A healthy, balanced diet. What does it actually mean, and what should a good eating plan look like? Online you will find hundreds of different diets and guaranteed routes to the perfect figure. There are foods that are banned and others that everyone praises. Is there a simple way to lose weight, improve your health and feel better? In this article you will find not only tips for healthy eating but also specific recipes and meals.
💡 Tip: If you want to lose weight quickly but still eat regularly and keep your muscle mass, a very good option is the keto diet, also known as the protein diet. Read our article on how to start the keto diet.
Table of contents
What is a healthy diet and why follow it?
Alongside enough sleep, staying hydrated and exercise, a healthy diet is a pillar of a healthy lifestyle. Following these principles supports a healthy body, mental balance, immunity and peak performance. Simply put, you will feel and look great.
Following the principles of healthy eating matters in everyday life, but it matters twice as much before a planned one-day fast, during a mentally demanding period or before a sporting performance, for example.
So what does a healthy diet actually mean? Do you have to eat only white meat and vegetables, skip side dishes and forget about your favourite dessert for the rest of your life? Never go out with friends for a glass of wine or a cappuccino? Of course not.
A healthy diet means eating mainly high-quality, nutritious foods. Your body will certainly not benefit from eating white bread from morning to night and having a hamburger or fried cheese for dinner three times a week. On the other hand, strict bans will not do you much good either. So how do you go about it?
A healthy diet (meaning the way you eat):
- Is sustainable. You don’t go hungry, you don’t eat anything you can’t stand, and you don’t count down the days until the ordeal is over. It is a way of eating you can imagine sticking with for the rest of your life.
- Doesn’t need a manual. Healthy eating should come naturally. A set meal plan that is the same for everyone and must be followed strictly probably won’t work. You might lose weight, but the question is whether you will do so in a healthy and lasting way.
- Is varied and balanced. Eating the same meal over and over because it is supposed to be healthy is definitely not right. Try to eat a varied diet and combine different dishes and flavours. It is more interesting not only for you but also for your body.
- Makes you feel good and doesn’t leave you feeling you have to cheat. Because you eat mindfully, you eat healthily, and one dessert won’t undo all your efforts. Really, it won’t.
Foods you must not eat
There are none. It is always about quantity, not about a particular food or ingredient that will cause trouble or, on the contrary, work miracles. This means that if you eat healthy, nutritious food all week, get enough exercise and then once go to a café for a cappuccino and cake or have a burger for dinner, all is not lost.
Attempts to switch to a healthy diet often fail in exactly these situations. For two weeks you deny yourself everything you love, then one day you can’t hold out any longer, you throw a pile of sweets into your basket while shopping and unwrap one in the evening. And once you’ve broken the rules, there’s no point holding back. You eat three bars of chocolate, feel sick and tell yourself you’ll start again tomorrow. Or maybe on Monday. Sound familiar?
Just as one salad cannot change an unhealthy lifestyle, one dessert will not ruin a long-term effort to live healthily. Don’t think of foods as healthy or unhealthy, forbidden or allowed. Think of them as more or less suitable and try to make sure the more suitable ones prevail.
When you occasionally treat yourself to more than you planned, enjoy the feeling rather than blaming yourself, and simply carry on eating well as if nothing had happened.
Healthy eating for athletes
Do you do a lot of sport and wonder whether you are eating properly? For active people it is even more important to give the body “the right fuel”. The body must have enough energy to build muscle and recover so that injuries are avoided.
Carbohydrates will give you the energy you need, but make sure you also get enough protein. If you want to maintain muscle mass, eat 1.4–1.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. When building muscle, up to 0.4 g per kilogram more. If you want to lose a kilo or two of fat, cut back on carbohydrates first and keep protein in a suitable form.
Remember to get enough vitamins, as exhaustion can make your body more prone to illness. Last but not least, focus on minerals. The most important include magnesium and zinc. They help with proper recovery, and you will notice a deficiency in the form of unpleasant cramps. You can easily top up magnesium from your diet too.
Healthy eating, meal plan
Make smaller, sustainable changes rather than drastic restrictions. Think about your diet as a whole and follow healthy principles rather than fixed rules. If possible, put together your meal plan so that you enjoy it. Your meal plan should be:
- Balanced: Make sure you get enough carbohydrates, protein and fats in the right proportions. A handy trick is to divide your plate into thirds: one third vegetables, one third complex carbohydrates and one third protein.
- Full of vitamins and minerals: Fresh, nutritious foods will help you most with this.
- Varied: Eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day is definitely not healthy. Whether a food is labelled “healthy” or not, without variety your body won’t get everything it needs.
