You may be aware of the importance of consuming healthy, balanced meals, but people often struggle with how to create a balanced diet chart.
A balanced diet doesn’t necessarily contain a heap of leafy greens or eliminate sugar completely; it is actually the right mix of different kinds of foods that provide you macronutrients as well as micronutrients. To consume balanced meals, you don’t have to consume the same type of food every day. Rather, have a variety of foods regularly so that you get the necessary nutrients over time. To get this mix of nutrients correct, many people consider taking nutritional supplements; for example, if you can’t get enough protein through your diet, you may consider taking Prohance protein powder.
Here, you can learn about the different components that make up a healthy diet and how to eat balanced meals regularly, among other things.
It becomes easier to understand, plan, and prepare a suitable diet chart for healthy body when you know about the basic components of nutrients in a balanced meal. Nutrients are divided into 2 major categories based on the amount required by your body on average—macronutrients (required in large amounts daily) & micronutrients (required in small amounts).
Macronutrients:
1. Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. Typically, a balanced diet will have 50-60% of carbohydrates, as this is an essential energy provider for your body. Carbohydrates are also further divided into subcategories—complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates. They both provide different benefits. For example, simple carbohydrates are digested quickly and can provide quick energy, but they are also liable to spike your blood sugar levels. However, complex carbohydrates are digested slowly and release sustained energy gradually, preventing a sudden glucose spike.
Here are a few recommendations for good sources of carbohydrates:
2. Proteins
Proteins are the building blocks of your body. Your body requires protein to build muscles, which enable you to move around among other things, and develop skin & hair, among other things. Ideally, 10-12% of your diet should be filled with different sources of proteins.
Good sources of protein for a balanced diet chart include the following:
3. Fats
Fats are essential in maintaining the optimum temperature of your body and absorbing different vitamins. Fats have become infamous in the past couple of decades, but fats aren’t essentially bad for you. However, there are some ‘good’ fats that you ought to include in your diet in adequate quantity and some ‘bad’ fats that you ought to avoid to ensure optimum health. Consuming unsaturated fats can be beneficial for your health, whereas saturated fats can cause inflammation in the body.
Listed below are some excellent sources of healthy fat:
4. Fibre
Fibre plays a key role in the digestion process in addition to helping with blood sugar management and lowering cholesterol levels.
Good sources of fibre are listed below:
Micronutrients:
5. Vitamins
Your healthy diet chart requires 13 essential vitamins in order to function properly. Vitamins are organic compounds that are required by the body in small amounts.
You can get your vitamins from the following:
6. Minerals
Minerals, such as iron, manganese, potassium, and zinc, are inorganic compounds that are required by the body in small amounts for optimum functioning.
Here are some good sources of minerals:
In addition to consuming a balanced diet full of adequate amounts of macronutrients and micronutrients, you also need to drink plenty of water. Usually, it is recommended that you drink about 8 glasses of water, but that may not be ideal for everyone. You can figure out your water requirements by observing your body; if you notice signs of dehydration like dry skin and chapped lips, you can increase your water consumption.
Following a balanced diet is a continuous exercise and the diet would be different for different people depending upon their lifestyle and demographics. Hence using a nutrition calculator along with balanced diet practices is important as it can help you track your calorie consumption and let you know whether your particular balanced diet is working for you.
A balanced diet can be achieved by consuming a wide variety of food items, as you get different nutrients from different foods. Here is a breakdown of a balanced meal (vegetarian) suggested by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN):
Foods to avoid from balanced meals
Avoid or limit the consumption of the following foods to make conscious, healthy food choices for yourself:
*Highly processed foods are food items that have gone through many processes to make it to your plate and have been significantly changed from their natural state during the process.
Benefits of a balanced, healthy diet chart
You can enjoy the following benefits if you make a healthy eating diet plan for yourself:
Balanced daily meal plans for children can also help with proper brain development and other organs’ growth. Balanced meals are also essential for supporting healthy pregnancies.
In order to get the essential nutrients for your body’s optimum functioning and growth, you need to consume a balanced diet. Usually, various fresh fruits and vegetables are a part of a healthy diet food plan, whereas the consumption of processed foods is limited. You can get in touch with a dietician or your doctor to chart out a suitable balanced diet plan that helps you get the essential nutrients and is to your liking. If you want help creating a balanced diet chart for yourself, consider contacting us. Prohance offers diet consultation for patients to help them recover; if you find yourself struggling to get enough nutrients from your diet after a surgery or an illness, for example, you may want to consider getting a high protein powder for yourself.
