Why your ‘balanced’ diet might not be as healthy as you think. 5 expert tips on what to eat

Dr Matthew Landry is an assistant professor of population health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine. Photo: www.theguyititian.com

Most of us probably think we have a pretty good idea of what a "balanced diet" looks like. And a lot of us may be wrong.

"I don't love the term," says Dr Matthew Landry, an assistant professor of population health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine in the United States. It can give people an outdated or oversimplified idea of what healthy eating looks like, Landry says.

Some people he has counselled as a dietitian think a balanced meal means "balancing the good and bad foods". That idea troubles him.

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"We wouldn't tell someone that they can smoke a couple of cigarettes just as long as they get 60 minutes of exercise during the day," Landry says. "So similarly, we shouldn't tell folks that they should have foods that aren't really nutrient-dense, just as long as they have some vegetables on their plate."

Finding balance in your diet is also more than just adding up numbers, says Dr Shilpa Bhupathiraju, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, US.

"If I tell you, 'You should eat so many milligrams of a certain nutrient,' you'll be like, 'Well, what does that mean?'" Even for an experienced nutritionist like her, that is tough to envision.

But a healthy approach to eating does not have to be complicated, they say. Here is their advice.

1. Picture the plate

Focusing on nutrient-dense foods is a healthy way to start, Landry says. That is, when deciding what to eat, ask, "Does that really have a lot of vitamins and minerals, or does it not?"

Simply put, if you envision your meal filling a plate, half of that plate should be vegetables and fruit.

"We should have some kind of grain on there - ideally some whole grains," he says, and then a protein, ideally plant based. "That's probably a pretty balanced kind of diet."

The American Heart Association recommends choosing low-fat or fat-free dairy products; using liquid plant oils rather than tropical oils and partially hydrogenated fats; choosing minimally processed foods instead of ultra-processed foods; and limiting added sugars and salt.

The typical diet in the United States, Bhupathiraju says, has excessive refined grains, added sugars, sodium and unhealthy sources of fat, and not enough fruit and vegetables.

"You need your healthy fat sources, your healthy protein sources and your fruits and vegetables," she says, adding that it is the combination that provides balance. "If you're eating whole grains and fruits and vegetables, but you don't have a protein source, that's not good."

2. Do not count on quick fixes

It is natural to look for short cuts to correct an imbalance. But there is no substitute for healthy eating, Bhupathiraju says, and you cannot buy balance in a pill.

"Wouldn't that be great?" she says. "I would be out of a job."

But a healthy eating pattern is about more than any single nutrient, she adds.

Eating a variety of fruit and vegetables, for example, provides not only vitamins and minerals but helpful fibre, which is important for heart health.

Some people might benefit from certain supplements, Bhupathiraju says, but should first check with a healthcare professional.

According to Landry, it is generally best "to get a healthy plate first, and that can be a way that we get all the vitamins and minerals and nutrients that you'd need".

Diets that emphasise one particular food are tough to sustain, he says, and might lead to nutritional deficiencies.

"Our bodies are really complex systems," Landry says. So even though fixating on one food might lead to a "quick, short-term" benefit to one measure, such as weight, that imbalance could be unhealthy in another way, such as raising LDL cholesterol.

Bhupathiraju suggests treating trendy diets warily and focusing on eating patterns backed by scientific evidence.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are one widely used reference.

For heart health, diets that score the highest are the Dash - for dietary approaches to stop hypertension - pescatarian and Mediterranean diets, according to the American Heart Association.

3. It does not have to break the bank

Finding fresh fruit and vegetables can be tough in communities where food options are limited or budgets are tight.

Landry suggests to "look for sales, coupons and market promotions", and to "try to purchase in bulk when possible, especially for non-perishable items".

He advises to keep in mind that with fruit and vegetables, "canned and frozen options can be just as nutrient-dense as ... fresh versions".

In-season produce can be more affordable, Bhupathiraju says. While home gardening is not an option for everyone, she and her family grow some of what they eat. "It's a great way to get the kids involved and for knowing where your food came from."

4. It can be exciting

There is no standard way to eat a balanced diet, Landry says.

"I like to have fish as one of my proteins," he says. That could mean grilling some salmon or tilapia and serving it with some quinoa with roasted vegetables and perhaps a spinach and avocado salad. "And that's a very simple kind of balanced plate."

You have options. Some people might prefer apples, some might go for guava, but "a fruit is a fruit, in any culture", Bhupathiraju says.

She has researched diets from South Asia and Puerto Rico, and cooks a lot of Indian food at home. So while she prepares a lot of dals - Indian pulses such as lentils, peas and chickpeas - a Puerto Rican diet might make use of pinto beans or black beans to get a similarly healthy mix of nutrients.

In Indian culture, the healthy oils of choice might be sesame, while in the Mediterranean region it is olive oil.

"The basic principles remain the same," she says, meaning healthy choices abound. "Just pick your favourite food and add that to the plate."

5. Think beyond the plate

Landry says the idea of balance in a meal goes beyond what you are eating.

"It's not all about the food," he says, but also how you approach your meals.

When counselling people on making healthy changes to what they eat, he encourages them not to focus on a number on a scale, but to think about how eating well makes them feel better.

"We shouldn't lose the joy that we get from eating a good meal," he says.

Landry also encourages people to enlist others for support. He is a fan of the idea of "Together Tuesdays", which emphasises social connections made over food.

Bhupathiraju is a proponent of eating as a family, "which means putting your screens away". She encourages involving kids in meal preparation.

"When you're cooking together as a family, that's when it becomes more fun," she says.

Put another way, a healthy diet does not mean one person making themselves a kale smoothie alone.

"Maybe you make kale chips with your kids," Bhupathiraju says. "Maybe you make bread, but bake it with whole grains, and maybe top it off with some bran."

For her, the path to balanced eating is about "keeping it simple, keeping it fun, making it a family affair". And with that, she says, "I think healthy eating should be easy."

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