Healthy eating: Is this the ultimate healthy meal?

The human body needs a balanced diet to deliver vital nutrients

What's your idea of a perfect meal? Sushi? A large piece of cake followed by hot chocolate? Even if it satisfies your appetite, it's unlikely to fulfil all your nutritional needs.

Cutting through the myriad of diet plans and faddish eating regimes, the human body needs a balanced, healthy eating plan to keep functioning property. This helps ensure that our bodies have enough nutrition to:

• Grow and build
• Repair and heal
• Reproduce successfully
• Repel illnesses and infections
• Avoid weight-related health problems

Eating a variety of foods can also reduce the risk of getting conditions including heart disease, stroke, some cancers, diabetes and osteoporosis, according to Lydia Kelly, a specialist registered dietician who works for the NHS.

What foods do our bodies need to stay healthy?

The foods we need to eat can be divided into five separate groups.

Food Group	Main nutritional benefits	How much should we have each day?
Fruit and vegetables (Includes fresh, frozen, juiced, dried or tinned fruit and vegetables)	Vitamins, minerals and fibre	Five portions
Starchy foods (Includes bread, rice, pasta and potatoes)	Energy, fibre, and vitamins and minerals	A third of everything we eat
Meat, fish, eggs and beans (Includes fresh meat, fresh and tinned fish, eggs, nuts and pulses)	Protein and vitamins and minerals	Two to three portions (one portion is an egg or a serving of meat/fish the size of a deck of cards)
Milk and dairy foods (Includes milk, cheese and yoghurt)	Protein and calcium	Two to three portions (one portion is a small pot of yoghurt or glass of milk)
Foods containing fat and sugar (Includes cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks)	Energy	One portion (two biscuits or a small chocolate bar)