What is a BALANCED diet?

'Balance' is a word we have heard in the nutrition world so many times that we probably all think we know what it means. But if you stop and take five minutes to come up with an answer to the question, 'What is a balanced diet?' you might realise that you really don't know.

This will be for one of two reasons: one, you'll find you have what at best could be described as a very vague answer; or two, you'll have one answer for each fad diet that has failed you over the years, resulting in a list of answers as long as your arm.

And that's the problem

The word has been used to death by people trying to sell you something. Whether it's a diet book, or diet shakes and products, or a government recommendation designed to keep the economy going is irrelevant. They need you to buy, so they tell you it's 'balanced' and therefore healthy.

The word has been used to death by people trying to sell you something.

My answer to the question is to examine what a balanced diet looks like to a REAL human - one who has to fend for him/herself without the convenience of supermarkets and microwave meals.

What would you NATURALLY eat?

If you were wandering around the earth and literally living off the land you would eat VERY differently to how you eat now. Around 90 to 95 percent of your diet would consist of fruits, leaves, roots, nuts and seeds.

Why? Because they don't run away (or fight back) when you try to catch them.

You MAY eat just a little animal flesh once every couple of weeks. You would eat chocolate and potato crisps every... Oh wait, never.

This is the HUMAN diet

It is almost exclusively plant-based. This is fitting, since our bodies are biologically designed for us to be HERBIVORES.

Am I saying a balanced diet is a vegetarian diet?

Am I saying a balanced diet is a vegan/vegetarian diet? Yes, in an ideal world. But in YOUR life a balanced vegetarian diet is probably not so simple. And hubby and the kids might have a complete melt-down if you even suggested going the vegetarian route.

What I am STRONGLY suggesting is that your diet would be MORE balanced if you upped your vegetable and fruit intake drastically, and cut your consumption of meat/dairy to once or twice per week maximum.

You're not going to like this now, but give it a couple of weeks.

When you're a few kilos lighter, have clearer skin and 100% more energy, you'll thank me!

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