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.
A balanced diet is the one that fulfills all or at least most of the following: has neither too much nor too little calories (so you’re not getting fat or malnourished), had necessary amounts of protein, has necessary amounts of fat, has necessary amounts of carbohydrates, has necessary amounts of fiber, has necessary amounts of minerals, vitamins, and preferably containing a large variety of foods because there isn’t a single food that has everything you need optimally.
What exactly those amounts are is still up for debate and different scientists and doctors will tell different things. Nutrition science is still in pretty early stages. It also varies on your sex, age, activity level, current physical condition.
But the overall consensus is that if you base your diet on whole foods (i.e. unprocessed), and eat a lot of plant-based foods, eat a lot of fiber and avoid simple carbs, you’ve done 80% of the work in creating a good diet.
Of course, this is a huge oversimplification, but it’s a good starting point.
I’d say that you don’t need to think of it on a meal to meal basis, but probably want to consider on a day to day basis. Or at most, a week to week. But honestly, this is all somewhat based on preference to what works for you to feel satisfied in life generally, while keeping a sense of some cadence to get proper nutrition. Ie – I tend to have 1 healthier diet for M-F, and then a less healthy S-S (much more carb heavy, less vegetables generally).
One amazing book I’d recommend is ‘Food Rules’ by Michael Pollen. It’s very brief and focuses on a ton of small rules. You don’t need to follow all of them, but you’ll get a sense of best practices to help have a healthier balance.
Generally, I would be careful about the carb portion of your comment. Ideally you want to lean into –
1) Vegetables (fresh ideally, eat literally as much as you can fill yourself up on)
2) Protein (again, ideally fresh and not very processed, and you can eat generally till you’re full assuming it’s not hyper fatty meat)
3) Healthy Fats (lesser processed.. ie cook with olive oil, stay clear of microwaveable stuff with high fat content…)
4) Fruits / Nuts (these are fine but due have higher sugar or fat content so snacking is fine but don’t binge)
5) Starch/Carbs (aim for lesser processed or home made stuff, ie rice, pasta isn’t the end of the world if used to supplement other stuff in small quantities, but you don’t want to be pounding 4 cans of soda a day…)
You could attempt to mix the above for every meal but that’s probably not too realistic/easy. Daily is more achievable, and as mentioned I do mine kind of on a weekly cadence where I may satisfy my carb cravings more agressively on Saturday/Sunday, but then be better in sticking to 1-4 for the rest of the week.
IE I’ll do something like –
Weekday Breakfast: Eggs with sauteed veggies in olive oil (onion, peppers, mushroom) on arugala with a little cheese
Weekday Lunch: Greek Salad with healthy amount of feta, olives, oil, but then other veggies
Weekday Dinner: Salad with oil/vinegar dressing (not store bought heavily sugared), and then sauteed or baked veggies in oil + a protein (Fish, Chicken, Pork, occassionally a steak or lamb)
Snack on a piece of fruit
Weekend Breakfast: Effectively the same
Weekend Lunch: Bread with Cheese/Salami and maybe some canned peppers
Weekend Dinner: My fun time – may be some larger pasta dinner I make from scratch, maybe some other big family style thing – bottom line, I don’t care if this is carb heavy, but I do tend to make it or the majority of it from scratch which in and of itself means I’m using fresher or lesser processed ingridients
A big thing that Pollen recommends that stuck with me is –
Shop primarily around the perimeter of the grocery store, this is the inventory that will spoil and therefore is turned over more frequently (hence they keep it to the perimeter where it’s easier to restock) – produce, milk/cheeses, meats, fresh breads or pastas, etc..
Don’t buy things that your grandparents wouldn’t recognize as food (ie weird chemicals, other weird/extreme pre-packaged stuff)
Attempt to not buy things with >5 ingriedients in them, or ingriedients you don’t understand what they are or can’t pronouce
The book is a string of these little guides and the net take away is – try to use fresher and less processed ingridients.
I’ll go for an actual ELI5 answer.
