2.1: What is a Healthy Diet?

Learning Objective

• Define the components of a healthful diet.

Achieving a Healthy Diet

Achieving a healthy diet is a matter of balancing the quality and quantity of food that is eaten. There are five key factors that make up a healthful diet:

• A diet must be adequate, by providing sufficient amounts of each essential nutrient, as well as fiber and calories.
• A balanced diet results when you do not consume one nutrient at the expense of another, but rather get appropriate amounts of all nutrients.
• A nutrient-dense diet includes foods and beverages that contain a high level of nutrients for relatively fewer calories.
• Moderation means not eating to the extremes, neither too much nor too little.
• Variety refers to consuming different foods from within each of the food groups on a regular basis.

A healthy diet is one that favors whole foods. As an alternative to modern processed foods, a healthy diet focuses on “real” fresh whole foods that have been sustaining people throughout the millenniums. Whole foods supply the needed vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fats, and fiber that are essential to good health. Commercially prepared and fast foods are often lacking nutrients and often contain inordinate amounts of sugar, salt, saturated and trans fats, all of which are associated with the development of diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, cancer, obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other illnesses. A balanced diet is a mix of food from the different food groups (vegetables, legumes, fruits, grains, protein foods, and dairy).

Adequate

An adequate diet is one that provides enough nutrients, fiber, and calories to maintain your health. A diet adequate in many nutrients can still be inadequate in one (or a few) nutrient(s). For example, someone may eat enough calories to maintain their weight but not get enough vitamins or minerals to maintain health. This scenario could happen if someone ate fast food frequently, but didn't eat many fruits or vegetables. Many people don't eat enough vegetables. Since vegetables are good sources of fiber, a diet low in vegetables may be inadequate in fiber.

Balanced

Balance the foods in your diet. Achieving balance in your diet entails not consuming one nutrient at the expense of another. A balanced diet contains the right combinations of foods to provide the proper proportions of nutrients. For example, calcium is essential for healthy teeth and bones, but too much calcium will interfere with iron absorption. Most foods that are good sources of iron are poor sources of calcium, so in order to get the necessary amounts of calcium and iron from your diet, a proper balance between food choices is critical. Another example is that while sodium is a vital nutrient, an overabundance of it can contribute to congestive heart failure and chronic kidney disease. Remember, everything must be consumed in the proper amounts. Different food groups are good sources of different nutrients. Meats and beans are good sources of protein, milk is a good source of calcium, whole grain breads are a good source of fiber, fruits and vegetables are good sources of many vitamins and minerals like vitamin C and potassium. By including all food groups in a diet it's easier to get the proper balance of nutrients.

Nutrient-Dense

Nutrient-dense foods are defined as foods that contain many essential nutrients per calorie. In other words, a nutrient-dense diet provides the highest level of nutrients and fiber for the lowest number of calories. Nutrient-dense foods are the opposite of “empty-calorie” foods, such as sugary carbonated beverages, which are also called “nutrient-poor.” Nutrient-dense foods include fruits and vegetables, lean meats, poultry, fish, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains. Choosing more nutrient-dense foods leads to a diet that provides more of the necessary nutrients. Consider two different snacks: a 1 oz. bag of potato chips vs. 2 medium carrots and 1/4 cup hummus. Both snacks are 150-160 calories. The carrots and hummus are higher in protein, fiber, and Vitamin A than the chips. The carrots/hummus snack is the more nutrient-dense option because you get more nutrients for about the same number of calories. Some additional examples of alternatives to move to a more nutrient-dense diet are included in Table \(\PageIndex{1}\) below. 

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Nutrient-Dense Food Alternatives

Instead of…	Replace with…
Sweetened fruit yogurt	Plain fat-free yogurt with fresh fruit
Cheese	Low-fat or reduced-fat cheese
Bacon or sausage	Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, lean ham, turkey sausage
Fried chicken	Baked chicken
White bread, white rice	Whole-grain bread, brown rice
White flour tortillas	Whole wheat tortillas, corn tortillas
Sweetened cereals	Minimally sweetened cereals with fresh fruit
Apple or berry pie	Fresh apple or berries
Deep-fried French fries	Oven-baked French fries or sweet potato baked fries
Deep-fried egg rolls	Spring rolls
Fried samosas	Naan and vegetable chutney
Fried vegetables	Steamed or roasted vegetables
Sugary sweetened soft drinks	Seltzer mixed with 100 percent fruit juice

Moderation

Eat in moderation. Moderation is crucial for optimal health and survival. A moderate diet contains the right amounts (not too much and not too little) of foods for maintaining proper weight and optimizing the body's metabolic processes. Eating burgers, French fries, cake, and ice cream each night for dinner will lead to health complications. But as part of an otherwise healthful diet and consumed only on a weekly basis, this should not have too much of an impact on overall health. If this is done once per month, it will have even less of an impact upon overall health. It’s important to remember that eating is, in part, about enjoyment and indulging with a spirit of moderation. This fits within a healthy diet.

Variety

Variety involves eating different foods from all the food groups (grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and protein) on a regular basis. Eating a varied diet helps to ensure that you receive all the nutrients necessary for a healthy diet. Some people tend to pack the same type of snack with them each day (e.g., protein bar) perhaps because the snack is easy to pack. Including other types of snack options that are also easy to pack (e.g., baby carrots, banana) on some days will help ensure that there is variety.One of the major drawbacks of a monotonous diet is the risk of consuming too much of some nutrients and not enough of others. Trying new foods can also be a source of pleasure—you never know what foods you might like until you try them.

Developing a healthful diet can be rewarding, but be mindful that all of the principles presented must be followed to derive maximal health benefits. For instance, introducing variety in your diet can still result in the consumption of too many high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods and inadequate nutrient intake if you do not also employ moderation and balance. Using all of these principles together will afford you lasting health benefits.

Key Takeaways

• A healthful diet is adequate in providing enough nutrients and calories, is balanced so that one nutrient is not consumed at the expense of another, contains nutrient-dense foods and beverages, is moderate in unwanted constituents, and draws from a variety of nutritious foods.

References

Chapter cover photo "Healthy Diet" by davis.steve32 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.