A Balanced Diet | Health & Fitness

A nutritious diet is vital for preventing malnutrition in its manifestations and various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and disorders. However, dietary trends have shifted due to increased manufacturing of processed foods, rapid urbanization, and changing lifestyles. As a result, individuals eat more heavy foods in energy, fats, free sugars, and salt/sodium. Many people are not eating enough fruit, vegetables, and other dietary fibre like whole grains.

Individual attributes (e.g., age, gender, lifestyle, and level of physical activity), cultural background, locally accessible foods, and dietary practices will influence the composition of a diversified, balanced, and nutritious diet. The fundamental concepts of what defines a healthy diet, however, have not changed.

The following foods are part of a healthy diet:

• Fruit, vegetables, legumes for example, lentils and beans, nuts, and whole grains are all excellent sources of fibre (e.g., unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
• At least of 400 g (five pieces) of fruit and vegetables per day, eliminating potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, and other starchy roots
• Just under 10% of total energy intake from free sugars, which is 50 g or near 12 equal teaspoons for a healthy body weight eating roughly 2000 calories per day, but preferably less than 5% of total calories for added health advantages. Sugars added to diets or drinks by the producer, cook, or customer and sugars naturally found in fruit juices, honey, syrups, and fruit juice concentrates are all considered free sugars.
• Fats account for less than 30% of overall calorie intake. Saturated fats originate in butter, palm, fatty meat and coconut oil, cheese, ghee and lard, cream, and trans-fats of all varieties, counting both industrially-manufactured trans-fats originate in baked and deep-fried foods, and pre-packaged appetizers and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads, are preferable to unsaturated fats found in fish, avocado, and nuts, as well as sunflower. Saturated fat consumption must be kept to less than 10% of total energy intake, while trans-fat intake should be kept to less than 1% of total calorie intake. Industrially generated trans-fats, in particular, are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided.
• Not as much of than 5 g of salt per day about one teaspoon. Iodized salt should be used.

An ideal diet during a child's first two years of life indorses well growth and reasoning development. It also drops the probabilities of becoming weighty or obese future in life and getting NCDs. The strategies for a healthy diet for infants and children are alike to those for adults. However, there are a few differences:

• Through the first six months of life, infants should only be breastfed.
• Breastfeeding should be continued until the child reaches the age of two.
• Breast milk should be supplemented with a variety of appropriate, safe, and nutrient-dense meals starting at six months of age. Salt and sugar must not be added to foods that are meant to be eaten together.

Fruit and Vegetables

Consumption of at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables per day, or five pieces, lower the risk of NCDs and helps to guarantee adequate dietary fibre intake. Eating of fruits and vegetables can be increased by:

• Vegetables should always be included in meals.
• Snacking on fresh fruit and raw vegetables.
• Consuming fresh, in-season fruits and vegetables.
• Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Fats

In the adult population, limiting total fat consumption to less than 30% of total energy intake helps prevent harmful weight gain. Furthermore, the following factors reduce the likelihood of developing NCDs:

• Saturated fats should account for less than 10% of total energy consumption.
• Trans-fat consumption should be kept to less than 1% of total energy consumption.
• Saturated and Trans fats should be replaced with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fats.

Saturated Fat Intake, as well as Industrially Manufactured Trans-Fat Intake, can be Lowered by

• Instead of frying, cook by steaming or boiling.
• Oils high in polyunsaturated fats, for example, soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower, and sunflower oils, can replace butter, lard, and ghee.
• Consumption of low-fat dairy products and lean meats and the removal of visible fat from meat.
• Limiting the consumption of baked and fried meals and pre-packaged snacks and foods containing industrially-produced trans-fats (e.g., donuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits, and wafers).

