Thought 40: The balanced diet

Your attitude to food and a certain discipline in the choice and frequency of food intake, can determine what kind of person you are. You should certainly enjoy your food. No one should object to that. At the same time, food should not become an obsession with you - leading to all the troubles mentioned earlier.

• A balanced diet should contain
• 50% carbohydrate
• 30% fat
• 20% protein
• High fiber, vitamins, minerals and a lot of water (preferably,3 to 4 litres)

This kind of food gives you all the energy that you need and you would be bubbling with enthusiasm and health.

Fats pack 9 cals/gram, while proteins and carbohydrates, pack only 4cals/gram. You should eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grain foods, lean meats, fish and low fat dairy products.

If you are on diet, you need much less calories.

When on diet men need 1300 to 1600 cals/day (although when not on diet, they need 2200 to 2600 cals/day)

When on diet, women need 1200 to 1400 cals/day (although when not on diet, they need 2000 to 2200 cals/ day)

Seniors, of course, need much less calories.

When you take in more than you need or when, what you take in, is more than you are able to expend through your daily activity, the excess calories appear on your body as fat. You may have heard about the story of a French fried potato – “a few seconds in your mouth, a few hours in your alimentary canal and the rest of your life on your hips”!

If the total number of calories in your diet from fats exceed 30% of the total calorie intake and/or if the saturated fat content exceeds 10% of the total calorie intake, the chances are that you would not be able to get rid of this fat even with a good fitness program.

The mind will be in a harmonious blend, if you eat and drink judiciously. Foods that you eat can affect your feelings, thoughts and “will”. A person with a healthy mind can enjoy a joke, love fun, be positive, enthusiastic and happy. Positive mental states can cause feelings of goodness and happiness.

The next thought is about “Good health is your greatest fortune”