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.
In: Other
There’s an important thing to keep in mind with all of this I think, and it’s that dietary science isn’t often 100% exact, especially when you have to generalize and aren’t working with individual people with different needs, biological differences, environments, lifestyles, and so on. But, that doesn’t mean findings, trends, and generalizations aren’t still very helpful. Just because people can’t give you an exact idea of what you should be doing or not doing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen and try to take what lessons and advice that you can. Add to that, it’s not just as simple as what you eat or put into your body–there’s a lot going on that is difficult to account for, and people are still learning new things about this area.
Regardless, people *generally* break dietary intake into daily timeframes. You should be trying to hit specific targets per day, kind of thing, though there’s reason to think at least a somewhat balanced meal is better than separating it out so that all of x thing hits your system at once, then y hits you for dinner–spreading it out is likely better, but making up for low points in earlier meals is better than not doing it too.
And what IS balanced is more about, a mix of the major nutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates, but according to appropriate ratios), but often also having the smaller nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. Though there’s reason to think also consuming a variety of different foods is also huge, as is cultivating healthy gut bacteria–which is a longer-term process and more related to what you habitually consume over time–and consuming nutrients in forms that are more conducive to healthy digestion and uptake.
The “simple” rule of thumb, generally, is eat a varied source of foods, try to balance protein/fats/carbs without going overboard in any of the three, avoid excess simple sugars and alcohols, and eat in moderation.
Latest Answers