How to Start & Sustain a Balanced Diet

What is a balanced diet? Get 4 steps in achieving and maintaining a healthy diet

Why is Balanced Eating Important? 

How many of you think that healthy eating is about eating “healthy” foods only? Do you have a goal of eliminating “unhealthy” foods from your diet but often get frustrated because you just can’t keep it going? If you are nodding along as you read, I would like to invite you to do this very simple activity with me, which has the potential to change your life, at least when it comes to eating. 

 First of all, let’s assume that healthy eating is all about eating healthy foods. Now, I want you to pick one food in your mind that there’s no way can be unhealthy. Think about the healthiest food you can imagine or have ever heard of. And here comes the magic. I want you to picture yourself only eating this one healthy food for breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks. Nothing else is allowed. Does this sound healthy to you? 

If so, maybe picture yourself doing this for the entire week, or maybe the entire month, year, or the rest of your life. Does it still sound healthy? I guess the answer is no. 

This is exactly why healthy eating is not just about eating healthy foods. Instead, balance is the key. Follow through the rest of this blog post and I will explain further what a balanced diet is. 

4 Steps to Starting and Sustaining a Balanced Diet

Step 1: Prerequisite – Regular Adequate Eating

I hope we can now agree that balanced eating is the essence of healthy eating, but do you know that something else has to come before balanced eating? Although some may have a strong preference towards a particular food group, such as the meatatarians, it’s usually no big deal for people to include at least a little bit of each food group when they eat, but not so easy if you are starving. This is because, ever since ancient times, our body has learned to protect us from starving to death by sending out and reinforcing this intense craving for energy-dense foods, such as high-sugar, high-fat foods. In other words, fuelling your body regularly with enough food is the fundamental step before balanced eating. 

Step 2: Preparation – What a Balanced Plate Looks Like

With the recognition that regular, adequate eating needs to come before balanced eating, let’s talk about what makes a diet ‘balanced’. As you may remember learning from school, food can be categorized into different food groups, one main reason our body needs a balanced diet is that we get different kinds of nutrients from different food groups, such as carbohydrates from grains/starch, protein from protein food, and vitamins, minerals, water and fibre from fruits and vegetables.  

Therefore, a balanced diet should consist of: 

• 1/4 of grains/starch 
• 1/4 of protein food 
• 1/2 of fruits and vegetables

Step 3: Practice

If you are ready to eat more balanced but unsure how to get started, this is the next right step for you. Simply take a look at and reflect on your current eating. Do you see any difference between your eating and the idea of balanced eating described above? 

If so, please hold off any self-judgment that may pop out right away and genuinely ask yourself the following questions with honesty and curiosity. 

• Why am I not eating more balanced? (Hint: maybe it’s because you didn’t know what balanced eating would look like or not sure of the reason why.) 
• Would it be difficult for me to start eating more balanced? (Hint: maybe you are clueless about what foods fall under different food groups; maybe you don’t know how to cook or think don’t have the time for it because you overcomplicated the idea of balanced eating.) 

Indeed, balanced eating may look like a fancy, freshly cooked, three-course meal, but it can also be a peanut butter banana sandwich a few minutes before school or work. Again, there is no right way of eating balanced, but a Registered Dietitian can certainly help you find out what works best for you and your lifestyle and goals. 

 Step 4: Persistence

This is the right step for you if you have already gone through phases of “healthy eating” and “going back to the old habits”. There are two important aspects I’d like to talk about in order to set you up for more success. 

First, our body doesn’t like changes, especially when many happen at once, despite how strong one’s willpower might be. The key to sustainable, long-term behaviour change is one step at a time, slowly moving towards your goal and the self-compassion that this is not a perfect journey as we all grow by learning from past mistakes. 

Secondly, I encourage you to find out what eating balanced means to you and why it matters to you. External motivation like doctor’s advice to improve your diet may kick-start your journey, but it is the internal motivation such as how you feel after eating and throughout the day that runs the long-term show. After all, it has to be something that you want to be able to keep rolling. 

Another Thought for Consideration: All Foods Fit

A healthy, balanced diet should include not only nutritious foods that nourish health but also foods we eat for other purposes, such as pleasure, comfort, tradition, and social and cultural reasons. We refer to these as soulful foods, foods like chocolate and potato chips for example that spark joy. 

Perhaps you still remember the fun activity we did at the very beginning and the conclusion we came to that healthy eating is not about eating healthy foods only, and vice versa. 

If you struggle to get rid of the so-called “unhealthy foods,” most of which are really just foods we eat for other purposes, my advice is to give yourself permission to enjoy all foods while you continue to work towards finding the balance between eating for nutrition and other purposes like taste and social fun  

Many of my clients have found more peace in their relationship with food after reframing their brains and had a better nutritional quality of life as a result. 

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