A BALANCED DIET A balanced and healthy diet is one that helps maintain or improve health. Eating a balanced diet means choosing a wide variety of foods and drinks from all the food groups. It also means eating certain things in moderation, namely saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, refined sugar, salt and alcohol. The goal is to take in nutrients you need for health at the recommended levels. A healthy diet involves consuming appropriate amounts of all essential nutrients and an adequate amount of water. A balanced diet is important for all sorts of age. A child should have well balanced diet to prevent him from infections and diseases. A balanced diet has all the nutrients required by a child in correct proportions for a healthy growth. Deficiency of iron in young children causes anaemia. Dark green vegetables and meats are rich in iron. A balanced diet and physical exercise has a major role in achieving long healthy life. An adult requires healthy diet for maintaining an ideal body weight, avoiding development of various health disorders and carrying out various functions in the body. Eating a balanced diet does not mean you have to spend hours in the kitchen, but it asks that you make some conscious diet choices daily that can enhance your overall well-being. A pregnant woman's diet should consist of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, iron, calcium, vitamins, folic acid and fiber. What a pregnant woman eats has a direct bearing on her unborn child. A pregnant woman has to take a well balanced diet which has all the required nutrients, vitamins and minerals, not only to keep her body healthy and prepare it for child bearing and breastfeeding, but also to aid in the proper growth and development of the unborn child. A normal, healthy woman requires approximately 2100 calories in a single day and during pregnancy, she needs about 2500 calories in a day. Besides increasing the number of calories, a pregnant woman should pay attention to the kind of foods she eats so that she and her unborn baby get the right kind of nutrition. Vegetables in daily meals are very important. They are naturally low in fat and also provide fiber. Vegetables help to keep balance between the fluids of the body. They provide vitamins A and C, and minerals, such as iron and magnesium and folate. Vegetables also provide carbohydrates for the energy our body needs. A small quantity of meat, eggs, milk or cheese mixed up with variety and combinations of vegetables provide the full range of amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals our body needs. Fruits are wonderful because they are low in fat and sodium and provide important vitamins that keep you feeling fine and looking good. There are a number of diets and recommendations by numerous medical and governmental institutions that are designed to promote certain aspects of health. If your goal is to lose weight, the best thing you can do for yourself is to make sure you are supported in your efforts. People who are part of a group working together to lose weight tend to succeed more easily than those who try to do it all alone. There are many roads to healthy dieting and what works best for one person may not suit another. The American Heart Association recommends a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, healthful fatty acids and limited saturated fat. In addition to dietary recommendations for the general population, there are many specific diets that have primarily been developed to promote better health in specific population groups, such as people with high blood pressure (as in low sodium diets or the more specific DASH diet), or people who are overweight or obese (in weight control diets). However, some of them may have more or less evidence for beneficial effects in normal people as well. An unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for a number of chronic diseases including: high blood pressure, diabetes, abnormal blood lipids, overweight/obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. So it is our duty to have a balanced diet to lead a happy n healthy life.