The importance of a balanced diet cannot be emphasized enough for a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle can be attained by maintaining a balanced diet and keeping into consideration to meet all the essential nutrients necessary by the body. An appropriate meal plan helps to attain ideal body weight and decrease the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes, and other types of cancer.
A balanced diet help your body function properly. The importance of diet lies in the intake of the right amount of calories. Your body gets the right nutrition when you eat a wide variety of food rich in calories such as fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and proteins.
Significance of a Balanced Diet
Eating a healthy diet is all about feeling great, having more energy, enhancing your health, and improving your mood. Good nutrition, healthy body weight, and physical activity are important parts of a person’s overall health and well-being.
Unless you maintain a proper diet for a healthy body, you may be susceptible to diseases, infection, or even tiredness. The significance of wholesome food for children particularly needs to be highlighted as otherwise they might end up being prone to several growth and developmental issues. Some of the most common health issues that arise from lack of a balanced diet are cancer, heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
Being physically active manages several health issues and betters mental health by decreasing stress, pain and depression. Regular exercise prevents stroke, metabolic syndrome, arthritis, high blood pressure, and anxiety.
Things that fall under balanced diet
A balanced diet comprises some particular healthy food groups under it:
- Fruits that comprise fresh or frozen fruits, whole fruits, but not canned fruits and vegetables that are dipped in syrup
- Vegetables such as starchy vegetables, leafy greens, red and orange vegetables, legumes like beans and peas, and other vegetables like eggplant
- Grains such as whole grains and refined grains. For example, quinoa, oats, brown rice, barley, and buckwheat
- Dairy products such as low-fat milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, and soy milk
- Protein such as lean meat like chicken and fish, beef and pork, peas, beans, and legumes
Benefits of a balanced diet
- Prevents infections and diseases. When you eat vitamins, minerals and other nutrients you enhance your immune system and your healthy diet can even help prevent diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.
- Helps you control your weight. Most people at some point want to gain or lose weight – eating a balanced diet helps you control your weight and maintain it over time. It is not viable to be on a weight-loss diet forever – a balanced diet is the only way to control your weight in the long term.
- Better skin and hair. A healthy balanced diet also betters your looks. Eating well contributes to healthy skin and hair and a glow that makes you look younger.
- Good for growth. A balanced diet is vital for adolescents and children. As the body grows it is essential to get the right nutrients so that cells are built and maintained and the body develops at the right pace.
- Betters your mental health. Getting the correct mix of nutrients can help to ease symptoms of depression and anxiety – looking after yourself by eating well is necessary as you take steps to maintain mental health.
The mission of Medriva is to deliver correct and up-to-date medical news to empower individuals with knowledge about their health and happiness. Award-winning, four-time successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, author, and motivational speaker, Gurbaksh Chahal is the Chair and CEO of ProcureNet, Medriva, and the Chahal Foundation.