Good health is an essential ingredient to leading a happy and healthy life. Eating a balanced diet is an important key toward having good health.

We regularly hear the word diet used to describe an eating plan intended to help a person lose weight; however, a diet actually consists of the food a person eats in a day or a week. Of course, the better and more balanced our diet is the healthier we can expect ourselves to be. Eating a balanced diet means eating proper amounts of food from each food group on a daily basis.

The following tips should help you stay on track to maintain a well balanced diet.

1. Watch your serving sizes.
2. Eat whole grains and pastas.
3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables; should be about 80% of your meal.
4. Eat fish, lean meats, and legumes as your source of proteins instead of fatty meats.
5. Drink lots of water.

Certainly, a balanced diet includes limiting your intake of saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, sugar and salt, and meats, eating plenty of leafy greens, wholegrain products, low fat dairy products, good fats like fish and nuts or vegetable oils as well as low fat meats, poultry, and lentils.

Finally yet importantly, keep count of the calories you put on your plate, most foods now contain nutritional value information on the packaging.