Balanced Diet Chart – Healthy & Nutrition Food Plan – Veg Indian

Balanced DietFollowing a healthy and balanced lifestyle plays a vital role, whether it is your daily gymming sessions, hectic work schedule or your diet. Everything needs to be in a balanced frequency for a healthy living.

Nothing but a good nutritional diet can have a great impact as they instill good sleep, provide energy, maintain weight, increase immunity, mental health and more. Such balanced diet chart takes care of the overall functions of the body to keep you active in your waking hours.

So, What exactly is a balanced diet?

We can understand that with few different ways, like,

Providing your body with all the necessary macro and micro nutrients i.e. carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and other healthy supplements in the right amount and time is what a balanced diet chart is composed of. However healthy the food is, maintaining the proportions according to your body requirement is imperative. This can ward off present day diseases and other health complications.

According to the Food Standard Agency, a balanced diet is eating variety of healthy foods, basing meals on starchy foods and consuming at least 5 portions of fruits and veggies a day.

Also means to introduce foods that have not been processed. It is also essential to consume at least 2 liters of water per day and maintain a balance between the amount of carbs, proteins plus fats consumed.

There are various rich sources to achieve this kind of healthy diet, the must-haves are:  Fresh veggies, fruits, legumes, dry fruits, lean proteins, grains, diary et cetera. There are more to add to the list which will be covered as we dig deeper.

Ideal Vegetarian Food Pyramid and Proportions

It can be a task to find the ideal nutritional diet especially when you are a vegetarian. Fret not! Here is the detailed guide on getting all the required nutrients with Indian food options.

According to National Institute of Nutrition in India, a moderately active adult needs:

Food Pyramid for Indian Vegetarian

10-15 Portions of Cereals & millets (30g/portion)

Cereals and millets provide high energy and also good in nutrient value, calcium, vitamins and other essential elements. When incorporated in your daily diet they can help in weight loss, control cholesterol level and prevents diabetes.

2-3 Portions of Pulses (30g/portion)

Pulses and Lentils play a major role in the preventing illness, diabetes and heart disease. They are main source of protein in Indian Vegetarian’s healthy diet.  They also provide some of the key minerals like zinc, magnesium, potassium and iron.

2-3 Portions Dairy Products (100g/portion)

Milk and calcium are synonymous. What we tend to ignore is the fact that milk has more to it – vitamin A, iodine, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorus, and high quality protein. Drink milk and do your health a favor!

4-5 Portions fruits and vegetables (100g/portion)

Other than vitamins and minerals, veggies and fruits are the providers of fibers which keeps your digestive system healthy also feel you energized. The recommended take is at least 5 to 7 servings a day.

Go for –

Fruits:  1 medium sized fruit – apple/ orange/ pear, Berries, 150ml unsweetened juice

Vegetables: Half cup cooked vegetables, 1 Bowl Green Salad, 1 Bowl homemade soup

Healthy Food Ideas in India

Lets Discuss best healthy foods from every food group for your Nutritious and Balanced diet chart.

 Cereals & millets – Like whole Wheat, Rice, Oats, Jowar, Ragi or finger millet, bajra

Pulses – Like kidney beans, chickpea, black/yellow lentils. Black-eyed beans, Mung

Milk products  – milk, yogurt, cheese, buttermilk, paneeretc

Roots – beets, radishes, sweet potatoes, ginger, yams etc

Green leafy vegetables – spinach, coriander leaves, fenugreek leaves, fresh lettuce etc

Other vegetables – cauliflower,bottle gourd, cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, bell pepper etc

Fruits – banana, apple, orange, Guava, kiwi, grapefruit etc

Natural Sugar sources: Honey, Jaggery, Dates, Fruit Jams

Good Fat– Walnuts, pistachios, olive, flax seeds, sunflower seeds

 

Ideal Amount of Calorie Intake:

No matter what you are having, you can find calories everywhere. Remember, the total number of calories you consume and burn in 24 hrs determines your weight.

Now, what people do most of the time is ignoring the fact that the total calorie requirement depends on a person’s age, height, gender, physical activity, and body size. Here is the bird’s eye view of the ideal amount that a person must consume:

According to National Health Service (NHS), UK and U.S. Department of Agriculture:

Active Adult Men: 2500 calories
Active Adult Women: 2000 calories
Sedentary Adult Men: 2000-2600 calories
Sedentary Adult Women: 1600 – 2000 calories
Children below 8: 1800 calories
Girl (8-15): 1800-2400 calories
Boy (8-15): 2000-3200 calories
Old Men (Above 50): 2,000 to 2,200
Old Women (Above 50):>1600 calories

You can also use tools calorie calculator to track the count in your daily diet.

