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A Balanced Diet: Understanding Food Groups And Healthy Eating | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
What is a balanced diet? A term widely used, but what does it actually mean? Expert Nutritionist, Jamie Wright, sheds some light on balance and how you can piece together a diet plan that works for you and supports you in moving towards your goals. How to eat healthy can be challenging, especially when you think you'd need to opt for a 'healthy eating plate'. Let's dig in to the facts! ********************************* Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1 ➡️ If you like this, you'll love this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuMuT4YG1Og&t=10s ➡️ Find more Nutrition advice here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRg_xzdS7PI&list=PLkb17OgnhBGpfKPd8GtbR9hWoH03F56F&pp=gAQBiAQB Download the Myprotein app: https://bit.ly/3dhVVUE 📱 ********************************* #dietplan #healthyeating #myprotein A Balanced Diet: Understanding Food Groups And Healthy Eating | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
View Video Transcript
0:00
hi I'm Jimmy Wright an accredited
0:01
nutritionist and I specialize in helping
0:04
people all across the world achieve
0:05
their goals without any CI diets on
0:07
today's episode of nutritionist
0:09
explained we're going to be talking
0:10
about what is a balanced diet how we
0:13
feel ourselves matters now I hope that
0:15
doesn't come to a surprise to any of you
0:17
but our diet directly impacts both our
0:19
physical and mental health and for your
0:21
athletes out there it's also critically
0:23
influential in your recovery performance
0:26
and body composition in this episode of
0:28
nutritionist explains we're going to
0:30
talk about all things balanced diet and
0:32
how you can piece together a diet that
0:34
works for you and supports you in moving
0:36
towards your
0:37
[Music]
0:40
goals balanced or healthy diet means
0:43
many different things to many different
0:45
groups of people we live in an age
0:47
whereby I genuinely don't think I could
0:49
give a definition of a balanced diet
0:50
without upsetting someone so I've gone
0:52
and I've dug to find the version of a
0:54
balanced diet that I believe will appeal
0:56
to the majority of you watching but
0:57
before I jump into that let's look at
0:59
the most popular iterations of a
1:01
balanced diet let's start off with the
1:03
UK's eat well guide a pictorial
1:05
representation of a healthy diet which
1:07
superseded the wellplate in 2016 the
1:11
guide is split into five categories with
1:13
the following daily recommendations
1:15
emptied at least five portions of fruit
1:17
and veg a day a third of your daily
1:19
energy intake should come from potatoes
1:21
bread rice pasta and other starchy
1:23
carbohydrates with ANM to choose whole
1:26
grain or higher fiber options where
1:28
possible the guide recommends having
1:29
some beans pulses fish eggs meat and
1:33
other proteins including two portions of
1:35
fish every week of which one should be
1:37
oily the guide also recommends to
1:39
include some dairy or dairy Alternatives
1:42
such as soya drinks aiming to choose
1:44
lower fat and lower sugar options where
1:46
possible and finally the guide also asks
1:49
to incorporate small amounts of
1:50
unsaturated oils and spreads the eat
1:53
well guide also provides some
1:54
suggestions for energy intake and
1:56
maintaining adequate hydration but these
1:58
are rather generic on to the next set of
2:00
Balan diet principles I wanted to touch
2:02
on the United States version of the
2:04
eatwell guide my plate my plate was
2:07
first introduced in 2011 and replaced my
2:10
pyramid which ultimately got scrapped
2:12
because it was so confusing on the
2:13
surface my plate and the well guide
2:16
aren't hugely dissimilar both would have
2:17
a greater preference for carbohydrates
2:19
over fats and protein and both advocate
2:22
for more plants in the diet the my plate
2:24
is slightly different in that it is more
2:27
simplistic and is divided into four
2:29
categories grains vegetables fruits and
2:32
protein with a smaller Circle outside of
2:34
the plate to represent Dairy my plate
2:37
also has more defined percentage based
2:39
recommendations compared to the eat well
2:40
guide and recommends that 30% of your
2:43
diet or plate is greens 40% of it is
2:46
vegetables 10% is fruits and the
2:48
remaining 20% is protein now before I
2:50
launched into two of the more popular
2:52
sets of balanced diet guidelines I did
2:54
say that I had dug pretty deep on this
2:56
subject to find you at least in my mind
2:59
the best best set of General healthy
3:01
eating guidelines want to know where I
3:03
find them South Korea they use the food
3:06
balance Wheels now the reason why I'm a
3:08
fan of the food balance Wheels over some
3:10
other balanced diet guidelines is the
3:12
advocacy for more protein in the diet as
3:14
they recommend three to four portions
3:16
per day while that recommendation at
3:18
least in its practical application
3:20
without further education on appropriate
3:21
serving sizes may not be optimal for
3:24
health at least in my opinion it does
3:26
appear to help influence Koreans in
3:28
achieving a better daily intake of
3:29
protein compared to other countries who
3:32
often fall short of the recommended
3:34
daily intake a 2013 study investigated
3:37
the impact of adherence to the food
3:39
balance wheels on health outcomes this
3:41
study included over 5,000 data sets
3:43
collected from people involved in the
3:45
Korean national health and nutritional
3:47
examination survey that's quite a
3:49
mindful those with the greatest levels
3:50
of adherence to the guidelines were the
3:52
lowest risk of diabetes hypertension
3:55
osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease
3:57
they are also much more likely to be
3:58
