A Balanced Diet For A Healthy Life

A balanced diet must adapt to our particular needs and supply all possible deficiencies. We must consider it as one more element of our life, not something fleeting.

Maintaining a balanced diet is difficult at times. Therefore, we have to take into account certain factors: our lifestyle, those nutrients that we need more than others … In this way we will be able to propose a menu according to the needs of the body, allowing it to perform its functions efficiently.

Consider a person who is deficient in vitamin B6. This person would have to include more protein in their diet to be balanced. The same happens if we are professional athletes. The balanced diet will differ from many others. For this reason, it is essential that nutrition is as individualized as possible.

The 4 pillars of a balanced diet

Once we have analyzed what it is that we must urgently incorporate into the diet, it is time to be aware of what a balanced diet consists of. Many people confuse the term with dieting, that is, eating less food.

However, a balanced diet is a way to eat in a healthy way , according to our needs. Thus, we must discard the idea that we are dieting strictly or suppressing certain food groups.

To shed light on this, let’s see what 4 pillars make up a balanced diet:

1. Diverse

This is the first pillar of any balanced diet and it must be varied. What does this mean? Which should include the greatest variety of nutrients. In this way, deficits that may condition the appearance of pathologies are avoided. For example, guaranteeing the contribution of phytonutrients present in vegetables is capable of delaying aging, as recent research affirms.

Sometimes there are people who do not like fruit and do not include it in their diet. This fact already shows that their diet is not diverse, there is a part of which is limping. What should be done in such cases? Try different fruits. There is a wide variety and we sure have not tried them all. Perhaps we will find a fruit that we do like and do not know. Generalizing is wrong. We have to try.

2. Enough

Another of the pillars of a balanced diet is that it has to be sufficient at all levels. It must satisfy nutritional needs, but it must also satisfy ourselves. What does this mean? That we can’t stay hungry.

• Maintaining a balanced diet does not mean leaving us hungry, because this will cause us to snack on anything unhealthy.
• In addition, as we have said, it must supply those deficiencies or needs that we have. An athlete will have to eat more or a person with a lack of iron should include more foods with this nutrient.

3. Adapted

The balanced diet that we want to carry out must be adapted to us. For example, it is recommended to eat 5 meals a day. But what if because of our work we can’t do 5 o’clock? Nothing happens. We simply have to adapt it, without being overwhelmed, to our way of life.

In the same way, it also depends on the stage of life in which we find ourselves, the diet will be in one way or another. For example, an older person will have different nutritional needs than someone younger.

It is essential not to be strict when planning a diet. Intermittent fasting protocols are flexible and have been shown to be effective in promoting health and weight loss.

4. Provided

This last pillar refers to the food pyramid that we will need to keep in mind. Because we want to start a balanced diet, does this mean that I will not be able to eat cake on a birthday?

No, it is not about this. In the balanced diet everything is included unless we have an intolerance (lactose, for example) and have to look for other types of food.

With all this, we have to give each food its importance. There are some that we must consume every day, others only a few days a week, some on a monthly basis and very occasionally those that many people consider prohibited foods.

It is necessary, at a general level, to restrict the consumption of ultra-processed products. These types of products are at the top of the pyramid and are not usually recommended for anyone. In fact, a study published in the journal BMJ associated the intake of these foods with an increased cardiovascular risk.

A proper diet lasts over time

When we talk about a balanced diet that meets these 4 basic pillars, it is normal for it to last over time. That is to say, it will not be a step diet like those to lose weight, but it will become our way of life.

By giving our bodies what it needs we will not fall into old patterns of unbalanced and unhealthy diets. Therefore, we have to analyze very well what we need and adapt that diet to us.

Asking a nutritionist for help can help us put all of this in order. Well, it may be a bit tedious for us to reflect and investigate what foods we need, which ones will be enough, how to adapt our diet to our lifestyle …

Do you already have a balanced diet or are you still in the process of achieving it?