each meal, and to vary those foods from day to day. This can increase the quality of your diet, without having to closely track individual nutrients, which can sometimes lead to an unhealthy relationship with eating and food.
Aim for as much variety as you can in your meals and snacks, as this will help ensure that you are getting a wide range of nutrients. A single food, no matter how nutritious, cannot provide the entire spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that your body needs on a regular basis. The wide variety of choices offered by BDS gives many ways to put together meals and snacks that have the nutrients and energy you need.