Eating the right nutrients from a balanced diet helps build muscle and energy. But the most common question asked is " how do we know what exactly a balanced diet involves? We give below a food pyramid which is the most accepted guideline and fairly easy to follow. Use it to give you direction for your decisions on food intake as it tells you how many servings of each food you should take each day and rest assured you will be following a good, balanced diet.

The food pyramid

Using this pyramid will also help you to prevent or delay age-related diseases that might strike you later in life. For example, by cutting down your fat intake you will automatically reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure. Also, by increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat, you may be doing yourself a favour as you will reduce the risk of getting certain types of cancer. Dietician Dharini Krishnan advices “Eat more of vegetables almost 200 gms per meal. Eat less rice or roti and include plenty of fresh fruits Use less oil in cooking and continue to exercise regularly in order to maintain good healh".

The pyramid clearly says that the biggest part of the calories you take in each day should come from grains and the least should come from fats, oils and sweets. There is also a heavy emphasis on vegetables and fruits, while intake of meat and dairy products is more restricted. However, if you are already under a nutritionist's guidance, please follow his or her advice as this is more of a general guideline and not meant for people who are already taking professional help.

As a weight loss method

Most often we find people deciding to exercise and eat a balanced diet with just one goal in mind " to lose weight. You will find that incorporating these healthy habits will indeed have beneficial results and they will indeed lose weight in the process. In some, exercise and dieting may not make them look thin, but it will certainly make them healthier.

About taking supplements

Therapeutic Dietician Mrs. Ambiga Sekhar lays complete emphasis on a natural diet as being superior to supplements. “Eat foods plenty of fibre and protein rich foods, follow up with regular exercise and you will not need expensive supplements" she advices. In fact, some nutritional supplements may not even suit your body such as mega doses of vitamins and minerals and their claims may not be all based on fact. Before you consider taking supplements, we advice you to consult your doctor or dietician.

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