Healthy Lifestyle – “Understand balanced nutrition guidelines to correctly understand how much the body needs daily nutrition.” “Of course, this will affect a much healthier lifestyle in the future.”
When you were in elementary school, you knew the terms “four healthy” and “five perfect.” As the need for a healthy lifestyle grows, these guidelines change. Currently, most countries are introduced to a healthy lifestyle with the guidelines of a food pyramid or food plate.
Several European countries introduced a healthy diet by dividing food portions between plates. Meanwhile, several countries use a balanced nutritional pyramid.
However, the basic principles of the guidelines for healthy eating are the same, namely applying balanced nutrition.
Implementation of Balanced Nutrition Guidelines
Balanced nutrition is the arrangement of daily food intake based on the type and amount of nutrients adjusted to the daily needs of the body. Early nutritional needs are met by observing the principles of food diversity, physical activity, clean living behavior, and maintaining normal body weight. This is done to prevent nutritional disorders.
balanced nutrition, namely when food intake is sufficient in terms of quantity, and quality, and contains the various nutrients the body needs. The goal is to maintain body health, perfect growth (in children), stored nutrients, and optimal activities and functions of daily life.
Ten guidelines for balanced nutrition need to be understood, namely:
- Get used to eating a variety of staple foods.
- Limit your consumption of sweet, salty, and fatty foods.
- Do enough physical activity and maintain your ideal body weight.
- Get used to eating side dishes that contain a lot of protein.
- Wash hands with soap under running water.
- Get used to breakfast.
- Make it a habit to drink enough safe water.
- Eat lots of fruit and vegetables.
- Make it a habit to read food package labels.
- Be grateful and enjoy a variety of foods.
In principle, the application of balanced nutrition to a healthy lifestyle has four pillars. These four principles are an attempt to balance incoming and outgoing nutrients while also maintaining regular body weight control.
The Four Pillars of Balanced Nutrition
1. Consuming a Variety of Foods
There are no foods that contain the nutrients needed by the body. For example, rice contains calories, but it is low in vitamins and minerals. Vegetables and fruit are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, but they are low in calories and protein. Therefore, you are advised to consume a variety of foods regularly every day. Consumption must be in a balanced proportion of food with sufficient amounts and not excessive.
2. Clean Living Behavior
Clean living behavior is useful for preventing the body from infection. Infection is one of the important factors affecting nutritional status. People who have infectious diseases can experience a decrease in appetite so that nutrients that enter the body are reduced. When the body is infected, it needs more nutrients. This shows that malnutrition and infection have a relationship.
3. Routine Physical Activity
Physical activity is all activities of the body, including exercise, which is a way to balance the entry and exit of nutrients, especially the body’s main source of energy. Physical activity is also beneficial in facilitating metabolism, including the metabolism of nutrients. We recommend that you do physical activity at least 3 times a week with a duration of 30 minutes per session.
4. Maintaining Normal Body Weight
One measure that shows that there is a balance of nutrition in the body is having a balanced body weight in Body Mass Index. Applying a balanced nutritional lifestyle will prevent excess or underweight.
The application of balanced nutrition is intended to provide change for the better. For example, the prevalence of stunting has decreased from 37.2 percent in 2013 to 30.2 percent in 2018.
However, on the other hand, the obesity rate has increased from 14.8 percent in 2013 to 21.8 percent in 2019. That is why the principle of balanced nutrition is very important to prevent health problems.
Balanced Nutrition Diet Steps
1. Carbohydrates High in Fiber
The carbohydrates needed are at least a third of the dinner plate used. Sources of carbohydrates include potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, and cereals.
Choose carbohydrate sources with higher fiber or whole grain varieties, such as whole wheat pasta, brown rice, or potatoes with the skin on.
Carbohydrates with more fiber can help you feel full longer.
2. Reduce Saturated Fat and Sugar
Keep an eye on the fat added when cooking or serving these types of foods, as it can increase the calorie content unknowingly, for example, when cooking with oil, spreading butter on bread, or adding creamy sauces to pasta.
Fat is needed in the diet, but it is necessary to pay attention to the amount and type of fat eaten. There are two main types of fat, saturated and unsaturated.
Too much saturated fat can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the risk of heart disease.
Generally, men should not consume more than 30g of saturated fat a day and women 20g of saturated fat a day. Saturated fat is found in fatty cuts of meat, sausages, butter, cheddar cheese, cream, cakes, and biscuits.
Try to reduce your intake of saturated fat and choose foods that contain unsaturated fats, such as vegetable oils and avocados.
For a healthier option, use a small amount of vegetable or olive oil instead of butter. When consuming meat, choose lean cuts or cut out visible fat.
All types of fat are high in energy, so they should only be eaten in small amounts.
3. Consume Lots of Vegetables and Fruit
It is recommended to eat at least five servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables each day, making them snacks or side dishes at one meal.
Fruits and vegetables can be fresh, frozen, canned, dried, or juiced. 80g fresh, canned, or frozen fruit and vegetables, 30g dried fruit, 150 ml glass of juice, counts as 1 serving.
4. Consumption of Fish High in Omega-3
Fish is a good source of protein and contains many vitamins and minerals for a healthy lifestyle. Try to eat at least 2 servings of fish a week.
Include at least 1 serving of fish high in omega-3 fats to help prevent heart disease. These include salmon, trout, herring, sardines, pilchards, and mackerel.
Fish can be managed from fresh, frozen, or canned fish, but you need to pay attention to the salt content in canned fish.
5. Proteins
Protein is also very necessary for the body to build tissue. A correct and healthy diet does not skip the consumption of vegetables and animal protein.
If you want to lose weight, you should choose lean meat and avoid eating chicken skin. Fish. Eggs, tofu, and tempeh contain high enough protein.
Also, whole grains tend to contain more fiber and protein. Wheat seeds, brown rice to oats can be consumed on a diet.
6. Consume Enough Water
Consuming enough water is very important to avoid dehydration while on a diet. You need to consume about 6 to 8 glasses of fluids every day. Apart from water, fluids can also be obtained from several fruits and vegetables that contain high water content such as watermelons, melons, and cucumbers.
After following a correct and healthy diet. Make sure to exercise regularly as it can help reduce your risk of developing serious health conditions and maintain your weight.