Nutrition Our Daily Healthy balanced Diet should have

Poor eating habits are definitely a red flag to your health. Following a balanced diet chart is the first step to build a healthy lifestyle and can provide benefits on the long run.

What are Nutrients: Speaking of balanced diet, there are two types of nutrients – macro and micro nutrients. It is imperative to consume the below nutrients daily to build a normal healthy life.

Macro Nutrients: Proteins, carbs, fats and water

Micro Nutrients: Minerals, vitamins, and elements needed in small amounts

 Protein :

They help to repair body cells and make new ones. The main benefit being an important factor for growth and development during every stages of life – childhood, adolescence, and pregnancy.

Required amount :  30% to 35% or 50 grams of protein

Vegetarian Sources: pulses like dals, whole grams, peas, lentils and peanuts.

Carbs :

The main source of energy – Carbohydrates is essential for the voluntary as well as involuntary functions of the body.

Required amount :  50% -60% or 310.

Source:  Whole grains, wheat, rice, ragi, millets (bajra) and potatoes among others.

Fat :

Three main reasons to have fats in your healthy diet- they provide energy, store vitamins and synthesize hormones.

Amount required: 10% – 15% or 70 grams daily.

Source: Vegetable oil, walnuts, flax seeds etc.

Water :

The daily source of existence, water is the underrated macro nutrient helps to control body temperature, transport nutrients and excretion.

Required amount :   3litre per day(Approx).

Vitamins and Minerals :

Supporting metabolism, muscle function and cell production are the main functions among others. Fill your plate with loads of fruits, leafy veggies, beans etc. which are the rich source of vitamins and minerals.

Fiber :

Fiber is a form of carbs from plants which not only helps in digestion and also helps to reduce risk of diabetes. A good 30 grams of fiber is recommended for a balanced diet. Here you can view 40 Fiber rich Indian Foods, which you can use in your Healthy Diet.

A Perfect Balanced diet Chart

A perfect Indian balanced diet chart requires three main meals along with healthy snacks. Ideally the breakfast should be heavy but our busy schedule keeps us away from it. Then comes hurried lunch and dinner which we end up loading ourselves.

This should be avoided. The dinner should be the lightest which can be achieved by keeping the components same and making alterations in the quantity.

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. By Famous Nutritionist- Adelle Davis

Breakfast should consist of dietary fiber/ carbohydrates, proteins and nuts. Here you can view 16 Healthy Indian Breakfast foods Idea.

Lunch: A perfect combination of high-fiber whole grains like jowar, brown rice and barley. You can include probiotics like yogurt and fiber ingredient from fresh salad completes the meal.

Dinner: Your plate should have greens to load up on vitamins and minerals, limited carbs with some healthy fats like nuts and seed oils.  Also check my list of Indian Dinner Recipes.

Don’t forget snacks as munching on healthy foods can curb your cravings keeping you fuller all day. 

As we know, any healthy diet chart needs to be implemented only after analyzing certain factors like, age. Gender, rate of physical activity etc.

The chart shows the general Vegetarian diet based on the gender (Adult Men and women). There is a little difference with respect to the proportion as described by National Institute of Nutrition Organization in India-

Women (2000 Calories)Men (2500 Calories)
BreakfastMilk(half cup) / tea (2 cups)/ coffee followed by + 50 g cereals / idli/ porridge/ corn flakes/ Upma + pulses (20 g)Milk(100 ml) /tea (1 cups) /coffee (1 cup) followed by + 70g cereals / idli/ porridge/ corn flakes/ dosa/upma + pulses (20 g)
Mid morningButtermilk/ green tea, NutsButtermilk/ green tea, Nuts
Lunch1 cup cooked Rice, 2 Pulkas, veg.curry, salad, dal (half cup), curd(half cup)Rice (2 cups), 2 pulkas, veg.curry, salad (50g), dal (1 cup), curd (half cup)
SnacksPoha/ Dhokla/ 1 Fruit/ NutsPoha/ Dhokla/ 1 Fruit/ Nuts
Dinner1 cup cooked Rice, 2 Pulkas, veg.curry, salad, dal(half cup), curd(half cup), 1 FruitRice (2 cups), 2 pulkas, veg.curry, salad(50g), dal(half cup), curd, 1 Fruit

Confused which Oats and green tea is best in India – We Compared all according to Taste, Nutrition, healthiness and flavors, You can view our suggestions here on best Oats and Green tea in India .

Other than that here is a quick to-do list for a well-maintained vegetarian diet-

Basic Healthy Diet Guidelines

  • 5-6 meals with enough intervals between each course.
  • Should have : 50-60% carbs, 25-30% proteins, 10-15% fats
  • Never skip breakfast
  • Munch on protein snack before bedtime.
  • 15-30 minutes workout session
  • No alcohol or smoking
  • Sleep for a minimum of 7 hrs.daily

 

 Healthy Snacks Options  –

Roasted chickpea, Roasted panner, Sprout salad, fresh fruits and vegetable juice blends, fruit with skim yogurt, puffed rice bhel, Makhane etc. You can also view 16 Low calorie Indian Snacks here.

