A balanced diet is the one that provides your body with all the important nutrients, proteins, minerals and viramins that is essential for your body to remain healthy and function properly. If your diet is not balanced then your body will not get proper nutrients and you will face many health issues like feeling weakness to major problem like heart disease.
What is a balanced diet?
As we have stated before, A balanced diet will provide all the necessary nutrient for your body so that it can function properly. A balanced diet consists of correct amount of calories which will keep you in a healthy weight and it does not have many processed foods.
Remember that diet may vary person to person depending on their current age, activity, weight and height. But if you eat a balanced diet, It will automatically take care of all the necessary nutrients your body needs and avoids unnecessary things such as saturated fats, sugary foods etc. It contains foods from all main food groups in a balanced manner which will help you in maintaining a healthy body.
How to follow Healthy Balanced Diet Plan?
For following a balanced diet plan, you should eat at least three meals every day and also don’t ever skip your breakfast. Morning is the time when our body has not taken any food for longest time. So its important that we eat some healthy foods in our breakfast and give our body the energy that it needs.
The balanced diet should have many varieties of food from each food group and their quantity should be balanced according to your daily calorie intake. It is also advisable to limit your alcohol intake and we recommend that women should take more than one standard size drink per day, and for men they should not take more than two. Also atleast two days per week should be alcohol free day.
A balanced diet should have a low saturated fats and trans fats, low in cholesterol, less sugar, sodium and very less alcohol. You should also measure the calorie in the food and eat only according to your BMR.
How to Eat a Healthy Balanced Diet
Your diet if consist of below foods, will help you in making your diet balanced.
1. Dairy Products
Try to include Dairy products such as yogurt, milk and cheese in your balanced diet. Many Dairy products contains high amount of saturated fats and so you should go for the ones which have low fat, so that your intake of calories is less. Dairy products are rich in calcium and helps you in making your bone stronger. They are also full of useful vitamins such as Vitamin D and is a valuable source of Protein. If you don’t like Dairy products, then you can also go for alternative products such as soy or nut based milk products.
It is advisable that you take 3 cups of low fat dairy products each day.
2. Foods that Contain Protein
These food groups includes fish, lentils, peas and beans, nuts, eggs, soy beans, lean meat etc. Animal Meat Chicken consists of iron, while plant based protein are rich in fibre and Eggs contain many good vitamins and minerals.
Fishes are also good as they are good resource for omega 3 fatty acids. Fishes like salmon are very healthy food. You should not use much oil or fat when cooking these products. Use low fat methods such as steaming, deep frying, grilling etc to reduce the fat content.
Also it is advisable that you should avoid the processed meat items such as pizza, sausages etc as usually they contain very high amount of saturated fat and sodium content.
As per US Dietary guideline, It is recommended that you should take 5 to 6 ounces of protein per day. It may vary based on your age , weight and sex.
3. Fruits
Fruits are healthy and tasty. Normally all fruits contains almost no fat and they are rich in fibre and contains good amount of nutrients. It also provides you with vitamins and minerals. You can also take fruit juices, but try to avoid the one in which sugar is added. Dry fruit and fruit juices contain high amount of calories, so you should drink them in controlled manner. There are many health drinks also which you can drink. It is advisable that you take 1 cup fo juice or 1 fruits or 1/2 dry foods every day for a balanced diet.
4. Vegetables
Vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals and have a very low calorie. Thats why many people prefer eats a vegetarian diet. When preparing any dish from vegetable, try to use low fat cooking methods, such as air frying and grilling etc. If you hate vegetable too much then try to include it in fine chopped manner or mix it with sauce lasagnes etc and you will be fine. As per US Dietary guidelines, it is recommended that you take 5 serve of vegetables every day.
5. Grains
Grains is a good source for carbs in a balanced diet. You can eat bread , pasta, cereals or brown rice. Its advised that you prefer the whole grain variety since they are rich in fibre and has more vitamin B. It also is full of omega 3 fat, calcium and iron. Avoid the one which has added sugar in it.
6. Good Fats and Oils
See all fats are not bad. It is in fact a very important diet by which our body can function well. You should avoid the saturated and trans fats. You should prefer plant based fats such as olive, canola or sunflower oil. Fish and avocado are also a good source for unsaturated fats.
7. Treat yourself after sometime with the food you like
Normally the foods included in balanced diet are not considered tasty by many people. So you can treat yourself once a week with your favorite food. But remember to make sure it is less than 15 calorie and intake is small. As long as it keeps you satisfied in small amount, you can take it.
Learn to read nutrients labels and calculate your calorie. You can also learn more about how to diet in this website.