Having a balanced diet is like filling out a coloring book. If food are your crayons, a lot of different colors, or sources of nutrients, are going to make your picture really pretty. If you only have one or two crayons, or nutrient sources, it’s going to be hard to make a nice picture. Junk food are like big chunky cheap crayons – they don’t cost much and are easy to buy, but it’ll make your picture ugly. Special glitter crayons like sugar can make your picture pretty, but it’s really easy to misuse them and ruin everything. Alcohol is like whiteout, it can get rid of a mistake but it leaves an obvious mark! Sometimes people have diets because they have special goals so they limit themselves to a only a certain color of crayons because they want their picture to look a certain way, but they still should use a lot of different colors. Like a vegetarian diet has dozens of shades of green or a keto diet has lots of different reds and yellows. But for most people, as long as you have a lot of different colors and don’t overuse any color too much you can make a pretty picture. And pressing too hard or light on your crayons, i.e eating too much or too little, won’t make a pretty picture either. Just use a lot of different colors in moderation and you’ll be just fine.
Eat real food, make sure you eat some veggies, maybe not a ton of carbs. Don’t listen to the folks with too much advice about diets, they’re more often than not kind of quack-ish. Most of all, super rigid. Everybody’s different. Just eat stuff that makes your body feel good. Don’t overthink it, you can drive yourself crazy. The body is much more resilient than you think.
Basically it just means that you get all the nutrients you need instead of only a few, ideally you’ll get carbs, protein, fiber, fats, minerals and vitamins in every meal, this is usually accomplished by including meat, vegetables and grains in a single meal but there’s no exact guide. Of course eating like this could be kinda difficult depending on your lifestyle but as long as you get your daily goals and don’t worry too much about every single dish you eat. Regarding percentages you have to remember that those refer to the ideal but you don’t need to make them exact unless you are following a very strict athletic program for example. My advice would be to stick to simple guidelines and avoid excess, one I found useful is that you should divide your plate filling half with veggies, 1/4 with grains and 1/4 with protein (egg/meat) while it is by no means perfect it is really easy to follow when you are starting
Ideally speaking about 65% of your diet is vegetables raw or cooked healthy. About 5% fruit, about 10% starchy carbs, like rice and potatoes, cooked healthy, and 15% healthy protein.
So have some oatmeal for breakfast with raisins or cranberries and a banana and a dab of peanut butter.
Then for lunch eat a salad with some fish.
Then for dinner, eat a nice piece of protein, like a piece of fish, chicken, beef, lamb, or pork. With a side of rice or potato, and some greens. Maybe even some beans and some cottage cheese.
It’s not just about what you eat, but how you cook it. Use healthy oils and butter, and don’t use a lot of never foods, and don’t add too many sauces or additives that add bullshit you don’t need. Basically never eat anything that isn’t kept cold in the grocery store.
Most of the advice you read online about healthy diets is written for very unhealthy people, because that’s who’s looking it up. Healthy people already know the rules, so they’re searching healthy recipes. Do that. Don’t fall into the bullshit for unhealthy people. They’re always trying to “make it easier”, and sell you shit. “Don’t want to eat a salad? Try this prepackaged wrap thing made with iceberg lettuce, pepper jack cheese, fried chicken and buffalo sauce! So much healthier than McDonald’s!” Bullshit.
My distilled rules for healthy eating are as follows:
– Eat lots of minimally-processed foods. Specifically: Meat, Veggies, Fruit, Beans, and Nuts.
– Avoid / minimize everything else. Specifically: Anything pre-made, Sugar, Breads, and Dairy
No, it’s not balanced. You should be eating foods from a variety of groups at each meal. It’s important for nutrient absorption and digestion. So many nutrients rely on the presence of other nutrients to be absorbed. A balanced diet looks like a diet of mostly vegetables, with whole fruit, good protein sources, carbohydrates, good fats, and plenty of water. Now, do most people eat this way? Definitely not.
Okay the extremely simple answer: Limit the sugar you get in total daily to about 50 grams. Don’t worry too much about sugar from fruits and vegetables.
Somewhat longer answer: About percentage 40 carbs, 30 protein, and 30 fats. Since you don’t seem to have a problem feeling satiated, then you could increase carbs if you want to. And then make sure you’re getting some fiber from vegetables.
Typically, “balanced” refers to macro nutrients. They may also mean some important other nutrients like fiber, b12, and iron.
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