Balanced Diets and Menus

To stay healthy, we must consume a varied diet that contains all the essential nutrients. In addition, we must limit our intake of foods that can be harmful in large quantities. Although researchers still have much to learn about nutrition and our knowledge is constantly changing, there is strong evidence about what good eating patterns are.

Government health agencies publish and regularly update guidelines for diet and health. Although the wording of the recommendations changes each time the agencies make a revision, the essence of the dietary advice can be summarized as follows. It should be noted that these are only general recommendations for people who are already healthy and want to stay that way. They are not necessarily for those who need special diets because of disease or other abnormal conditions.