able to maintain in and manage a healthy
4:01
weight let's have a bit of fun why don't
4:03
we give it a crack at trying to make our
4:05
own guidelines a goal oriented balanced
4:08
diet where better to start with a
4:10
perfect balanced diet than energy intake
4:13
understanding your energy intake needs
4:15
in advance of determining your
4:16
macronutrient goals and ultimately
4:18
planning your meals is essentially
4:20
laying a foundation personally I would
4:22
recommend the use of a calorie
4:24
calculator here these calculators will
4:25
help you to determine the energy intake
4:27
you need to take in each day to maintain
4:29
or change your current weight my advice
4:31
would be to try to use a calculator
4:32
which factors in your physical activity
4:34
levels too as without that the antx
4:37
suggested may be inadequate everyone's
4:39
favorite next fruit sand I'm just
4:42
kidding let's focus on protein now in
4:44
terms of hierarchy of actual importance
4:47
for survivability and health You could
4:49
argue that protein and plants are Level
4:51
par but that's really just if we were
4:53
referring to the vitamins and minerals
4:55
achieved through plant intake
4:57
fortunately nutrients don't tend to
4:58
exist in isolation so almost all of the
5:00
food and fluid sources of protein
5:02
available to us would also contribute to
5:04
vitamin and mineral intake also we don't
5:06
have the time to go into each vitamin
5:07
mineral individually so for the purpose
5:10
of our theoretical guidelines we'll be
5:12
grouping them within the fruits and
5:14
vegetables category bear in mind that
5:16
fruits and veggies can also contribute
5:17
to protein intake but let's not start
5:19
getting into the weeds here the current
5:21
recommendations for dietary protein
5:23
intake have been suggested to not be
5:25
sufficient to promote optimal muscle
5:27
health so how about we come up with a
5:28
new one now if we were to consider a
5:30
broad guideline for daily protein intake
5:32
that could possibly provide the most
5:34
health benefit across the board then we
5:36
may wish to consider recommending
5:37
somewhere between 1.3 to 2.2 g of
5:41
protein per kilogram of body weight per
5:42
day this suggestion is based on findings
5:45
looking at weight management
5:47
requirements for athletic populations
5:49
and reducing the risk of sarcopenia
5:51
which is age related loss of muscle mass
5:53
fry and fall risk in the elderly for
5:56
Simplicity sake that could look like a
5:58
palm-sized port portion of protein 3 to
6:00
five times per day depending on your own
6:02
unique requirements I would make a
6:05
similar portion recommendation for
6:06
plants at each meth which leads me into
6:08
the next guideline how many plants
6:10
should we be having per day well ideally
6:13
as much as possible as a general rule of
6:14
thumb or Pal if you're using that we
6:17
should be aiming for five portions of
6:19
fruit and veggies a day to make your
6:21
life easier in achieving this guideline
6:23
a few simple tips would be to plan in a
6:25
stir fry incorporate soup into your
6:27
routine add fruits like blueberries to
6:29
your breakfast and throw in vegetables
6:31
to recipes to increase the bulk and make
6:33
the meal go further for yourself or your
6:35
family the next nutrient in Focus has to
6:37
be dietary fats dietary fats matter
6:40
because there are essential fatty acids
6:42
which we have to attain from our diet
6:44
because we can't produce them ourselves
6:45
these are the omega-3 fatty acids and
6:47
omega-6 fatty acids I'll not cover their
6:50
function in too much depth in this video
6:52
but they're involved in many different
6:53
aspects of the human body ranging from
6:55
the immune system to the cellular
6:57
structures of your brain these kinds of
7:00
fats are found predominantly in oily
7:01
fish and plant-based foods such as nuts
7:04
seeds and certain leafy egge while
7:07
deficiency in these fats is rare and we
7:09
tend to get plenty of omega-6 fatty
7:10
acids in our diet as it is I would
7:12
recommend making a conscious effort to
7:14
include fat sources rich in omega-3
7:16
fatty acids on a daily basis for Optimal
7:19
Health or even consider supplementing
7:21
with them the final food category I'd
7:22
like to briefly discuss are the
7:24
carbohydrates I'd recommend focusing on
7:26
whole grains and fiber rich sources of
7:28
carbohydrates me meal times and timing
7:31
the intake of starchy carbohydrates or
7:33
sugary carbs around exercise to help
7:35
fuel performance and to optimize
7:37
recovery for those who prefer having a
7:39
higher carbohydrate intake roughly a
7:41
clenched fist to a palm-sized portion
7:43
will suffice in keeping you fed and for
7:46
those of you who are fans of dietary fat
7:47
over carbohydrate as your primary fuel
7:49
source that's fine too I would be
7:52
mindful of the types of dietary fat
7:54
you're taking in and you may also wish
7:55
to get your blood lipids checked at
7:57
least once a year just to make sure
7:58
everything is is fine on that end and
8:00
the final point to touch on with these
8:01
guidelines is hydration two things I'd
8:04
like to mention here keep the sugar
8:05
sweetened added sugar Rich drinks to a
8:08
minimum they're really not great for us
8:10
to maintain adequate hydration adjust
8:12
your fluids based on your PE color if
8:14
it's straw yellow to clear you're well
8:15
hydrated if it's darker than that you
8:18
will want to drink a bit more but you
8:20
also don't want it to be so clear that
8:22
you're at risk being overhydrated and
8:24
that's the guidelines as always don't
8:26
forget to like this video and hit
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subscribe to the my protein YouTube
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8:31
sure to keep asking the team questions
8:33
so we can keep providing you with more
8:35
evidence-based
8:41
answers
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