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The balanced diet or nutrition system is one of the few that does not require significant effort and restrictions. The main principle is to create a clear schedule for breakfast, lunch, dinner. Also to consume exclusively energetically valuable and nutritious foods.
The concept of “energy value of food” refers to healthy calories (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and other important enzymes). After being absorbed, they give the body the necessary energy for normal functioning. A balanced nutritional system improves overall health and contributes to losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight.
When compiling a balanced diet menu, there are four main factors to consider:
Food for a balanced diet
The menu should include the most useful nutritious foods containing all the necessary substances for the whole body’s fruitful work. If there is a lack of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, or vitamins, this can lead to a rash, dry skin, brittleness, weakness and nails, malfunctioning of internal organs, etc. Therefore, you need to select foods carefully. Labels, boxes, and special tables of calorie content and energy value of various foods can directly tell about their nutritional value.
The essence of compiling a balanced menu lies in the quantity of food and its quality. The density of various nutrients should judge food in them. That is, How long benefit you can get from each calorie. That is why it is best to select foods with a high level of density for the diet. When getting rid of excess weight, it is worth enriching your menu with vegetables and fruits.
Most suitable foods
The most suitable foods for a balanced diet are various cereals, salads, vegetables, and fruits. Also, a good choice would be lean meat and fish, low-fat dairy products, nuts, beans. When eating food, you need to monitor the calorie content of products since some are ok in bigger quantities. While others, due to the high-calorie content, require less. But this does not mean that it is necessary to abandon, for example, chocolate completely. It just means that you should consume less healthy foods in moderation or limited quantities.
The daily intake of nutrients should generally be in the following ratio:
- proteins – about 15%
- fats – 20 – 25%
- carbohydrates – 60 – 65%
Beverages for a balanced diet
It is equally important for a balanced diet to consume a certain amount of liquid. Because it helps tone the skin, removes toxins from the body, and reduces heart disease risk. An adult should drink an average of 1.5-2 liters of plain water per day to avoid dehydration. When compiling a daily diet, it is worth remembering the tea, juice, or sweet water’s calorie content. With a balanced diet is advisable to drink about 1,7 liters of milk every week, but low-fat. It is preferable to consume milk saturated with calcium. To preserve the moisture balance, in addition to ordinary and mineral water use green tea, and various juices that do not contain sugar. But all these drinks you must take into account when calculating the total daily portion of calories.
Mealtime for a balanced diet
The effectiveness of a balanced diet also depends on the meal schedule. The main key to success is to accustom yourself to divide your diet into three main meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At the same time, it is necessary to paint the menu in a special way. So that the morning and afternoon meals contain more calories and the evening ones as few as possible. Since the human body works more actively during the day, the obtained substances can be successfully absorbed and consumed, and at night a person rests. Therefore all systems should also be kept calm. Thus providing the body with the opportunity to organize them without difficulties. It is best to have dinner not less than 3 hours before bedtime.
Physical exercise while a balanced diet
Calorie intake is directly related to physical activity (low, moderate, and high). A balanced diet is closely related to the body’s activity, so you need to consume valuable calories and spend more of them moderately.
Energy costs, as well as the energy value of a product, are measured in calories. It is necessary to start from the indicator of 1200 kcal since this is the minimum that is necessary for the basic costs of the body and maintaining a normal life. Therefore, the more a person moves, the more he calories.
Basic rules for a balanced diet
- It is worth consuming as many calories as the body can consume with a balanced diet per day with a balanced diet.
- It would be best if you ate well. In an approximate ratio of nutrients 1:1:4, the first two indicators are proteins and fats, and the last one is carbohydrates.
- It is worth constantly changing the diet components, diversifying it because, in this way, a shortage of different types of nutrients is avoided.
- When losing weight, it is worth monitoring weight fluctuations and consuming a minimum amount of calories. If the weight has returned to normal, then you can already afford to fully and variedly enjoy the benefits of a balanced diet.
- A balanced diet is based on three traditional meals, but small snacks are also allowed between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner. Light additional meals will not hurt but will contribute to weight loss if you do not go beyond the established daily calorie volume.
Additional rules
- Indigestible fiber significantly contributes to the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as purifies it. These fibers are found in cereals, legumes, vegetables, whole grains, and berries.
- Although fat is essential for the body, you should keep it to a minimum. Eating large amounts of fat every day can lead to atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. With a balanced diet, you should replace fried foods with baked or boiled foods.
- It is best to give up sugar to promote weight loss. Fruit can be a substitute for sweets, improving overall well-being, appearance, and overall health.
- Eating too much salt can lead to hypertension, as table salt is a source of sodium. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the amount of salt in the diet. It is also preferable to use iodized salt.
- Of course, in most cases, it is difficult for an adult to quit. But it is worth limiting their amount when consumed and not turning alcohol into a permanent daily diet component. In addition to the fact that alcohol is high in calories, it stimulates appetite receptors, which will lead to a violation of a balanced diet.
