The Basics Of A Healthy, Balanced Diet
Eating a healthy, balanced diet can help you keep trim and give you lots of energy. You want to eat a diet with the right number of calories, lots of fresh foods, and a whole lot less of processed foods that are bad for you. OK, that seems a little too simplistic. In reality, it takes a bit of work to eat a healthy, balanced diet, so I'll walk you through the process. How Many Calories Do You Need? On average, an adult will need somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 calories per day to maintain his or her current weight. The number of calories you need depends on your natural size, muscle mass, activity level, age, and gender. There are calorie tables and calculators that will help you estimate your daily calorie need. But keep in mind these really are estimates—since you may have differences in your metabolism, you may need a few more or a few less calories than what the calculators show. Over time, you will know to adjust your overall calorie intake up or down by mon