WHAT IS A BALANCED DIET

The term 'balanced diet' essentially refers to the balance in which we consume the different food energies (macro nutrients) i.e. carbohydrate, fat and protein (alcohol is also a food energy).

However, we also require vitamins and minerals (micro nutrients) and therefore a balanced diet is where the food that is eaten provides enough energy and nutrients for the body to function correctly, but not too much of any, to cause adverse effects.

So what are the best foods to eat to achieve a balanced diet. Carnivores such as dogs, cats, lions and tigers have digestive systems able to extract goodness from meats. Deer, antelope, gazelles, cows, sheep etc. are classed as herbivores and their digestive systems are able to extract goodness from vegetation. Humans are classed as omnivores and we are able to extract goodness from both meat and vegetation. However modern day mans environment has evolved far faster than we have physically. We are still digestively the same as we were thousands and thousands of years ago when we wouldn't have been wandering down the local supermarket but wandering around looking for the best food supply - fruits, nuts and berries. This can still be seen today where some human races still exist in very remote parts of the world. Moving from area to area, depending much upon the season, in order to be in the the right location for the best supply of food is a way of life for these people ensuring over the course of a year, not by design but necessity, that a very varied diet is achieved of which meat is a rarerity and special treat. It is considered by many experts that these people have the best diet for humans in the world and similarly for ourselves eating a variety of vegetables, fruits, pulses and grains and moderate intake of meat and dairy products is the best way to achieve an all round balanced diet. Some form of exercise to compliment your diet, probably by going to the gym or taking up a sport rather than trying to move your entire life to a different location by foot, is also advised!

We do not require an exact amount of each nutrient, nor do we all require the same amount of energy or nutrients, not just because of our gender, size or age, but because we are all individuals. We do, however, all require energy from food, and a combination of the same nutrients and the Dietary Reference Values give estimations of the ranges of nutrients and average amounts of energy required by the population.

The purpose for which Balanced Diet has been developed is not to stipulate what should be eaten, but to look at what has or is going to be eaten, whether it is a planned diet or not, and determine probable adequacies, inadequacies or excesses compared to recommendations made by the Department of Health (the Dietary Reference Values). There are then facilities to show the breakdown of energy and nutrient contributions from each type of food in the database, enabling determination of why excesses have occurred, and how inadequacies can be rectified.