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The Importance of a Balanced Diet
Introduction- What is a Balanced Diet?
We often hear people asking nowadays; “What is a balanced diet?”, or “What constitutes a balanced diet?” A balanced diet is any diet which contains foods from all the main food groups in accurate and optimal proportions to provide the body with maximum nutrition. It should also comprise of the exact number of calories to attain and sustain a healthy weight, enable the consumer to maintain their Body Mass Index (BMI) and be low in processed foods, cholesterol and excess sugars. Every person is different, with differences in gender, age, ethnicity, physical and bone structure and appetite. Therefore, the correct (balanced) diet for health varies from person to person. As a general rule, however, a balanced diet can be assumed to be the one which covers all food groups (proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, etc) and is low in undesirable and potentially harmful nutrients such as sodium and saturated fats and sugar. Such a diet provides the consumer with all the essentials to lead a healthy life, reduce the risks of obesity, cancers and other diseases and enable the consumer to maintain his/her BMI, body weight and remain healthy and active throughout the day. .
Importance of a Balanced Diet- A brief look
A balanced diet is one that provides the human body with all the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that are required to maintain all body cells, tissues and organs and for them to function correctly. A diet that is lacking in nutrients can lead to many different health problems. These problems range from simple mental and physical fatigue, lethargy and lack of energy to severe health issues, such as the failure of vital organs and lack of body growth and development. The diseases themselves can be either fatal or non-fatal.
A balanced diet is essential for health because your body organs and tissues need a proper nutritional diet to work effectively and efficiently. Without good nutrition, your body is more susceptible to diseases, infections, fatigue and overall poor mental and physical performance. Research shows that children with a poor diet are prone to growth, developmental and psychological problems. Because they are not provided with a balanced diet, their bad eating habits can continue for the rest of their lives. They would resort to deep-fried and cholesterol rich foods when hungry, rather than take a proper meal consisting of vegetables and fruits. The harmful effects of an unbalanced diet are further illustrated by the rising levels of obesity and diabetes in America. This suggests that an unbalanced diet leads to a lack of exercise and obesity. The United States Department for Agriculture (USDA) reports that 4 of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States are directly controlled by diet. These are:
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
- Stroke
- Diabetes.
The Role of a Balanced Diet
The importance of a balanced diet can also be seen by its role in the human body. A USDA research paper establishes four main roles of a healthy diet, which can be summarized as follows:
- Health; a balanced diet is essential in preventing diseases such as cancer, coronary heart diseases, cataracts and certain birth defects (where the mother’s diet is concerned).
- Body Composition; a nutrient and calorie controlled diet has a positive effect on reducing body composition. A balanced diet enables the individual to maintain their BMI, without the risk of getting obese or suffering from any disease.
- Energy; our energy to do everyday tasks comes from food. The amount of energy depends upon the composition of micronutrients in our diet. For instance, Carbohydrates provide the most energy in the form of glucose (in the blood) or glycogen (in the muscles and liver). Hence, it is essential for us to consume a carbohydrate diet every day to remain active and energetic.
- Recovery; when recovering from any internal or external injury, or any illness or even fatigue, our diet plays an important role. A balanced diet helps in restoring liver and muscle glycogen stores (as mentioned earlier in the energy section where Carbohydrates have been established as the primary source of energy and muscle maintenance) and the replacement of body fluids and electrolytes.
Benefits of a Balanced Diet
There are other health-related benefits offered by a balanced diet. A balanced diet also offers easy and quick solutions to several diseases and problems we face every day. Some of the benefits are listed as under:
1. It Prevents Diseases and Infections
A well-balanced diet helps your body fight, recover from and build-up immunities against many fatal and non-fatal diseases and infections. When the body receives the optimum level nutrients from a balanced diet, the immunity system function improves. This helps in preventing infection, reducing the risk of chronic and communicable diseases (like cancer), high blood pressure, high blood tension, excessive blood stress levels, diabetes and heart several diseases. It also helps prevent seasonal allergies, fevers and the common cold.
2. It Helps Control Weight and Enhances Height
In growing children, a healthy diet is a key factor in their physical growth. Although, height patterns tend to be genetic in nature, balanced diet does help in boosting height, according to research. Eating a balanced diet also helps people to maintain proper weight and normal range of BMI. This includes reducing the risk for either obesity or malnutrition. This is primarily achieved by a reduction in the fats and carbohydrates from your diet. Hence, you are more likely to find people with a balanced diet with the perfect physique!
3. It Promotes Healthy Body Growth
Obtaining the essential nutrients from a healthy diet does not only help in promoting fitness and prevent disease, it also helps the body cells to grow, divide and maintain proper function. A balanced diet is, therefore, important especially for growing children and adolescents. This will increase their higher body functions as well.
4. It Helps Promote Mental Health
Eating a well-balanced diet helps promote good mental function, better learning capabilities, boosts energy, enhances memory, improves cognitive skills, logical reasoning skills, and intuitive skills and reduces the risk of mental disorders and ailments.
5. It Helps Enhance Your Beauty
Getting the proper nutrients offers a two-fold benefit. It does not only promote health inside the body, but it also demonstrable representative in the way an individual looks and appears to others. The “youthful glow” or the “perfect skin” seen on people is due to a healthy epithelial cell division, which does not only result from using various beauty products and cosmetics, but also reflects the healthy state of the body inside and out resulting from a balanced diet.
Works Cited
Tupper, Naomi. "What is a balanced diet and why is it important?" 23 April 2012. Calorie Secrets. Blog.
