A balanced diet

Eating well is essential to keeping fit and healthy, and to helping the body protect itself from external attacks. When it comes to diet, excess is just as bad as deprivation, and quantity must go hand in hand with quality.

Meals must be diversified, and all food categories represented. Varying your diet is the only way to provide all the elements necessary for the maintenance and proper functioning of your body.

Eating is above all about filling up on energy in the form of lipids and carbohydrates... but not only! The body also needs protein to build cells, fiber to facilitate intestinal transit, and minerals and vitamins for growth and vitality. But no single food concentrates all these nutrients at once! So we need to play up the complementarity between the different families to satisfy all our nutritional needs. And don't forget to indulge yourself from time to time..
This food pyramid is widely used around the world when talking about nutrition. It enables us to visualize the different food families and to rank them in order to promote a balanced daily diet. Over the past few years, the food pyramid has undergone a major overhaul restructuring in line with WHO recommendations (World Health Organization).

 

Which foods are best in each family?

From a nutritional point of view, not all foods are equivalent within the same family (for example, in the dairy products family, a low-fat fromage frais will not have the same impact as a camembert). In order to make the best choices in each category, we talk about "preferred", "tolerated" or "occasional" foods.

Let's take a look at the different families:

 

1. Water and unsweetened beverages 

Water remains the only essential and indispensable beverage for our bodies, so it should be encouraged as often as possible.

N.B.: Most sweetened beverages (soft drinks, etc.) are not included in this category. They are found at the top of the pyramid.

 

2. Fruits and vegetables

We recommend eating at least 400g of fruit and vegetables every day, divided into 5 portions of 80g each

1 portion = 80 gr = 7 strawberries = 1 small apple = 1/2 pepper= 1 tomato = 1/2 zucchini, ...

 

NB: potatoes are not identified as vegetables but as starchy foods!

Good to know: pressed fruit contains most, but not all, of the fruit's nutrients: water, vitamins and minerals, sugars... but not dietary fibre. Some of the antioxidants present in the fruit's skin are also lost. What's more, chewing is one of the factors that triggers satiety (i.e. the feeling of no longer being hungry). So it's better to choose fruit in its solid rather than liquid form.

N.B.: Industrial fruit juices with a fruit content of less than 50% leave this family and end up in sweetened beverages.

 

3. Starches

Starchy foods are the essential source of complex carbohydrates, our body's main fuel. They should be eaten at every main meal of the day.

Good to know: As part of a balanced weight-loss diet, starchy foods must be maintained in the diet. The way they are cooked (avoid deep-frying, cooking with lots of oil, etc.) and the quantity can be adapted.

 

4a. Dairy products

They essentially provide the calcium our bodies need. It is therefore necessary to select them for this reason.

Dairy products are to be preferred when they provide at least 100mg of calcium/100gr-ml and are low in fat and added sugars.

Good to know: Most low-fat yoghurts contain fruit pulp or pieces, plus a significant amount of added sugar. As a result, the low-fat product loses energy... which it recovers with sugars. As a result, a low-fat yoghurt with fruit can have more calories than a plain whole yoghurt!

 

4b. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, pulses, vegetable alternatives

The products to choose in this family are those with a high protein content and low fat and salt content.

Good to know:
Oily fish are real sources of good fats, particularly omega-3 fatty acids. However, this type of fish is very high in fat: the fat content of oily fish is around 15%, while that of lean meat is less than 5%.

Good to know: Foods from the sea, such as fish, shellfish and seaweed, are rich in iodine, whereas sea salt, after the manufacturing process, retains only traces of iodine that are insignificant from a nutritional point of view.

 

 

5. Fats and oils

 

It's important to vary your fat sources. A distinction must be made between animal and vegetable fats, as well as fats used for cooking or cold processing.

• For cooking: we prefer olive oil (provided this is recommended on the product label), peanut oil, goose or duck fat, which have the particularity of resisting high temperatures. Butter cannot withstand a temperature of 100°C (reached very quickly during cooking), as it produces toxic compounds above this temperature.
• For seasoning: use rapeseed oil, olive oil, soybean oil or sunflower oil.
• On toast: butter should be used more occasionally, as it is rich in saturated fatty acids.

To find omega-3s in fats, you'll need to eat oilseeds: walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, plain peanuts.

Good to know: Margarine provides the same amount of fat as butter, i.e. 80%. Oils, on the other hand, contain 100% lipids (fats).

 

6. Fatty/sweet products

At the very top of the pyramid, sweet products and alcoholic beverages are not essential to our diet. We prefer to consume those that still have a nutritional value: dark chocolate, honey, Liège syrup, vegetable or fruit potato chips, fruit tart, wine, beer (max 5.5% alcohol).

 

 For example, a balanced meal should consist of :

• One portion of meat, fish or egg as a source of protein and iron (or a vegetable equivalent such as pulses, cereals or soy);
• A dish of starchy foods, pulses or bread as a source of complex carbohydrates, fibre and minerals;
• Vegetables and fruit, including at least one raw vegetable for fibre, vitamins and minerals;
• A dairy product for calcium intake;
• A fatty substance for essential fatty acids and certain vitamins;
• And don't forget water, essential for hydration and additional mineral intake.

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