We hear the term “Balanced Nutrition” a lot.
What does this term actually mean?
Balanced nutrition refers to giving your body the right amount and variety of nutrients it needs to do what it needs to do.
Over your lifetime your body changes – you physically grow, hormone balances change, muscle composition changes, and many other things change. As your body changes the nutrients and fuel it needs changes too.
So balanced nutrition changes with you. It is better defined as a journey, not a destination.
This makes it feel that much more challenging to achieve. However, all is not lost.
There are some general guidelines you can follow to stay on track as you strike that balance.
As a goal for the day your diet should include 30 % lean protein, 40 % complex carbohydrates, and 30 percent healthy fats. Let’s break that down a bit more.
Lean proteins may include poultry, fish, lean pork or beef, lentils, eggs or yogurt. Limiting red meat is generally a wise choice.
Complex carbohydrates include beans, wild rice, green vegetables, sweet potatoes, quinoa, or fruit.
We eat a lot of frozen vegetables because they keep through the week. In the summer we spice things up with fresh veggies from the garden.
Healthy fats include polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Some sources of healthy fats are avacados, eggs, olive oil, coconut oil, fish, almond butter, macadamia nuts, walnuts, and sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds.
One way to visualize a balanced dinner is to fill half a plate with a variety of vegetables, a quarter of the plate with wild rice and a quarter of the plate with fish.
Balanced nutrition does take a bit of planning – eating the same thing all the time will not lead to balance.
For our family the variety happens in the evening meal. Breakfast and lunch tend to be the same most days to keep our busy schedule running smoothly.
I plan our meals for the week and do grocery shopping on the weekend. Again, this works best in our schedule since we have a full plate of activities through the week.
As you transition into a healthier routine you need to look at your family schedule and decide the timing that works the best for you.
Come over to my Facebook page and share your challenges or tricks for staying track with your journey to balanced nutrition.
