What It Means to Eat a Balanced Diet

You’ve heard this piece of health wisdom since elementary school: Eat a balanced diet. But what exactly does that mean, and how do you know if you are achieving it? Admittedly, the term “balanced diet” sounds a little … less than scientific. But in fact, the tenets of a balanced approach to eating are fairly comprehensive, and following a balanced diets is correlated with measurable improvements in health. We reviewed dietary guidelines and talked to nutrition experts to nail down the basics of a diet that’s both healthful and diverse enough to give you the maximum benefits for your caloric buck—and keep you sufficiently satisfied to not reach for empty-calorie junk foods (at least not too often).

Here’s what to know about eating a balanced diet in the 21st century.

Simply put, a balanced diet (don’t worry, we’ll define what that means in a minute) is critical for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Numerous studies show that eating nutritious food can protect against chronic health conditions including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Other research shows that limiting or avoiding ingredients that can be harmful in large quantities, including salt, added sugar, and saturated or trans fats, can also benefit your health. And when you are living with a chronic health condition, fueling your body with nutritious foods can be a key part of managing your condition.

“A well-balanced diet is important because it provides all of the energy you need to keep [yourself] active throughout the day, while also providing nutrients you need for growth and repair, helping you to stay strong and healthy and to help prevent diet-related illness, such as some cancers,” says Grace Derocha, R.D., a registered dietitian based in Detroit, MI, and national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

First things first: The term “balanced diet” has no single clinical meaning or blockbuster cookbook or celebrity chef attached to it. It’s not the keto diet, the DASH diet, or even the Mediterranean diet (although the DASH and Mediterranean diets are examples of balanced diets). It’s more akin to just basic nutritional common sense about balancing your food intake across the major food groups, says Derocha.

According to the government’s nutrition guidelines, these groups are:

• Fruits, especially whole fruits

• Vegetables, including beans and peas (legumes), although these also fall under the proteins group (they share nutrients with both groups)

• Grains, preferably whole grains

• Proteins, including seafood, skinless poultry, lean beef and pork, eggs, nuts, seeds, and soy products, as well as beans

• Dairy, including fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese, and/or lactose-free versions and fortified soy beverages and yogurt as alternatives

How much of each group to eat? If you’re picturing the old U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food pyramid, it’s no longer: The agency replaced it in 2011 with a new graphic called MyPlate. The plate is divided into four sections: vegetables, fruit, protein, and grains, with a cup representing dairy foods (or dairy alternatives) off to the side. The sections aren’t exactly the same size; vegetables and grains are a little bigger, and fruit and proteins are slightly smaller.

What about healthy fats like olive oil—where do they fit in? While oils are not considered a main food group, they play an important role in a balanced diet as a source of essential fatty acids, according to the USDA. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans call oils, including vegetable oils and oils in foods such as seafood and nuts, a “core element” of a healthy dietary pattern along with the five food groups.

Other Plate Methods

In addition to MyPlate, there are other healthy plate visuals that you can follow, especially if you are living with diabetes or another condition that has special dietary considerations. Rahaf Al Bochi, R.D.N., a registered dietitian nutritionist based near Washington, D.C., and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, recommends a version known as the Diabetes Plate Method.

“You divide your plate into three sections,” explains Al Bochi, who owns Olive Tree Nutrition, a private nutrition coaching practice. “Half of the plate is for non-starchy vegetables, a quarter of your plate is for protein foods, and a quarter of your plate is for carbohydrate foods.”

Calories are the energy stored in food. While tracking your calorie sources throughout the day can help you maintain a balanced diet, tracking calories themselves isn’t the main idea. Rather, the idea behind a balanced diet is to focus on balancing out your food groups (and in doing so, you’ll also be keeping calories in check). The goal: Avoid taking in more calories than you burn, which can lead to unhealthy weight gain.

“When we eat and drink more calories than we use up, our bodies store the excess as body fat. If this continues, over time we may put on weight,” says Derocha. On the other hand, “if you’re not getting enough calories, chances are you’re not getting enough vitamins and minerals either. Nutritional deficiencies may cause a long list of health complications.” These include anemia, bone weakness, muscle aches, mood changes, and nervous system problems, according to the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.

Not sure how many calories your body needs? You can get a rough idea by using the USDA’s individualized MyPlate Plan (enter your height, weight, and some other basic info plus your physical activity level and it suggests how many calories you should eat per day).

To implement a balanced diet, the USDA recommends getting 85% of your daily calorie intake from the five main food groups—fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy (or alternatives), and protein—and the other 15% of calories from sources including added oils or sugars.

