A Guide to Eating Right
- Vishrutha Thulasiram
- Oct 1, 2020
- 2 min read
Have you ever found yourself wondering whether what you eat is actually benefiting you? If what you are eating is in fact what your body needs? Whether you are eating too little or too much of one particular food? If the quantity you are consuming is enough to sustain everything you do all day? Or whether it is helping you to be your best self?
If you answered yes to any of those questions then you are at the right place. Read along as I take you through the various tried and tested strategies to understand and optimize your diet.
Before we get into any of the strategies, there is a concept that you should understand first. And that is the concept of a balanced diet. So what is a balanced diet? A balanced diet simply put is – “A diet consisting of the adequate amounts of all the necessary nutrients recommended for a healthy growth and for efficient daily activities and functions”. I know it seems like a lot of work and complex biology for a simple task as feeding yourself. The physical task of eating seems easy but the body puts a ton of work in order to break down and make use of that food.
It is your responsibility to give your body what it really needs in order to function optimally. In order to do so, there are some tried and true techniques that allow for optimal nutrition. Please note that these merely food guides and not ‘diets’ in the traditional sense. These food guides are designed in such a way that allows intake of adequate quantities of all nutrients.
1. Food Guide Pyramid:
2. My Plate:
3. Eat Well Guide:
4. Eat the Rainbow:
This method primarily focuses on fruits and vegetables and requires you to eat at least 2 fruits and 5 vegetables a day preferably from different color groups.
Note that these guides are for the majority population i.e., of the healthy adults. There are specific variations of these for elderly, children, pregnant women, etc available. The links to these are:
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