Salt, Sodium and Potassium

Most individuals consume too much sodium in the form of salt, averaging 9–12 g per day, and not enough potassium, less than 3.5 g. Heavy blood pressure is caused by a diet high in sodium and low in potassium, which increases the hazard of heart illness and stroke. Reduced salt intake to less than 5 g per day, as advised, could avert 1.7 million deaths per year. Many individuals are unaware of how much salt they ingest. In many nations, most salt comes from processed foods or foods consumed in large quantities often (e.g. bread). Salt is also added to meals during the cooking process. Reduce your salt intake by:

• When cooking and preparing foods, use less salt and high-sodium condiments (soy sauce, fish sauce, and bouillon).
• Salt and high-sodium sauces are not available on the table.
• Consumption of salty foods should be limited.
• Choosing items that are low in sodium.

Some food producers are reformulating recipes to lower salt levels in their products. However, consumers should read nutrition labels to see how much sodium is in a product before buying or eating it. In addition, potassium can help to counteract the harmful effects of high salt intake on blood pressure. Potassium intake can be raised by eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sugars

Free sugar consumption should be kept to less than 10% of total energy intake in both adults and children. Additional health advantages would be gained by reducing total energy consumption to less than 5% of total energy intake. Free sugar consumption raises the risk of dental cavities (tooth decay). In addition, excess calories from high-free-sugar foods and beverages contribute to unhealthy weight gain, leading to overweight and obesity. Recent evidence also suggests that free sugars affect blood pressure and serum lipids and that lowering free sugar intake reduces cardiovascular disease risk factors. Sugar consumption can be decreased by:

• Restricting sugary snacks, candies, and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e. all kinds of drinks containing free sugars, such as carbonated or noncarbonated soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, liquid and powder concentrates, flavored water, energy and sports drinks, ready-to-drink tea, ready-to-drink coffee, and flavored milk drinks).
• Instead of sugary snacks, eat fresh fruit and raw veggies as a snack.

Individual eating patterns evolve, impacted by various social and economic factors that interact in a complicated way to shape them. For example, income, food prices, which will affect the availability and affordability of nutritious meals, human tastes and beliefs, cultural traditions, and geographical and environmental factors, such as climate change, are among these factors. As a result, making a healthy food environment, including food systems that encourage a diversified, balanced, and nutritious diet necessitates the participation of various sectors and stakeholders, including government and the public and private sectors.

Governments have a vital role in fostering a healthy food environment that encourages people to develop and maintain good eating habits. Policymakers can take the following steps to help establish a healthy food environment:

• Creating consistency in national policies and investment plans, such as trade, food, and agricultural policy, to promote a balanced diet and preserve public health by:
  • Enhancing producers' and retailers' incentives to raise, utilize, and sell fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Limiting the food industry's incentives to continue or increase processed foods high in saturated fats, Tran’s fats, free sugars, salt, or sodium.
  • Encourage food product reformulation to lower saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars, salt, and sodium content, to eliminate industrially manufactured trans-fats.
  • Following international, especially WHO's guidelines on food and non-alcoholic drink advertising to children.
  • Establishing guidelines to promote good eating habits by ensuring that healthy, nutritious, safe, and inexpensive foods are available in pre-schools, schools, other public institutions, and workplaces.
  • Examining regulatory and voluntary tools (such as marketing laws and nutrition labelling standards) as well as economic inducements and disincentives (such as taxes and subsidies) to encourage a healthy diet.
  • Encourage international, national, and local food services and catering outlets to enhance the nutritional quality of their foods by assuring the availability and affordability of healthy options, as well as re-examining portion sizes and pricing.
• Increasing customer demand for healthy foods and meals by using the following strategies:
  • Raising consumer awareness of the need of eating a healthy diet.
  • Creating school rules and programs that encourage pupils to eat a healthy diet and stick to it.
  • Nutrition and appropriate food behaviors are taught to children, adolescents, and adults.
  • Developing culinary talents in children, including through schools.
  • Providing point-of-sale information, such as nutrition labelling that ensures accurate, standardized, and understandable information on nutrient amounts in foods following Codex Alimentarius Commission rules, as well as front-of-pack labelling to aid consumers understanding.
  • At primary healthcare centers, providing nutrition and nutritional counselling.
• Appropriate baby and young child feeding practices are promoted by:
  • Implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and related World Health Assembly resolutions.
  • Putting in place rules and strategies that protect working mothers.
  • Breastfeeding promotion, protection, and support in health care and the community, primarily through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.