Topic 3. Diets
Topic 3. Balanced diets
Definition
We will start by defining the concept of “Diet”, since they are wrongly associated to the practice of restricting food ingestion by many people. It is believed we just need to consume the necessary energy to reduce body weight.
A Diet is a guideline a person follows in his/her daily food consumption. It is accepted as a synonym of a feeding plan, which refers to "a group and quantity of food, or any combination of such, consumed in a daily basis". We can also make reference to a feeding pattern, which in specific circumstances, healthy, ill or convalescent people perform when eating or drinking. Human diet is considered to be balanced if it grants the necessary nutrients and energy in quantities which allow us to keep our organism functions in terms of physical and mental health.
A balanced diet is specific for each individual and it's adapted to ones gender, age and health state. However, there are several factors (geography, social, economic, pathological, etc.) which influence in its balance.
Concept of balanced eating
Graphic representation, GABA Uruguay. www.msp.gub.uy
In the image above, we have food classified in 6 groups. Those of vegetable origin (cereals and related, vegetables and fruit) are highly ranked. Thus, they should be an important part of our daily consumption.
Those of animal origin have a lower rank. The group of dairy products have a higher position in the graphic due to their contribution of calcium, which is important to a well-functioning of our organism, such as granting our bones their natural strength. We recommend you choose low-fat dairy products and meat.
The lower ranks belong to the group of fats, salt, sugar and sweets. This low rank is to suggest a low consumption of these groups. When we need to loose weight, instead of decreasing their consumption, we recommend suppressing these groups.
Decreasing fats in your food is also healthy. Besides, it is a reasonable and practical way to lower calories in your food and loose weight, without drastically altering the quantities of ingested food consumed daily.
To summarize, we can define 3 key concepts: variety, balance, moderation. Remember that eating properly contributes to reach and keep a well-kept nutritional state and as a result, a well-kept health state.
