It is very essential to eat the right type and right amount of food to live a healthy life. A diet that emphasizes on providing all the nutrients our body needs to function smoothly and well like proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals is a well-balanced and healthy diet plan. As all these essential elements in our diet has different roles in proper maintenance of our body and growth.
The best diet plan has all these nutrients that are derived from a perfect combination of the five major food groups – fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy, pulses and cereals and fats and oils. Along with a proper combination of these five food groups other aspects that makes for the ideal balanced diet are the portion size, the best time to eat and daily needs.
With Diet Clinic, under the guidance of dietician Sheela Seharawat, let’s understand more about balanced diet and what we should really eat as a balanced diet. Also, you can get a customized diet plan for yourself on consultation.
- Fruits: enriched with natural sweetener, fruits are a great source of nutrition. You can also opt for low sugar fruits from citrus varieties to peaches with melons and avocados if you need less crab intake.
- Vegetables: the primary source of vitamins, green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli, green beans and kale have higher contents of vitamins.
- Proteins: a nutrient vital for proper brain and muscle development, some of highly regarded protein sources are lentils, beans, peas, soya, almond, walnuts and lean meats like poultry and fish.
- Grains: whole grain in particular like the oatmeal, brown rice and whole-wheat flour are more nutritious than refined grains wheat and is a must in a balanced diet plan.
- Fats and Oils: turn to healthy fats over unhealthy ones like fish and avocado over processed foods and good oils over the bad ones like olive oil instead of vegetable oil.
- Dairy: provides our body with essential nutrients, calcium and vitamin D. Although enriched with fat like cheese, butter and cream, chose low fats options like skimmed milk and yoghurt. Plant based alternatives to dairy are also great sources like the ones make from almonds and flaxseeds.