Dinner can account for up to half of your daily calories, and produce should take up two-thirds of your plate, with the remainder covered by lean protein and complex carbs. Try to start with a fresh salad. Eat slowly and enjoy—and pour yourself a glass of heart-healthy red wine. You earned it.

Meat Should Be Grilled
It's the best way to go. No oils or sauces needed. Just throw a slab down and season to taste. Broiling—grilling upside down—works just as well. Plan B: Sauté in stock or a light marinade.

Same Goes for Vegetables
Though sautéing in olive oil or roasting are acceptable options.

You Can Zap Your Way to Healthier Eating
Once or twice a week, cook a batch of healthy food that will freeze well—grilled chicken is perfect—and you're 90 microwave seconds away from great dinners for a few days.

Breakfast Works at Dinner
Egg-white omelets, cereal with fruit—breakfast will get the job done, any time of day.

Late Meals Hang Around
Large dinners before bedtime cause a nocturnal rise in insulin, which leads to fat storage. Nothing but a light snack within the three hours before lights-out.

Menus Aren't the Law
Consider one or two appetizers in place of a main course when eating out, or ask if the entrée comes in a lunch portion. Request that your order be grilled—even if it's not offered that way.

End on a High Note
The best way to start tomorrow off right is to finish today off wisely. Chef Chris Cosentino shows you how with two easy recipes.

1. Combine jalapeños, serranos, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor and pulse into a paste. Transfer to a bowl and add chile flakes, black pepper, pimenton de la vera dulce, bay leaves, thyme, orange zest, and orange juice. Mix well. Set aside.

2. Remove each hen's back by cutting along both sides of the backbone with kitchen shears. Lay birds flat in a deep, wide dish. Season with kosher salt. Massage with marinade from Step 1 and refrigerate two hours.

3. Preheat a grill or grill pan over high heat. (This ensures caramelization, which adds flavor and creates proper grill marks.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place hens on grill, breast down, and cook five minutes. Rotate one-quarter turn and cook five more minutes to achieve crosshatch grill marks. Flip hens over and repeat.

4. Place hens on a jelly-roll sheet and bake in oven for 15 minutes. They are done when thigh juices run clear. Set aside and let cool for ten minutes.

5. While birds are cooling, slice fennel very thin and combine with dandelion greens. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil; season with salt and pepper.

6. Serve the birds atop the salad, drizzled with olive oil.

Cannellini-and-Yellow-Wax-Bean Salad
SERVES FOUR
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
½ tbsp lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ lb yellow wax beans
2 cups canned cannellini beans
4 red radishes, quartered
½ red onion, sliced into thin rings
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1. In a small bowl, prepare vinaigrette by mixing olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

2. Blanch wax beans in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente (about two minutes). Drain the beans and "shock" them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again.

3. In a large bowl, combine the beans, radishes, and red onion. Toss with vinaigrette and sprinkle with basil. Season to taste.