A diet with the right balance of nutrients is one of the main conditions for good health. What should be considered when creating a daily menu? Why is it worth remembering to balance your diet?
Despite fairly large-scale social campaigns about the importance of a balanced diet for human health, there are still an alarming number of people who do not pay much attention to the products they eat every day. The mistakes committed with a stubborn maniac are so blatant, that an increasing number of nutritionists are sounding the alarm. A dozen or so years more, and the problems that the West is currently struggling with will reach Poland. You don’t have to look far to find examples – in elementary school there are now many more obese children than a dozen or so years ago.
We often forget that a balanced diet is not just a trend, but an important part of our lives, which allows us to reduce the risk of diseases classified as civilization diseases. These include, among others:
– diabetes,
– obesity,
– atherosclerosis,
– stroke,
– heart attack,
– cancer,
– depression.
A well balanced diet means not only better physical health, but also a better mood. Providing the body with a set of essential nutrients, you can also count on greater concentration during everyday study or work. These are just a handful of the many benefits that a change in eating habits can bring. There is one catch – in order for the benefits to stay with us for longer, the change in eating habits must be permanent.
This question usually comes up as the first association with dieting. It should be explained here that a diet is nothing more than a specific way of eating. Only a reduction diet, limiting the daily intake of calories can be helpful in losing weight. Rational nutrition should be a hallmark of anyone who cares about their own and their loved ones’ health. Despite appearances, reaching for healthy dishes does not have to go hand in hand with draining the household budget. Especially in summer, when there are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables around.
Balancing a daily diet in such a way that it contains all the necessary nutrients and minerals is extremely difficult. Although there are tools available to make the whole thing easier (some of them are completely free), sometimes their effectiveness leaves a lot to be desired. If you do not have the appropriate knowledge, then instead of trying to arrange a diet plan on your own, go to a nutritionist. The specialist will conduct an interview with you, on the basis of which he will determine the needs of your body for specific nutrients.
You are wrong if you think that creating a balanced diet is a piece of cake. The matter is so complicated that it is impossible to present a universal nutritional plan that will work for all people. A huge role is played by individual factors such as age, height, weight, metabolism, type of work or additional physical activity. When creating a balanced diet, a number of variables must be taken into account in order to include all the necessary macronutrients and micronutrients.
Specialists, wanting to help define at least a general framework for healthy eating, created a special pyramid, which in a relatively simple way illustrates what products should be the basis of a person’s daily diet. The lower the bar of the pyramid, the more given products should be taken into account when composing meals. Particular attention should be paid to whole grain products, vegetable oils (it is better to limit animal fats to a minimum), fresh vegetables and fruits (seasonal plants play the first fiddle), fish and poultry, nuts and legumes, milk and its derivatives. Red meat and potatoes, white rice and sweets should be consumed in moderation. In addition, the absolute minimum is three meals a day – but ideally you should have enough time to eat five full meals every day.
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