The Harvard plate: a weekly menu with the TheBetterPlate method

The base: the Harvard plate

The model was created by nutrition experts at the Harvard School of Public Health. It answers the question “how much of what goes on the plate”: proportions matter here, not grams or calories.

Source: The Healthy Eating Plate, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

What TheBetterPlate adds

The Harvard plate tells you how much of what to put on it. TheBetterPlate also answers “what exactly”, so that your food works for longevity. The five layers of the method:

1. 1
   Vegetables and greens

   Half the plate — colour, fibre and polyphenols at every meal.

2. 2
   Quality protein

   Support for muscles, skin and hormones — especially after 35.

3. 3
   Slow carbohydrates

   Whole grains and legumes — steady energy without sugar spikes.

4. 4
   Healthy fats

   Olive oil, nuts and fish — nourishment for the brain and blood vessels.

5. 5
   Longevity foods

   The fifth layer is the signature one: foods with a proven effect on biological age.

Day 1 with the TheBetterPlate method

Four recipes from the TheBetterPlate menu, each for one serving. In this one day all nine groups of longevity foods reach your plate. The whole day is about 1,465 kcal.

Breakfast

Toast “Longevity by Anna”

1 serving · ~380 kcal · 15 min

• oily fish
• leafy greens
• cruciferous
• whole grains
• healthy fats
• herbs

Open the recipe

Ingredients

• Wholegrain sourdough bread — 35 g (1 slice)
• Sardines in oil, drained — 55 g (or lightly salted salmon 55 g)
• Egg — 1
• Avocado — 50 g
• Rocket and microgreens — 40 g
• Cherry tomatoes — 60 g
• Cucumber — 50 g
• Lemon, black pepper, chilli flakes, dill

Method

1. Boil the egg the way you like it: soft, medium or hard. Cool, peel and cut in half.
2. Toast the bread until crisp.
3. Mash the avocado with a fork, a drop of lemon juice and a pinch of salt, and spread it on the toast.
4. Top with the sardines and the egg.
5. Serve the rocket, microgreens, halved cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced cucumber alongside.
6. Drizzle with lemon, season with pepper, add a pinch of chilli and the herbs.

Sardines give you omega-3 and calcium from their soft bones. If their flavour is too strong for the morning, use lightly salted salmon instead; the plate stays the same.

Lunch

Turkey bowl with brown rice

1 serving · ~395 kcal · 20 min

• whole grains
• leafy greens
• fermented
• healthy fats

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Ingredients

• Turkey mince — 120 g
• Bell pepper — 80 g
• Carrot — 60 g
• Cooked brown rice — 100 g (or buckwheat)
• Lettuce leaves — 40 g
• Cherry tomatoes — 40 g
• Olive oil — 1 tsp
• Soy sauce — ½ tbsp
• Garlic — 1 clove, spring onion, fresh herbs

Method

1. Fry the turkey mince in the olive oil, stirring and breaking up the lumps, until cooked through.
2. Add the pepper, carrot and garlic and fry for 3–4 minutes; the vegetables should stay slightly crunchy.
3. Pour in the soy sauce, stir and heat for a minute.
4. Serve with the brown rice, with fresh lettuce leaves and halved cherry tomatoes alongside.
5. Sprinkle with spring onion and herbs.

Do not stir the mince all the time; let it form a crust so it stays juicy. Add the fresh leaves and cherry tomatoes separately: the plate needs a raw, crunchy part.

Dinner

Lentils with mushrooms and spinach

1 serving · ~470 kcal · 30 min

• legumes
• leafy greens
• healthy fats
• herbs

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Ingredients

• Cooked green lentils — 180 g
• Button mushrooms or wild mushrooms — 120 g
• Fresh spinach — 60 g
• Frozen shelled edamame — 60 g
• Tomatoes — 60 g
• Onion — 30 g
• Garlic — 3 g
• Pumpkin seeds — 12 g
• Olive oil — 6 g
• Thyme — 2 sprigs
• Lemon juice — 5 g
• Fresh herbs — 10 g, salt, pepper

Method

1. Cover the edamame with boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain.
2. Slice the mushrooms and put them in a hot dry pan. Fry until all the liquid has evaporated and they start to brown.
3. Add the oil, finely chopped onion and thyme, and fry for 3 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and chopped tomatoes and simmer for 3 minutes.
5. Add the lentils and edamame, heat for 3–4 minutes, and season with salt and pepper.
6. Stir in the spinach and take off the heat after 30 seconds. It should only wilt, not stew.
7. Put on a plate, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and herbs, and drizzle with lemon juice.

Start the mushrooms in a dry pan: with oil they stew in their own juice and stay pale. The spinach goes in last, for barely half a minute.

Snack

Cottage cheese with berries and pistachios

1 serving · ~220 kcal · 3 min

• berries
• fermented
• healthy fats

Open the recipe

Ingredients

• Cottage cheese 5% (quark) — 100 g
• Seasonal berries — 100 g
• Shelled unsalted pistachios — 10 g
• Mint or lemon zest — optional

Method

1. Wash and dry the berries.
2. Roughly chop the pistachios.
3. Put the cottage cheese in a bowl; if you like, stir in a spoonful of milk to make it creamy.
4. Top with the berries and pistachios and garnish with mint or zest.

No sweetener needed: ripe berries are sweet enough. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, redcurrants or blackcurrants all work, so use whatever is in the shops right now.

A menu for the week and beyond

You can download the files right after payment.

The main menu

TheBetterPlate menu · 2 weeks

56 recipes: 14 breakfasts, 14 lunches, 14 dinners and 14 snacks. The dishes are not tied to days, so you can put your own week together.

€35

See the menu

If you'd like to start with the base

The Harvard plate · 7 days

Seven days built on the classic plate rule: recipes for every meal and the plate rule in pictures.

€15

See the menu

The next step

If you want more than a ready-made menu and would like to understand how it works: