Balanced Diet
January 7, 2011 by admin2
Filed under Healthy Diet Naturally
I. What is a balanced diet?
A balanced diet is required for one’s health for it entails one to have an adequate intake of vital nutrients needed by the body for its functions. The appropriate amount of nutrients from this diet comes solely from the variety of foods from the major food groups.
II. Why balanced diet?
Eating a balanced diet will help provide the body with the essential nutrients it needs. The body cannot produce all nutrients on its own. With these foods, the body will obtain its nutrient requirements. In addition, it will also promote one’s overall well being by keeping one in shape. More importantly, when a balanced diet meal is utilized in parallel with an everyday exercise, it helps one prevent risks of certain diseases like obesity, cardiovascular, diabetes type II, osteoporosis and even cancer.
III. Balanced Diet Chart
One should remember that maintaining a healthy body would entail one to have a balanced diet consisting of essential nutrients for the body. With this, one need a balanced diet chart to determine what type of foods can be a excellent candidate for one’s balanced diet menu.
The balanced diet chart shows different food groups in particular color, forming a pyramid. The orange color is for grains, the green is for vegetables, red is for fruits, yellow is oils, blue for dairy foods and meats and beans is represented by the color purple. The colors forming the pyramid also have varied width. The width determines the accurate proportion of a particular food group in a diet menu.
IV. Things to consider
The grains to be eaten for a balanced diet should be the whole grains instead of processed grains if possible. A variety of colored fruits and vegetables should also be taken every day. As the base of the diet, one should also consider having half of the plate with vegetables, a quarter of grains and the other quarter with lean proteins.
In addition, one should also avoid foods with Trans stout and animal stout. With this, one should choose foods prepared by grilling, broiling, steaming or poaching. Fried foods should also be minimally taken. Also, one should not focus only on one kind of food but the balanced diet should also be varied. More importantly, one should consult with a dietician in making one’s own diet plot.
V. What Now?
A balanced diet includes different nutrients needed by people regardless of age. But, nutrient requirements may vary depending on sex, weight and physical activity among others. More importantly, one should consult an expert to know what balanced diet menu fits one’s condition.