- Without bans: Don’t eat rubbish, but don’t forbid yourself the things you love. Mental well-being matters too.
- Tailored to you: An influencer’s meal plan with exact times and uniform portion sizes won’t work for everyone. We all have different energy expenditure, metabolism and daily rhythms.
- No overeating and no starving: Neither is good. If you feel full, you are probably eating more than you need. On the other hand, if you are hungry, your body isn’t getting what it needs. You don’t have enough energy and your body stores reserves.
- Consistent: Eating healthily during the week and nothing but sweets, fast food and cola at the weekend is not the right way.
- No skipped meals: Don’t have time for lunch, so you grab a muesli bar instead (after all, it says it’s healthy) and then make up for it at dinner? Instead, prepare healthy packed lunches or buy a nutritious snack.
- With a side dish: Side dishes have been demonised in recent years, and many people feel that leaving them out is the way to a healthy diet and their dream figure. Skipping the side dish also means cutting your calorie intake, which is ultimately why you lose weight. But if you choose the right side dish and, instead of six dumplings, have a wholegrain side full of fibre, you won’t feel hungry or crave sweets.
- Meat-free: You don’t need to cut out meat completely, but eating too much of it is not good for your body or the planet. Try to include at least one meat-free day. That is certainly enough to start with. Remember to eat different kinds of meat too. Many people’s diets lack fish entirely, which is one of the best options.
Healthy eating, recipes
As I’ve already mentioned, it is important to eat healthily consistently, and it is better to get used to using nutritious ingredients than to follow set meal plans and stick strictly to prescribed recipes. Every portion of your meal should contain:
- Nutritious carbohydrates: Wholegrain foods, cereals, pseudocereals, pulses.
- Protein: Meat, dairy products, pulses, meat substitutes.
- Vegetables or fruit: A variety of types and preparation methods. Vegetables should prevail.
- Healthy fats: Vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, avocado.
Also remember to top up daily:
- Vitamins and minerals.
- Probiotics: fermented dairy products, yoghurts, fermented vegetables.
5 tips, healthy breakfasts
Breakfast is the foundation of the day. After a long break without food, your body needs to refuel and get going for the day ahead. If you skip breakfast and make do with just a cup of coffee or tea, I strongly recommend forming a new habit. For once, experts agree and advise: eat breakfast. Morning rituals shape your mood and performance for the whole day. Breakfast should take pride of place among them.
You don’t have to eat breakfast as soon as you wake up if that doesn’t suit you, and you certainly don’t have to spend dozens of precious minutes on it. A simple weekday breakfast won’t take you more than 10 minutes, and you can even take it with you. The recommended time for breakfast is 20–40 minutes after waking up.
Overnight oats
Mix rolled oats with a little milk and yoghurt and put them in a small bowl or jar. Add nuts, seeds and fresh fruit and leave them to soak in the fridge overnight. In the morning, simply take it out of the fridge and breakfast is ready. You can also prepare overnight oats several days in advance, but it is best to add the fruit fresh.
Fermented porridge
Not a fan of cold oats? Soak the oats 24 to 48 hours in advance and just warm them briefly in the morning. Do not let the oats boil, as this would destroy the beneficial bacteria. Just 3 minutes on the hob is really enough. Add nuts and fresh fruit.
Chia pudding
Chia seeds have become incredibly popular in recent years. They contain lots of nutrients and at the same time few calories. They provide fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins and calcium, for example, and they are also an excellent antioxidant.
The evening before, mix them with plant-based milk (about 30 g of seeds per 100 g of milk) and sweeten with honey or maple syrup. Leave them to swell in the fridge, stirring at least once in the meantime. In the morning, top with fresh fruit, nuts or granola again.
Rye bread with hummus and vegetables
Don’t fancy something sweet in the morning? No problem, you can whip up a savoury breakfast in no time too. Reach for more nutritious rye bread, spread it with hummus (a source of protein) and top it with fresh vegetables.
Rye bread with avocado and egg
Avocado is a breakfast menu staple and cannot be missing here either. Slice a ripe avocado or mash it with a fork onto a slice of rye bread and add a boiled egg and fresh vegetables. Read more tips on how to use avocado in the kitchen.
5 tips, healthy lunches and dinners
Here are a few ideas for healthy lunches and dinners that you can also pack in a lunch box to take with you. You will find vegetarian and vegan dishes for inspiration on what to cook on a meat-free day.
Wrap with hummus, vegetables and tofu
Spread a wholemeal tortilla with chickpea hummus and wrap fresh vegetables, lettuce and fried tofu in it.
Rice bowl or lunch box
Add a generous portion of vegetables and pulses to black rice. Also ideal as a healthy packed lunch for work or school.
