The Crucial Elements of a Balanced Diet (And Why this is Important)

Leading a healthy lifestyle isn’t as easy as it may seem, there are a lot of factors that go into it – some are minor, some are of extreme importance. Sleeping enough, being hydrated, and eating regularly do play a big part, but what we often forget is the quality of the food that we consume.

Most, but not all people know the difference between healthy and junk food, but both can be harmful to the body if taken to the extreme – so that’s where a healthy balanced diet comes in.

What is a Balanced Diet?

A balanced diet means that your meal consists of all food groups – in other words, you consume all the necessary proteins, vitamins, and nutrients that make your body healthy. A well-balanced meal will consist of fruits, vegetables, grains, and your chosen source of protein.

This means you can forget about eating a salad and patting yourself on the back for being healthy – you are doing more damage that way. A mean, depending on the age and size of the person who is eating it, should be around 2000 calories.

So to achieve the healthiest diet possible, your meals need to hit every single food group (obviously if you have a specific diet or a condition, you’ll consult your doctor about it and work around the matter – there are ways to replace a lot of food with other food, so don’t worry, you still have options!)

Special Diets

Are you on a special diet? Many people engage in special diets, like keto, paleo, vegan, and Mediterranean, each claiming health benefits. But consulting a dietician or doctor is important before considering any special diet to determine if your health suits it. 

If you’re on a Mediterranean diet, then you’re practicing one of the world’s healthiest eating plans based on the traditional diets of those who live around the Mediterranean Sea. But it’s not purely plant-based. Instead, it’s more of a unique version of a balanced diet with some special food considerations.

The Mediterranean diet is considered an excellent diet for people with diabetes and heart problems because it’s a plant-based and easy-to-follow diet. This includes vegetables, fruits, meats, whole grains, seeds, nuts, fish, and healthy fats. Moreover, you can eat dairy products, eggs, and chicken in moderate quantities. You can also consume sweets, white flour, and processed or packaged foods, like Mediterranean diet snacks.  

When considering a vegan or a vegetarian diet, eating only plants is not as healthy as you’d think. So having a balanced diet might even be more important when being plant-based. But adding grains to the mix just isn’t enough, since you still need a source of protein, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t eat meat!

Experts say that there are other options that can replace the usual consumption of protein, their advice might just be a resolution to your problem. Not enough protein intake can affect the body poorly, especially if you do a lot of physical activities, you’ll burn more calories than your intake – it’s important to hit the calorie count and do it the healthy balanced way!

How to Start

So you’ve finally decided to give this a shot, it’s not an easy thing to do, in some ways you are changing your lifestyle completely! The best way to start is by getting rid of bad food from your diet.

This will leave room for putting far healthier options you probably didn’t even consider. Slowly change your diet, start replacing the bad with the good, and don’t push yourself – this does take time but you’ll get used to it and you’ll love it once you realize the benefits of those actions!

You can write a food diary in a notebook or use a mobile app to track your food and health. That way, you can easily sort the bad from the good foods. Furthermore, research and update your grocery or supermarket list and choose healthier alternatives. This tactic can help you develop healthier shopping and eating habits.

Easy Recipes

Changing your diet will affect your eating habits and daily cooking routine – like a lot. So don’t stress if you don’t know how or where to start, it’s hard to let go of old habits. This might even be the reason you never considered changing your diet, it takes both time and patience, you can’t just buy a frozen meal, put it in the oven, and bang – dinner is on the table!

Try looking at these easy recipes to help you plan your meals! Health should be your priority above else, so try to incorporate these tips and tricks when cooking a meal next time! Some of the recipes could surprise you how cheap and quick they can be!

Track What you Eat

The best way to make sure that you are eating everything that’s necessary, the best option would be to track the food. You can do it simply by downloading an app on your phone that has listed all of the important foods and their nutritional value.

This way you don’t need to remember everything since let’s be real everyone forgets stuff sometimes. This way you’ll avoid that possibility and also you’ll have a track record of what foods you eat more than others and what you need to incorporate more of.

Things to Consider

The quality of the food you consume should be a high priority in your life, this could even prevent or lessen some illnesses and conditions. By eating properly, you are essentially ensuring your wellbeing. Sure, some foods are hard to let go of, especially comfort food, but health stands tall above all else!

Eating bad, too much, or not enough is harmful and should be replaced with a nicely balanced diet plan. Remember to start small today and change your life forever – the future of your health is in your hands!