Good health is the most important asset a person can ever have. You can work towards achieving all the things you desire only if you’re healthy. A healthy lifestyle can be attained by maintaining a balanced diet. On the contrary, an unbalanced diet can damage your health.
We need a balanced diet in all food groups. The five food groups include dairy products, proteins, fruits, vegetables, and grains. Some people eliminate one or more food groups from their diet, thinking that doing so will help them lose weight. But that approach can deprive your body of the very nutrients it needs.
What Falls Under a Balanced Diet?
A balanced diet includes some specific healthy food groups under it:
Vegetables such as leafy greens, starchy vegetables, legumes like beans and peas, red and orange vegetables, and others like eggplant. Fruits that include whole fruits, fresh or frozen fruits but not canned ones dipped in syrup
Grains such as whole grains and refined grains. For example, quinoa, oats, brown rice, barley, and buckwheat
Protein such as lean beef and pork, chicken, fish, beans, peas, and legumes Dairy products such as low-fat milk, yoghurt, cottage cheese, and soy milk.
A balanced diet typically contains 50 to 60% carbohydrates, 12 to 20%protein, and 30%fat. All the organs and tissues need proper nutrition to work effectively by consuming the right amount of nutrients and calories to maintain an ideal weight.
Carbohydrates can give you energy. Proteins can help your body fight infection and also build and repair tissues. Certain fats—in the right amount—can lower your risk of heart disease and keep you feeling your best.
How can I stick to a balanced diet?
Think Ahead
It takes planning to eat healthier, and oftentimes healthy food has to be prepared at home. But it’s worth the effort in the long run, and it can also save you money. So, think of foods you can prepare for yourself and your family that are healthy with a combination of the classes of food you need to develop and stay healthy.
Replace Unhealthy Choices
Do not stay attached to junk food. When you discover food is not healthy, trash it. Replace them with what is best. Do not replace junk with junk. Replace them with healthy food. For example, instead of always eating processed food, why not try vegetable soup?
Have Reasonable Expectations
Having a balanced diet shouldn’t take the joy out of eating, nor does it require that you obsess about every morsel of food you take into your body. Even if you need to lose weight, remember that your goal is to be healthy. Be reasonable about what you expect of yourself. The overall health and well-being of a person are dependent on good nutrition, physical exercise, and healthy body weight.
Let me know in the comment section what you think.
