Importance of Balanced Diet To Achieve A Healthy Lifestyle

April 15, 2022
importance of balanced diet to achieve a healthy lifestyle

Since the onset of the pandemic, the importance of following and maintaining a healthy lifestyle has elevated dramatically. While this can be attributed to a number of causal factors, something that emerges as being the most prominent is the increased need to live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

In an effort to adopt a healthy lifestyle, most people take measures such as incorporating an extensive workout routine, fixing the sleep cycle, and mindlessly avoiding or restricting the consumption of what we label as “junk” food. Even after making these changes, people remain unsatisfied from the health aspect of their lives. This is because they miss to adapt to a very important piece of the puzzle, that is maintaining and following a balanced diet.

In the following article, we discuss the importance of making changes in one’s diet, to make it more inclusive of vitamins and minerals and of course nutritious food.

What Constitutes a Balanced Diet?

The concept of a balanced diet assumes the idea that consuming the right proportions of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fiber will nourish the body and help it sustain according to tough conditions, helping you live a good and healthy lifestyle.

What are Calories, Calorie Deficit and Caloric Surplus?

Calories are one of the most debated aspects of maintaining a balanced diet and unfortunately, it is still misunderstood by a major chunk of our population. Generally, calories refer to the amount of energy that we gain by eating any amount of food. Over the day, we use this energy to carry out daily life activities.

Calorie deficit is basically the maintenance of a negative energy. That is, you either spend more calories than what you have consumed or you consume less calories than what you spend. It is usually adopted when one wants to lose weight.

Calorie surplus, on the contrary, refers to the presence of a positive energy. That is, you either consume more calories than you burn, or you burn less calories than you consume.

Why is it Important to Follow a Balanced Diet for a Healthy Lifestyle?

Throughout the years, numerous professionals and nutritionists have emphasized on the importance of giving significant weightage to a balanced diet that takes care of all your macronutrient requirements in leading to a healthy lifestyle. We have listed a few points here to back this statement up.

  • A balanced diet keeps you safe from infections, lifestyle disorders, and over exhaustion.
  • A balanced diet aids in weight loss and muscle gain over time. Maintaining a healthy body weight with a good muscle mass is not only beneficial for your body, but it also gives you the confidence to love yourself.
  • A balanced diet keeps the acne from your face away. For a clear, glowing, and healthy looking following a well-balanced diet does wonders.
  • You can improve the status of your mental health and your energy levels by following a healthy diet most of the days. Remember, consistency is the ultimate key.

Some Tips to Maintain a Balanced Diet

While it is a stated fact that consuming refined flour, sugar, and butter, and other processed foods can cause you to retain unhealthy fat over time, one should take special care not to over restrict these foods from the diet. This is because, it eventually eats to binge eating later, which does more harm than any good. Instead, incorporate a little amount of something you like everyday and you’ll be good to go.

  • Always consume salad as a part of your lunch. It keeps you full for long, has a lot of dietary fiber and aids weight loss in the longer run.
  • Incorporate whole grains as a part of your diet to increase the intake of fiber. Some examples can be oats, quinoa, and other good carbs like ragi and jowar.
  • Have fresh and whole fruits, at least 2 servings per day. Note that fruit juices should be avoided because they eliminate dietary fibers and only leave space for sugar that elevates one’s blood sugar levels.
  • Always pair your balanced diet with a healthy exercise regime. Do not over do your. HIIT and cardio and include strength training for optimal and long lasting results.
  • Drink at least 3 liters of water everyday. It helps to maintain the electrolyte balance in your body and keeps you from dismissing your thirst cues as basically a call for food.
  • Include a source of first class protein in almost every meal of your day. Protein rich foods increase the metabolism of the body and keep you full for a long time. In addition, it also helps the body build muscle and support recovery which is an important part for burning excess body fat. Some of the most important protein sources include eggs, lean meat, pork, beef, pulses, legumes, greek yogurt, and so on.

Conclusion

Food makes up most of our body. It fuels us and keeps us sane to make decisions and carry out daily tasks. Therefore, it becomes increasingly significant for us to follow a balanced and healthy diet to sustain the health benefits in the long run.

Not only does a healthy lifestyle help you look and feel good, but it also keeps you at bay from being a prey to numerous lifestyle disorders like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and so on. For all the reasons stated above, it is very important to consider the aspect of maintaining a balanced diet for a healthier lifestyle.