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A healthy diet is an eating plan that provides the appropriate combination of calories and nutrients. A healthy diet has four characteristics:

1. Adequate
2. Moderate 
3. Balanced
4. Varied

Adequate. An adequate diet provides enough energy (calories), nutrients and fiber to maintain health. The right diet for one person may not be right for another. For example, the energy requirements for a woman who engages in light physical activity are between 1,500 to 2,000 calories daily, while a female athlete may require up to 3,000 calories daily.

Moderate. A moderate diet refers to consuming a food in moderate amounts. That is, neither too little nor too much. If food is not consumed in moderation, individual health goals cannot be achieved. There are guides like MyPlate Plan, that indicate the (moderate) amount of food that we should consume by age, gender, weight and height.

Balanced. A balanced diet is one that contains the combination of foods that provide the appropriate proportion of nutrients. The body needs different types of foods in various quantities to maintain health. Each food provides different nutrients that, when combining foods, the nutrients complement each other. For example, fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of fiber, vitamin C, potassium and magnesium. In contrast, meats, although they do not contain fiber or vitamin C, are good sources of protein, iron, zinc and copper.

Varied. A varied diet refers to consuming different foods from different groups daily. For example, from the protein group you decide to consume a boiled egg for breakfast, for lunch you eat tuna in water, and for dinner you consume baked chicken. That is, you eat a different protein food at each meal. This way you not only benefit from the main nutrient, which is protein, but you also consume the particular or specific nutrients of each of the foods. With a selection of hundreds (if not thousands) of healthy foods available, trying new foods daily or weekly is a fun and easy way to have a varied diet. Also, it avoids the boredom of eating the same thing, allowing us to maintain health and an adequate weight with less effort. 

If you take these 4 characteristics into consideration in your daily diet, you will be able to select foods that provide you with the appropriate combination of energy and nutrients.

Carmen M. Pérez Velázquez