In a 2,000-calorie daily diet, that amounts to about:

• 2.5 cups of vegetables

• 2 cups of fruit

• 6 ounces of grains (ideally whole grains)

• 3 cups of dairy

• 5.5 ounces of proteins

• No more than 27 grams of added oils (for reference, a tablespoon of olive oil is 13.3 grams)

• 240 calories for sweets or other foods that don’t fit into a main food group

You’ll note that the last two items on the list above have maximum caps on them, unlike the rest. A balanced diet is about not just eating a variety of healthful foods but also limiting or flat-out avoiding those that work against you. These are:

Added Sugars

Sweets contribute to weight gain and tooth decay, make blood sugar harder to manage, and can affect your blood pressure. Numerous studies, including one in the Journal of the American Medical Association, have found that high sugar consumption raises your risk of cardiovascular disease. Plus, sugar-sweetened junk food provides empty calories and crowds out more nutritious options. Conversely, reducing your intake of added sugar can lower your risk of heart disease, according to the World Health Organization. National dietary guidelines call for limiting added sugars to less than 10% of daily calories. Check food labels—added sugar is listed (in grams) on the nutrition facts panel along with total sugar.

Saturated Fats and Trans Fats

Saturated fats are found mainly in animal foods. They’re also found in tropical oils like palm or coconut oil. Some research has shown that a high intake of saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, mainly by increasing LDL (bad) cholesterol. For this reason, the American Heart Association (AHA) has long recommended limiting saturated fat in the diet (most recently to 5% to 6% of daily calories or less).

However, newer research has called this traditional advice into question. For example, a large meta-analysis in Nutrition Reviews in 2020 made headlines when it found no association between intake of saturated fats and the risk of heart disease. (Among its conclusions: “The AHA stance regarding the strength of the evidence for the recommendation to limit SFAs [saturated fatty acids] for heart disease prevention may be overstated and in need of reevaluation.”) A similar meta-analysis reached the same conclusion about stroke.

Either way, there’s good evidence that substituting unsaturated fats (such as avocado, olive, or sunflower oil) for saturated ones (like butter, lard, or palm oil) can lower your LDL and total cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease. Unsaturated fats are found mainly in plant foods such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds, and well as in seafood. These “good fats” are known to have beneficial effects in the body such as improving blood cholesterol levels, easing inflammation, and helping stabilize heart rhythms, according to The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Unsaturated fats are also preferable to trans fats, which come from partially hydrogenated oils and are found in processed foods like crackers, cookies, and frozen pizzas. Like saturated fats, they’ve been linked with heart disease.

As a general rule, try to keep total fat consumption under 30% of daily calories, with most of that coming from unsaturated fats.

Salt and Sodium

Controlling your intake of salt and sodium (which naturally occurs in salt and is also added to many packaged and processed foods) can help prevent high blood pressure and lower your risk of heart disease or stroke. Sodium intake for most people should be less than 2,300 milligrams a day, the amount in one teaspoon of table salt. If you have high blood pressure (hypertension), you should have less than 1,500 mg of sodium a day. To avoid getting too much sodium, limit your intake of processed meats, ready-to-eat meals, condiments like fish sauce or soy sauce, and salty snacks. Don’t keep salt shakers on the table to avoid adding it to meals.

Alcohol and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

Alcoholic beverages are not considered part of a healthy balanced diet, according to the AHA, which advises drinking wine or other alcoholic beverages in moderation or not at all. High intake of alcohol raises levels of triglycerides (a type of fat that circulates in the blood) and can lead to high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, cardiac arrhythmia, and other problems, the group says. While red wine contains antioxidants, those benefits can also be found in grapes and blueberries.

You should also limit or avoid sugar-sweetened drinks like soda and fruit drinks (not 100% juice). Maintain a steady intake of low- or no-calorie beverages like flat or sparkling water and unsweetened coffee or tea. Low- or nonfat milk contains beneficial nutrients like calcium and vitamin D.

The tenets of healthy eating can be a lot to, well, digest. “It’s a balance of [many] food types like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy, beans, nuts, fats, oils, and animal and plant-based proteins,” says Al Bochi.

Because it’s nice to have a cheat sheet sometimes, here’s a quick daily checklist based on our experts’ recommendations:

• Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables that represent the colors of the rainbow for maximum vitamins and minerals.

• Choose healthy sources of protein including seafood, poultry, eggs or egg whites, beans, and nuts. Limit red meats and processed meats like bacon, cold cuts, and sausage. Fatty fish are a good source of protein because they’re also rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

• Eat at least five portions of fruits and vegetables each day, not counting potatoes, to ensure you are getting enough fiber (25 to 30 grams a day for most people).

• Get your nutrients from food, not supplements, whenever possible.

• Include a variety of food groups every day.

• When eating grains, choose whole grains such as brown rice, oats, quinoa, and whole wheat pasta. They’re considered “good” carbohydrates and have less of an influence on blood sugar levels than white bread, pasta, and rice.

A balanced diet will look different by person, but the basic tenets are the same. Choose a variety of healthy foods from the major food groups plus some oils, preferably unsaturated ones. Focus on foods that offer a lot of healthful nutrients for their calories (i.e. nutrient-dense foods). Be mindful of calories in relation to your energy needs to avoid overconsumption and weight gain. And enjoy. If you’re looking for help crafting a diet plan that works for you, consider working with a registered dietitian nutritionist.