What is a balanced diet?
A balanced diet is all about having the right proportions of food in order to provide your body with the right nutrients. Absence of balanced nutrition can lead to detrimental effects on your body such as fatigue, infection and diseases.
People often create bad habits from childhood that can continue as an adult. There can be serious consequences for poor diet such as obesity, high blood pressure and increase chance of type 2 diabetes. A balanced diet can lead to greater health and wellbeing as stated in Health and wellbeing definitions and their differences.
Calorie intake
calorie in take can vary on many factors. For instance, gender, age and energy expenditure.
The current recommendations:
– Men should consume 2500 calories a day
– Woman should consume 2000 calories a day
However, this is a general figure so it’s not accurate for every individual. For example, the calories will be completely different for a sedentary person compared to an active person.
To get a more accurate number you can use a calorie calculator. This is a more accurate measure as it takes into account height, weight, age and energy expenditure. Calorie calculator – .
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the main source of fuel and is stored as glycogen in the muscle and liver. When carbohydrates is not needed glucose is converted to glycogen via glycogenesis. Carbohydrates are vital for energy and predominantly used during moderate to high intensity exercise. These are vital if you are focused on endurance exercises as this will help maintain performance.
People should have roughly 60% of carbohydrates in their total daily calories.
High quality carbohydrates:
– Potato’s
– Pasta
– Rice
– Bread
– Fruits
Proteins:
Proteins are like building blocks for the body. They are made up of amino acids and essential for growth and repair of muscles and organs. They are essential for life and helps us adapt to movements and build strength.
The recommended amount of protein is 15% of total daily calories.
Good quality Proteins:
– Meats such as fish, beef and chicken
– Eggs
– Chickpeas
– Milk
– Nuts
Fats:
Fats have a lot of roles in the body like nutrient absorption and hormone balance and many more. Furthermore, it has a role in exercise due to the ability to store energy in the body.
Carbohydrates and fats are used together for low intensity exercise and for basic living. The recommended amount of fats is 25% of your daily calories.
There are two types of fats:
– Saturated fats that are hard for the body to remove and can increase the risk of high LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
– Unsaturated fats are good for the body as can be utilised and have positive impacts on health. These are called Low density lipoproteins.
Therefore, we need to aim to reduce the amount of saturated fat as much as possible and have high quality LDL cholesterol.
High saturated foods (avoid)
– Biscuits
– cakes
– fatty meats
– pastries
– chocolate
Healthy fats:
– Avocado
– Nuts
– Olive oil
– Meat
Vitamins and minerals to be continued…
In summary:
Average men should consume 2500 calories and woman should have 2000 calories a day. This isn’t individualised so you can work it out using a calorie calculator. Carbohydrates are essential for energy and should make up 60% of daily calories. Proteins are vital for growth and repair and should take up 15% of daily calories. Fats have several functions in the body and can provide energy alongside carbohydrates. Fats should make up 25% of total daily calories.