The well being and health of a person depends on many factors and food is the most important of them all. Your diet plays a crucial role in deciding your health and immunity. It is necessary to know the importance of a balanced diet to maintain a healthy body and mind.
A balanced diet is one which has the right amounts of macro-nutrients, minerals, proteins, fats, fiber, water, carbohydrates and vitamins in it. A balanced diet helps the growth of vital cells and tissues and also help in maintaining them. Moreover, a balanced diet protects us from various infections and diseases while keeping the immune system strong.
The quantity and type of food required by the body differs from one person to another. Also, the metabolic rate of your body along with the kind of activities that you perform every day may be very different from another person. Hence a balanced diet for every person may slightly vary depending on their individual health and needs. However, a balanced diet is important to maintain a healthy body for all and includes healthy foods in more or less quantities. In general, a well-balanced diet boasts of dairy products, unsaturated fats, lean meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, cereals and legumes. All types of refined, processed and sweetened food items are not included in a balanced diet as they cause harm to our health.
Importance of a Balanced Diet to Maintain a Healthy Body
Food and water are the basis of human survival as without a proper diet, you will not be able to survive for a long time. The food that we consume gets digested in the gastrointestinal tract. The nutrients present in food are absorbed in the blood and then passed to the body tissues and cells. Hence, if you have a balanced diet, your body cells and tissues receive the right amounts of micro and macro nutrients, which keeps you healthy.
On the other hand, eating a diet which is not balanced, does not provide you with the necessary nutrients and makes you susceptible to several infections and lifestyle disorders.
Let us understand the importance of a balanced diet to maintain a healthy body:
- Boosts Immunity – Having a strong immune system is quite important as it helps to protect us from various infection causing microorganisms. Being malnourished makes you more susceptible to infections and causes you to fall sick more often. However, a well balanced diet with the right nutrients strengthens your immune system and lowers the risk of infection. Thus, a balanced diet is important to maintain a healthy body by boosting your immunity and keeping infections at bay.
- Reduces Risk of Diseases – A balanced diet containing fruits and vegetables also contains antioxidants which protect the body cells from free radicals, which can be quite harmful for us. Antioxidants help reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases and even some cancers to a large extent. By eating beans, fruits, nuts and green leafy vegetables in your balanced diet, you can reduce the risk of diseases like high blood cholesterol and heart diseases. This is one of the reasons why a balanced diet is important to maintain a healthy body.
- Improves Brain Health – As different kinds of fishes and nuts form a vital part of your balanced diet, they helps to improve your brain health. Such foods are quite rich in omega 3 fatty acids and vitamins A and E which work as a brain tonic. Also, it is quite useful in reducing stress, depression and anxiety as it contains ingredients which can elevate your mood. A balanced diet is important to maintain a healthy body by ensuring a healthy brain and a stress free mind.
- Provides Energy – An important benefit of a balanced diet to maintain a healthy body is that it provides the body with sustainable energy for a long time. A balanced diet which has the right proportions of vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates keeps the body energetic and fueled for a long time. Vegetables, cereals, fruits and whole grains digest slowly in the body due to the presence of carbohydrates in it. This helps to maintain proper levels of glucose and insulin in the body and keep it steady for long. Fish, eggs, poultry and lean meat are all rich in protein thereby providing energy to the body.
- Controls Weight – With an array of foods being present in a balanced diet, it helps to maintain an ideal body weight. If your balanced diet contains more of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy products and less of meat, unsaturated fats and sugars then your body will stay healthy and maintain a healthy weight. Excess weight increases the risk of many diseases; hence managing weight with a balanced diet is important to maintain a healthy body.
Conclusion
Now that you have understood importance of a balanced diet to maintain a healthy body, you must ensure that the food you eat is right and well balanced. Also, for people with specific ailments with diet restrictions or special foods, it is important to follow those in your balanced diet. You can seek advice from a nutritionist and chalk out the perfect diet plan for your body, depending on your unique needs and requirements. After all staying healthy is the biggest happiness a person can ever get!