I have a really poor relationship with food. Growing up, my parents never enforced the idea of ‘eat your greens,’ and my mom was mostly focused on body shaming. I’m trying not to slip back into an ED spiral, as I’ve just gotten out of it, and I’m working on disciplining myself—something I was never really taught. I’ve read countless articles, but I’m still struggling to grasp what a balanced diet actually looks like. For example, if I have mostly fats and carbs for lunch, fruit as a midday snack, and protein for dinner, is that balanced? Or should I have a little bit of everything in each meal? And those percentages they mention in articles—how do you even figure those out? I naturally have a small appetite, and I find it really hard to eat as much as I’m ‘supposed’ to. Honestly, I’m clueless when it comes to balanced meals and would love some clarity.
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Your body needs a variety of things. You need energy, you need building materials, and you need solid objects to keep your gut moving. Along with that, you need a bunch of minor little things that your body needs to keep going.
As long as you get enough of each, you don’t really need to balance it out.
A great skill to build is to figure out why you’re eating what you’re eating. Cravings are useful, but you should figure out what they mean.
Fries and chips are delicious because they’re calorie dense, which is generally why they’re avoided. Vegetables are healthy because they’re rich in vitamins (which are overblown. You don’t need to worry about them unless your doctor says you do, but you may be low on Zinc and Vitamin D) and fiber.
And fiber is really what you’ll need to be healthy. You can have too much of it but it’s likely you’re missing some.
In general, be aware of protein, fiber, carbs, and fats. Try to get as much protein and fiber as you can, and be aware of carbs and fats. If you’re trying to lose weight these are what you’ll want to restrict.
For the most part, you’ll want your diet to be 50% vegetables, 25% proteins, 25% carbs. Americans are likely more like 75% carbs 25% proteins which is why we have problems. Do note that some foods can count as both. Potatoes, whole wheat (not whole grain) grains, and oatmeal are so unprocessed that they can provide some of the benefits of vegetables. Some vegetables are so rich in protein that they can provide some of the benefits of meats. And some meats are so fatty that they provide the energy of carbs.
Which leads to handling carbs. Carbs are going to be our best source of energy, but can also prevent fat loss. Not just because they have calories, but also because the same hormone that allows us to use carbs (insulin) also prevents our fat cells from releasing energy. Intermittent fasting and keto diets can help release this fat, but your body isn’t used to not having carbs in them so it’ll feel sick for a few days.
Then there’s the source of carbs. Sugar and potatoes gives us the same end product, but how we get there makes a huge difference. If you eat sugar, it gets absorbed into the body almost immediately. Your body can’t use all that sugar that fast so it tied it up into fat. Potatoes on the other hand are so hard to break down that the energy gets released slowly, at a speed the body can handle more easily. This will give you more consistent energy through the day, make you full longer, and has the added benefit of having more fiber and vitamins.
When eating carbs, try to be precise with them. It’s not a huge deal but it’s helpful. Eat the right kind for what you want (quick release or consistent energy) and at the time you need them (before something stressful to get you through it, or early in the day to get you started).
Carbs aren’t bad, they’re just more complicated. You need enough fiber to make your guts work, you need enough protein to keep yourself built, but overeating these don’t give problems. You need enough carbs to give you energy, but too much or the wrong kind at the wrong time can lead to problems.
For fats, just avoid trans fats, and listen to your body for when the amount you eat is getting gross. You’re probably fine if you use some for cooking, but if your food is dripping with it it’s probably too much. You do need some fat though, so don’t go out of your way to eliminate it. Just avoid fried foods and cheeses.
Sorry if I’m into dumping you here. I’ve been researching this a lot. If this is too much info, just try to make 25% of the food you put into your mouth meats, 25% carbs, 50% vegetables. And try to keep your carbs as natural or unprocessed as possible. And listen to your body’s cravings.
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