By definition, a balanced diet consists of eating foods that contain all the necessary nutrients and energy that your body requires to function throughout the day. This includes fats and sugars!
It is possible to combine the foods that you consume in such a way that you receive a good variety of different foods which provide you with a balanced diet.
As a general rule, you should aim to eat complex carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. A balanced diet constitutes around 50% of all calories from these complex carbohydrates, around 20% of your calories should come from protein and about 30% should come from fat of which you should restrict consumption of saturated fats to about a third of your total fat intake.
Eating a balanced diet nowadays is simple. You can find advice on what to eat and drink through consulting your doctor or nutritionist. By consuming foods that are healthy in nature, you can help your body to look and feel great and ensure that you reduce the risk of developing various diseases. Such conditions include heart disease, high blood cholesterol, heart attacks and strokes, diabetes and hypertension.
Grains, fruits, green vegetables, meat, fish and poultry, dairy products, sugars, fats and bread, pasta, potatoes and nuts are just some of the foods that you should aim to be eating regularly, although you should avoid eating them too often!
Diets with all the nutrients and sustenance that you require provide you with fibre, antioxidants and calories. With insufficient quantities of vitamins and minerals in your diet, you can avoid such nutrient deficiency diseases as scurvy, anaemia and osteoporosis.
Sometimes people lead very busy lifestyles and eating healthily is not always such an easy thing to accomplish every day. For this reason, you can buy vitamin and mineral supplements which can provide you with a good array of essential nutrients and ensure that even if your diet is lacking in quality, you can still get a nutritious diet. Although this is not the ideal way to receive such nutrients, it is better than completely failing to eat any!