Eat Better…

… Not Less

One fundamental rule of nutrition is giving your body the nutrients it needs.

There is no one right diet to follow. The best diet for you is one that meets your unique needs. And your needs depend on your age, gender, body size, training, sport and food likes and dislikes. There is one rule, though. Your best diet gives your body what it needs: the 50-plus nutrients along with the other essential substances in foods. This is called ” Balanced Diet “ in which you need to eat a variety of food groups to meet your daily nutrients requirements that body needs. In addition the nutrients should be in such amounts that a little bit can be stored in the body to take care of the days when food intake is insufficient.

Nutrition is best balanced by eating the right amounts of a large variety of foods. This provides the protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins needed for a healthy body. The right amounts of water and exercise are also critical to good health.

A balanced diet is often represented by different symbols

• A wheel, plate, or circle symbol suggests a balance of foods is desirable.

• The rainbow symbol emphasizes variety.

• A pyramid symbol recommends the number of servings from various food groups decreases from a solid foundation at the bottom (or the base) to the top.

Different cultures may use different symbols of healthy food intake based on foods available to them. All symbols have in common a variety of food intake from different food groups. Each food group provides specific nutrients. Eating foods from all food groups each day covers your bases. Breads, cereals, rice and pasta provide carbohydrate to the diet. So do fruits and vegetables. Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts are major contributors of protein, iron and zinc. Dairy products give us protein, carbohydrate and calcium. Not only is it important to eat foods from all food groups, it’s important to eat a variety of foods within each food group to make sure you get all the needed nutrients. Iodized salt should be used in all food preparation, even if it costs more, to avoid goiters which occur in many parts of the world.

• Grains provide mostly carbohydrates as starches. They also provide some protein that needs to be combined with legumes (beans), nuts, seeds, dairy, or meat to be complete. Half of the grain category should be from whole grains for fiber and vitamins.
• Vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Certain vegetables such as potatoes also provide carbohydrates and some vegetable protein, which needs to be eaten with another protein food to be complete.
• Fruits provide different vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They also provide sugars for quick energy. ½ to ¾ cup or 120 to 180 mL of fruit juice is the same as one serving of fruit. It is not wise to drink much more than this because the high sugar tends to replace other needed foods.
• Dairy products provide complete proteins and major minerals, particularly calcium. They are commonly supplemented with vitamin D and vitamin A. If dairy products are not consumed in the recommended amounts, special efforts should be made to eat other calcium-rich foods or take a calcium supplement. This is particularly important for women.

• Complete protein can be provided by meat, chicken, eggs, fish, and soybeans (e.g., tofu). Legumes (e.g., beans) can also provide complete protein if nuts/seeds or grains such as rice or corn are eaten at the same meal to provide limiting amino acids.
• Vegetable oils can provide a balance of essential fatty acids. Use them in food preparation (frying, salad dressings, spreads, etc.). Canola and soy oils are preferred. Mustard and hemp seed oils are similar but less common. Olive oil is high in healthy monounsaturated fat and has a good ratio (although relatively low amounts) of essential fatty acids. Peanut, corn, sesame, sunflower, and safflower oils are relatively low in essential omega-3 fatty acids. Half of servings in the oil category should be one of the vegetable oils providing essential fatty acids each day. Tropical oils (e.g., coconut and palm) are extremely low in essential fatty acids.

• Discretionary calories should be limited to avoid excessive weight gain. Satisfying appetite with sweets limits eating of vitamin-, mineral-, and protein-rich foods important to good health and function. Low fat dairy products and lean meat should be used or discretionary calories reduced.

How Many Servings ?

How many servings you eat from each food group will depend on how many calories you need. As a general rule of thumb, your diet is adequate in vitamins and minerals if you eat at least the minimum number of servings from each food group. But to get enough calories, protein and carbohydrate, most athletes need more than that.
Here are examples of servings at various calorie levels.

Calories	1200	1400	1500	1600	1800	2000
Grains/Bread	4	4	5	6	7	8
Protein	5	7	8	9	10	11-12
Vegetables	4	4	4	4	4	4-5
Fruit	3	3	3	3	3	3
Milk	2	2	2	2	2	2
Fat	3	3	3	4	4-5	5-7
Free	1or2	2or3	3or4	3or4	3or4	3or4

What is a serving ?

A serving is the amount of food that experts recommends you to eat e.g. 1 cup of milk or 1 ounce of bread etc.

When choosing portions, try to make it as close as possible to the serving size.Based on your diet, you decide how many servings of food you need to consume.If you want to gain weight, you should eat more servings of carbohydrates and fats. If you want to loose weight, you should eat more protein servings and less carbohydrates and fats serving. If you follow any diet plan, then It has fixed servings of carbohydrates, proteins and fat.

For example..In a 1200 cal plan, there may be 5 carbohydrates servings, 2 fruits serving, 5 protein servings, 4 fat dervings etc., depending on your need.

Why you need fundamentals ?

The fundamentals of nutrition are not new and perhaps not very interesting, but can be hard to master. Once you have mastered the fundamentals of nutrition, you are ready to move on to things you may find more interesting, like precompetition eating, changing body composition and improving endurance, gaining or losing weight, dealing with deficiencies and more. These things are important, but by focusing on the fundamentals first, you build a solid nutrition foundation.