What is Considered a Balanced Meal?

Dietary balance refers to the ideal diet of human beings, and is also an important long-term goal of nutrition science. Except that infants who are breast-fed within six months can obtain a balanced diet, it can be said that no single food can be said to be a balanced diet for humans. Only a variety of foods that match each other can constitute a real life. Balanced meal. Theoretically, a person's diet can satisfy both the physiological desire to eat and the physical and psychological material needs. It is a balanced diet. With the development of nutrition science, the connotation of balanced diet is constantly being enriched and developed. ^[1]

Balanced diet

The diet must meet the characteristics of the individual's growth, development, and physiological conditions, and contain various nutrients required by the human body. The content is appropriate to fully meet the needs of the body, maintain normal physiological functions, and promote growth and development. This kind of diet is called a "balanced diet" . U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines recommend that the amount of cereals, bread, vegetables, and fruits required each day is greatly increased, while the demand for dairy products and meat is greatly reduced, as follows: cereals and refined, nutritious

I. Ensure reasonable nutrition and provide nutrition

1. The energy provided by the diet within a certain period of time can meet the energy consumption needs of different genders, ages, seasons, types of work, different environmental conditions, and development stages, and it will not interfere with physiological functions and life because of low energy Mobility, and will not cause abnormal accumulation of physical energy due to excess energy.

2. Six major categories of more than 40 nutrients required by the body are absorbed and utilized by the body in a dynamic process, so that various tissues of the body can reach normal working concentrations, which will not cause shortage due to insufficient dietary intake, but also Will not cause serious overload of the body due to excessive intake and interfere with substance metabolism.

3. Nutrients match each other. The body's demand for different nutrients is very different, and some microelements are just a few micrograms enough to meet physiological needs. There is a certain range of ratios between various nutrients. Outside this range, mutual interference or interference will occur, and even useless cycles will occur, resulting in unnecessary decomposition and anabolic. This is most common in heat supply. For example, there is a certain matching relationship between carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Any ratio that is too high is not helpful or even harmful. Other nutrients are no exception. If the ratio of divalent cations such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, manganese, and selenium does not match, they will interfere with each other. In addition, there are two main types of nutrients in nutrients, one is the constituents of the body such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins, and the other is minerals and vitamins. If they are not properly matched, metabolic abnormalities will occur in use and operation.

4. Different types of the same kind of nutrients also have different structural parts. For example, different proteins are composed of different amino acid sequences, different lipids are also composed of different fatty acids, and different carbohydrates are also composed of different polysaccharides. , Disaccharides, monosaccharides, etc. For foods ingested by the human body, its constituent parts should ideally be consistent with what the body needs. The essence of the complementary effect between proteins in the diet is to balance the different amino acids provided by the protein with the actual needs of the body, so as to obtain the best titer.

5. Water is another type of nutrient other than protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The importance of its status actually ranks first among the six nutrients. It is indispensable for the metabolism of the remaining five major types of nutrients. Once the water metabolism is dysfunctional, the other main metabolic links of the body cannot operate normally. However, in general, water is easily available, so its importance is often overlooked. The amount of water required varies with environmental conditions and dietary activities. However, an average adult needs 2L of water per day, which includes water produced in food and metabolism. The balance of water and electrolytes are in parallel. Once these balances are seriously out of balance, metabolic processes will be disturbed or even life-threatening.

6. Closely related to the electrolytes in the body is the difference in the pH of the end products of metabolism caused by different dietary structures, that is, acidic, alkaline and neutral. In this sense, food can also be divided into two categories, namely acidic foods and alkaline foods. The human body has great power to regulate this balance, but if the two are relatively balanced, their metabolites will not cause the body's buffer system load. Therefore, a reasonable balanced diet should be beneficial to the body's acid-base balance.

7. Reasonable dietary structure also includes the role of non-nutritive substances. In addition to nutrients, food also contains non-nutrients, such as tannin and phytic acid in fruits. In addition, certain substances contained in food can cause the body to react differently, that is to say, according to ancient Chinese medicine, different foods will have cool, hot, warm and other reactions after eating, which is observed in ancient Chinese medical practice Yes, the legendary Shennong tastes Baicao, in essence, people look for various types of foods that people need in dietary practice, and experience the body's reactivity after eating different foods. Pectin is a useful dietary fiber in food, but excessive intake of pectin can cause diarrhea. In contrast, excessive intake of tannic acid can cause constipation. Therefore, these factors need to be considered in the diet structure.

8. Children and adolescents under growth and development conditions, their metabolism is in a state of positive equilibrium, not just reaching the equilibrium under normal circumstances. For pregnant women whose bodies are giving birth to new life, and for lactating women who have to synthesize many full-value nutrients in their mothers, their nutritional needs are also in a balanced state. In the recovery of patients, new tissues need to be synthesized in the body, and the reconstruction and repair of tissues is another type of positive balance. That is, compared with normal conditions, the nitrogen intake is slightly greater than the nitrogen elimination, so that It is in a positive equilibrium state of nitrogen. But even this state can still be called an equilibrium state.

9. In addition to digestion, absorption and utilization, there is also a reaction relationship between people and food, that is, the human body has a certain ability to adapt, regulate and respond to food. For example, when toxins are present in the food, the body may vomit or diarrhea to remove the poison. If the food that a person consumes is in an adaptive state (this includes good digestion and functioning), the right amount of dietary fiber in the food is matched with other nutrients and feels comfortable when eating without causing indigestion, allergic reactions and intolerance Waiting, that is, does not cause abnormal feelings and reactions in the body. This is often an overlooked aspect of a balanced diet. Bacterial contamination and food poisoning are not included in this category, but must be avoided.

10. Theoretically balanced food should also include any psychological balance of food, that is, the state of mind of the person in front of the food. Whether a person is content, appreciates and enjoys the food he eats, or eats just for fullness and life, is a different concept. Some people think that good food must be high in fat and animal protein; some people think that green rice and white rice are a treat for life; some people emphasize that everything is for taste, and some people advocate the taste of natural food; some people A lot of money is spent to achieve psychological balance; while some people admire light and reasonable meals with interest, and think that this is an elegant and civilized sentiment. The psychological balance of eating will be a constant topic and an important subject of nutrition science.

11. Due to the individual differences between people, the balanced food is different and relative among different individuals, and there is a normal distribution for a group. ^[2]