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I see balance as the ratio of the foods you eat from each food group. Plant food groups can cover all the nutrients you need to find balance.
You don’t have to get perfectly balanced foods – or even balanced meals – if you put your focus on eating a balanced diet for the day.
For example, you don’t need to balance carbs and protein at every meal, or get a balance of vitamin A and calcium on every plate.
Most guidelines suggest a specific number of servings per day. A better strategy is to think about the ratios instead, since a 6’4 football player likely eats more than a 5’2 office worker.
Rather than going for 6 servings of grains, aim to make whole grains a proportion of what you eat that day.
Nutrient Balance
The largest section of your daily intake should be water. Not just the water that you drink, but the water contained in your food.
For instance, dry cereal has no water content and needs some liquid with it to correct that. Oatmeal, on the other hand, is cooked or soaked with water and has a good ratio.
The next largest section of your diet is carbohydrates. They’re where your energy comes from, and they come in the form of simple or complex carbohydrates.
Fat makes up the next largest section, followed closely by protein.
Most people should aim for 60-70% carbohydrate, 20-30% fat and 10-15% protein.
These percentages can change throughout your life and throughout the seasons of the year, so don’t think of them too strictly and listen to what’s right for your body.
Since fats give twice as much energy for the same volume, when looking at the portion size fat and protein should be about equal.
A physically small but nutritionally huge component is the micronutrients – vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and maybe a whole lot more we don’t even know about yet.
If you’re like most people, you don’t look at foods as carbohydrates or fats, but as rice or avocados.
The thing is, whole foods are made up of a mix of water, carbohydrates, fats, proteins and micronutrients.
So let’s look instead at the proportion you should be getting of each group of healthy, whole plant foods.
Healthy Whole Plant Food Groups
Fruits And Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are made up largely of water and carbohydrates, some with a good proportion of protein and some with fat.
They’re the richest source of the micro nutrients, and these are most available from fresh, raw produce.
Fruits and vegetables should therefore make up the biggest part of your diet, and at least half of the volume of your food for the day.
A serving is about half a cup, and you can eat as much and as many different types as you can.
Leafy greens should be eaten every day – at least a cup’s worth, but the more you get the healthier you’ll be.
Starchy vegetables, like squash and sweet potatoes, are a good way to make a more filling meal that’s still mostly vegetable.
Whole Grains
Whole grains are mostly complex carbohydrate, with a good balance of protein and fat, along with minerals and some vitamins, and are cooked so that they absorb a lot of water.
They should be the next biggest part of your diet, making up 20-30% of the volume of what you eat.
A serving of cooked whole grains is about half a cup, and most people digest them really well so you can have more than one serving in a meal.
Beans And Legumes
Beans and legumes are really similar to whole grains in their nutrient breakdown – mostly complex carbs, with protein and fat, minerals, some vitamins and water.
Beans and legumes can cause some gas, especially when you first start eating them, but they have important nutrients that you need for balance, so be sure to eat them on a regular basis.
You don’t need to eat a huge amount, they can be about half of the volume you have for whole grains, so 10-20% of your overall food.
A serving of cooked beans or legumes is also about half a cup, and depending on how well you digest them you can have more than one serving in a meal.
Healthy Fats
Healthy whole food fats – like nuts, seeds and avocados – pack a lot of goodness in a small package.
You don’t need to eat much of them to get what you need, so keep them to one or two servings in a day.
One serving is about two tablespoons of nuts, seeds or olives, or half of an avocado. Nut and seed butters are more concentrated since they’re ground up, so a serving is one tablespoon.
Whole foods like these are the best source of healthy fats, and if you use oils, keep them minimal. You can easily saute vegetables for two people with just a teaspoon.
That doesn’t mean you should never eat oils, though, and some people can actually benefit from concentrated fats. Flax oil or concentrated DHA might be necessary for someone with issues digesting and utilizing omega-3 fatty acids.
People with cold hands and feet, dry skin, hair or throat may need more fats in their diet and particularly saturated fat like coconut oil.
Treats
Focus your attention on getting the healthy foods above, but there’s room for treats if you stay balanced overall.
Just try to keep a healthy outlook towards them – recognize them as a treat, enjoy them, and then keep on going.
If you can find healthier alternatives for your favorite treats, it’ll help you break free of the cravings and addictions refined sugars, oils and salts can create.