Quinoa bowl
Bowls are an endless source of new recipes. Quinoa is a great side dish that provides protein as well as carbohydrates. Pair it with roasted vegetables, fresh salad and hummus, for example.
Roasted pumpkin with chickpeas
Cut the pumpkin into small pieces, mix in cooked chickpeas, season to taste and roast everything together. Leave to cool and toss with baby spinach or other leafy greens.
Pasta salad
Add plenty of vegetables and some protein to wholemeal pasta. You can use tofu, tempeh, chicken or even tuna.
Need more inspiration? You will find another 15 great recipes for quick and healthy dinners in our previous article. If you love salads, we have these tried-and-tested salad recipes for every day of the week.
Healthy eating, how to start
Finally, a few tips on how to start eating healthily in a way you can stick to:
- Gradual changes are key. If you decide to overhaul all your habits overnight, it will feel unnatural and probably be unsustainable. Change one or two things each week and get used to your new lifestyle gradually.
- Say no to ready meals. Instead, prepare your food from scratch at home. You will know exactly what it contains, avoid unnecessary preservatives and excess sugar, and save money too.
- Planning. Plan your meals and shop with a list. If you have the right ingredients at home to cook a proper meal, you won’t feel the need to binge on junk.
- Looking for alternatives. Can’t imagine life without sweets? Not eating two little cakes and a whole bar of Milka milk chocolate every day doesn’t mean you can never touch sweets again. Split a cake into two portions, for example, and swap the chocolate for good-quality dark chocolate.
- No bans and no guilt. If you have something unhealthy now and then, neither the world nor your efforts will collapse.
- The right inspiration. Read interesting books on healthy eating and follow inspiring profiles on social media.
Healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle
Of course, healthy eating does not exist in a vacuum. If eating healthily is to do you any good, you need to look at your life as a whole and think about your overall lifestyle. What does a healthy lifestyle involve and how can you start moving in that direction?
Enough exercise
Whether you want to eat healthily to lose weight or “just” to feel good, you will see results much faster and they will last longer if you also build enough exercise into your day. There are plenty of options, even for those who are short of time or don’t like going to the gym. You can try the following:
- Walking: even just walking has many health benefits. You can go for a 20-minute walk around your neighbourhood every day. Choose a moderately brisk pace so that you really stretch your legs. While walking, you can also listen to your favourite podcast and give this time an extra dimension.
- Running: if exercise is not completely new to you, try running too. This activity is particularly suitable for those who don’t like gyms but enjoy cardio in the fresh air. If you live in hilly countryside, you have a great challenge right on your doorstep.
- Yoga: you can find yoga classes almost anywhere, even in smaller towns, and their main advantage is not only that you can stretch properly and find balance, but also that you meet like-minded people. If you can’t find a class or don’t feel like being around people, you can always practise at home.
- Swimming: a great way to stretch, get some cardio and strengthen your whole body. Swimming also doesn’t put strain on your joints like other sports. You will see that after an hour of swimming, your mind will be somewhere else entirely.
- Sport with a trainer: if you are a beginner and unsure, don’t be afraid to go to the gym and find a personal trainer. They can put together a plan tailored to you that takes all your specific needs into account, and they can also help you stick to your goals and actually exercise regularly.
Caring for your mind and mental health
In Western culture, a balanced life and caring for your mind and mental health are slowly gaining ground. If you work in a stressful environment with high demands on your performance, this point may be all the harder, but also all the more important. What good is nourishing your body healthily if your mind and soul are suffering? Being constantly tense and stressed is more harmful to your body than having breakfast at a cake shop.
What are the options?
Find a hobby: As an adult, it may sound strange that you should look for a hobby. After all, hobbies are things children do after school while they still have the time. But adults also need to relax and spend a while on something other than work duties, shopping, what to cook for dinner and how to keep the children entertained at the weekend. A hobby can be any creative or sporting activity, or even gardening. The only requirement is that you regularly make time for it and don’t let anyone take it away from you.
Mindfulness: This technique is becoming very popular. Its aim is to spend a few minutes simply observing and perceiving what is around you or within you. These are moments of complete stillness and practice in observing without judging what is happening. If you are not sure how to start, download one of the many apps or sign up for a course.
Work-life balance: Whether you are at work because you enjoy it or because you want to reach a better position, you always need to keep a healthy balance between time spent at work and away from it, with family and friends. Even the best job can turn against you if it becomes the only dimension of your life. Plan some time for yourself and your loved ones every day. Set boundaries: after what time you will no longer answer calls or emails, or how many weekends you are willing to spend at work.
