Balanced diet for improved health

Trying to follow a balanced diet is probably the most nutritionally sound approach to healthy eating. The major benefit to using a balanced diet is that you will ensure you are getting an optimal amount of vitamins and minerals. Often, when you cut out entire food groups, such as carbohydrates or fat, you are going to end up short on many of the valuable nutrients that are essential for proper health.

When following a balanced diet, you'll still want to be sure to watch what types of foods you are eating however, and not consume a great deal of simple sugar or saturated fat.

Focus more on choosing foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean sources of meat. If you rely too much on animal products, you could find your saturated fat levels getting higher, which will then lead to an increase in cholesterol levels as well.

Remember too, if you are trying to lose weight or just maintain your current weight, calories will play a large role. While it's important to eat a variety of foods, regardless of how healthy these foods are, if you eat too much of them, you will still gain weight.

So, keep these few points in perspective as you approach this way of eating. Most individuals will do well on such a diet because they won't feel as restricted with what they can and cannot eat.