What is a Balanced Diet? We weigh it up in 5 steps

by Laura Forsyth | 15th December, 2022 | Nutrition

A balanced diet is essential to give your body the right nutrients. Learn more about the benefits of structuring your diet and how our meal plans can help you get on the right track.

What is a Balanced Diet?

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best. This means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions, and consuming the right amount of food and drink to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

Why is a balanced diet important?

Most people in the UK eat and drink too many calories, too much saturated fat, sugar and salt, and not enough fruit, vegetables, oily fish or fibre. A well-balanced diet provides all of the: energy you need to keep active throughout the day. nutrients you need for growth and repair, helping you to stay strong and healthy and help to prevent diet-related illness.

What does a balanced diet consist of?

The Eatwell Guide shows that to have a healthy, balanced diet, people should try to eat:

  • At least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day,
  • Base meals on higher fibre starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta
  • Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks)
  • Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein.

How to plan a balanced diet

Balanced meals are made up of four key components: protein, carbohydrates, vegetables, and fat. To build a healthy meal, divide your dish into equal parts lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and fibrous veggies. Then, top if off with a small amount of fat.

It’s common to create batch-cooked balanced recipes in advance — all with enough power to get you through the day and enough variety to keep your week interesting. However, it can sometimes be time consuming to prepare alongside a busy schedule.

How to maintain a balanced diet

Lions Prep allows you to choose from a wide selection of carbohydrates, protein and vegetables. Meaning you can find healthy meal choices to tantalise your taste buds, whilst also enjoying the convenience of selecting your meals from ordered food groups. A healthy diet requires a variety of foods – that is why allow the flexibility to customise your meals. There is even a choice of snacks to choose from for those days when you need a little something extra.