Having a well-balanced diet involves consuming foods that give you a good combination of minerals, vitamins, and nutrients. This requires a diverse diet across the five food groups, with the right proportion of consumption.
You should have a good combination of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy in your diet. Proportionally, you should be aiming to consume more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
You’ve probably heard all the fuss about having a well-balanced diet, but what does it actually do for you? There are definitely health benefits that result from consuming the right combination of foods from all five important food groups. Read below to find out!
Strengthen immune system
Your body is reliant on certain nutrients and having a balanced diet helps to ensure that your intake is in good order. Bodily functions such as the production of germ-fighting cells are dependent on having good nutrients in our body.
Because of this, eating a balanced diet will help your body to maintain and strength its immune system. This reduces your risks of contracting illnesses and helps you to keep healthy!
Having more energy
A well-balanced diet will give you good levels of energy to work with throughout the day. The foods that we eat have a huge impact on the energy our bodies have. Different types of foods have different digestion times, which affect how long our bodies will stay full for.
Incorporating more nutritious foods in your diet can help in having well-maintained energy levels as these foods take longer to digest. Having a schedule to consume good proteins every few hours can prevent you from reaching for simple carbs that will make you feel hungry sooner.
Controlling your weight
When you are eating with a well-balanced diet, you are making sure you get in the right amount of healthy foods such as vegetables, fruits, and wholegrains. This leaves less room in your diet for empty or sugary carbohydrates.
This can significantly help you to cut down on weight, as these types of carbs are ordinarily the main cause of weight gain. This is because consuming sugary carbs will not keep you full for as long as more nutritious carbohydrates, so you’re more likely to want to eat more in a shorter period of time.
Sleeping better
Keeping tabs on your diet can help you sleep better by restricting stomach and digestive issues which may impact or ability to or quality of sleep.
This is more so to do with how you are consuming your diet rather than what it is comprised of. Overeating close to your sleep time is a bad habit you need to kick! It makes it harder for your body to wind down and be ready to rest when it is still trying to digest a lot of food.
Strengthen your mind
Eating a well-balanced diet will provide you with the nutrients to strengthen your brain. Just like other parts of your body, the maintenance of your brain relies on what you are consuming.
Incorporating good nutrients into your diet such as Omega 3 can benefit your brain health by improving your memory and ability to learn in the long term.