How to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet
Jun 24, 2025
Source: Cainiu Health
Dr. Yu Yongchao
Introduction
To achieve a balanced diet and proper nutrition, it is important to appropriately combine different types of food, control the caloric content of each meal according to recommended proportions, maintain regular meal times for three meals per day, use healthy cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, and stewing, and ensure dietary diversity. In daily life, one can create meal plans, experiment with new ingredients, and choose healthy dining establishments when eating out. These practices help develop scientific eating habits and ensure comprehensive nutrient intake.
Scientifically achieving a balanced diet generally involves appropriately combining different types of food, controlling caloric intake per meal, maintaining regular meal times, paying attention to cooking methods, and ensuring dietary diversity. A detailed explanation is as follows:
1. Appropriately combining different types of food: Rationally proportioning grains and tubers, vegetables and fruits, meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and legumes, and oils and fats. Grains and tubers supply carbohydrates as the energy basis; vegetables and fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber; meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, and legumes provide high-quality protein; moderate amounts of oils and fats aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. These four food groups together form the foundation of a nutritionally balanced diet.
2. Controlling caloric intake per meal: Calculating daily caloric needs based on age, gender, and physical activity level, and distributing calories reasonably across three meals. Following the proportion of 30% for breakfast, 40% for lunch, and 30% for dinner helps avoid excessive or insufficient calorie intake, maintaining normal body metabolism and energy balance.
3. Ensuring regular meals: Establishing fixed meal times and portion sizes daily, without arbitrarily skipping or delaying meals. Breakfast kickstarts metabolism, lunch replenishes energy used in the morning and fuels the afternoon, and dinner supports bodily recovery. Regular meals maintain a stable digestive system and ensure effective nutrient absorption.
4. Choosing appropriate cooking methods: Prioritizing low-temperature cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, and stewing, while minimizing frying and deep-frying. Low-temperature cooking preserves nutrients in ingredients, reduces oil consumption, minimizes the formation of harmful substances, and retains the maximum nutritional value of food.
5. Maintaining dietary diversity: Paying attention to variety in daily meals rather than consuming monotonous foods. Different foods provide different nutrients, and a diverse diet ensures comprehensive intake of various nutrients, preventing deficiencies caused by long-term consumption of a single type of food.
To practice balanced nutrition in daily life, one can create a weekly meal plan, plan grocery purchases in advance, and experiment with new ingredients and cooking techniques. When dining out, prioritize restaurants offering a wide variety of dishes with less oil and salt, and cultivate healthy eating habits through consistent, small actions.