How to Get Enough Protein on a Vegetarian Indian Diet:

The preconceived notion that vegetarian diets don’t possess enough protein quotients can be effortlessly defended. Truth is vegetarians have many protein sources which are plant based and dairy products.

Normally, there should be 50 Grams of protein for regular healthy and balanced diet, 120-150 grams for heavy physical activities and for weight loss it is 30% of your daily caloric value.

Let’s look at some good protein combinations for vegetarian balanced diet chart:

Food GroupHigh Protein Foods
LegumesCowpeas, Kidney Beans, Soybean
CerealsGram Flour, Barley flour, Pearl Millet
DairyPaneer, Dahi
NutsPeanuts, Almonds, Pistachio
SeedsPumpkin Seeds, Chia seeds, Flax seeds
VegetablesGreen Peas, Broccoli
Ready to EatOatmeal, Wheat flakes, Corn flakes

Does Balanced diet plan helps in Weight loss?

Yes. A recent US study found that people following a structured diet plan lost 11.8 kg on an average than people using no such format. It was nearly 7 kg that people without nutritional diet lost. This proves that almost double the weight can be shed with a structured and nutritional diet.
I Personally Lost 28 Kilo with Balanced, Low calorie and Nutritious diet, you can view my  completely healthy weight loss diet here and My Success Story here.

Consuming hot water in the morning, 3 regular meals and keeping a food diary can be the starter for weight loss. Also, if we decrease the portion size, the low caloric diet will surely help weight loss.

Do Exercise really required with Healthy Diet?

Yes, amidst all the benefits, there are some undeniable effects of exercising. Boosting your energy, decrease risk of diseases and mood tops the chart. While heavy exercising can have a fruitful impact, even moderate work out sessions can prove beneficial.

Even Walking 20-30 minutes or 10 minutes yoga makes you happier and confident. This also reduces the diabetes in obese and sedentary people according to new study.

Workout Diet – Pre workout snacks that have the right proportion of carbs and proteins fuels up the energy level adding to the benefits. Bananas, grapes, berries, peanut butter snacks etc. can work wonders.

10 Healthy Eating Habits for Vegetarians

Making people aware of eating healthy foods is of utmost importance for which knowledge of balanced diet is an essential. The ultimate foodies will despise even the term ‘diet’ for their love towards food. But remember,

you don’t have to eat less, you just have to eat right.

Let’s look at the some of the healthy eating habits that you can vouch especially for those following an Indian Vegetarian balanced diet chart-

1.  Healthy Portion Sizes – You can’t eat a healthy food as much as you can. As discussed above for complete nutritional diet, you need to follow Portion Sizes stated above, which is best suitable for Vegetarians in India.

2. Eat the Rainbow – Different Colored fruits, vegetables are high in different vitamins and minerals. So eating different color foods daily will help us to eat a variety of Nutrition’s our body needs. Also, don’t stick with particular food daily, change your healthy food options frequently.

3. Maintain the timing and pattern: Our Body activity differs from time to time, so our body required different nutrition’s on different times, that’s why it’s good to follow a suggested timing and pattern above to fulfill your body’s requirement timely.

4. Eat Slow and Chew More – Chewing more helps to improve digestion. Also, eating slowly makes you full sooner and prevents from over eating. You can view complete science here.

5. Follow 80/20 rule: Eat 80% healthy foods and you can eat 20% your favorite treats. So the charm of life, the fun of eating not fed away. But count those 20% calories Sincerely 😀

6. Rely on proteins: Eating a protein rich foods such as legumes, grains, soy products, nuts etc., can make the perfect protein supplement. If you feel your daily protein is not enough, there are many protein-rich recipes that you can try for adequate protein supply.

7. Revel in fruits and veggies: Whether you follow a healthy diet chart or no, fresh fruits and vegetables always tops the list. Giving a fresh morning dose of fruits will instantly have positive impacts on your skin and overall health.

8. Have heavy lunch and breakfast: Drop the guilt and pounce on tempting yet healthy foods in the morning and at noon as these are the peak digestion hours. Eat like a king at these hours as this when your body needs the its fuel in huge quantity. Be the exact opposite during dawn hours though.

9. Hydration is the key:

Water is the driving force of all nature- Leonardo Da Vinci.

Be it digestion, transportation of nutrients or elimination of waste, water has a prime role in the normal functioning of our body. It is recommended to drink 3-4 liters of water per day for men and at least 2-3 liters for women.

10. Do not forget Iron and Zinc: Vegetarians need to instill adequate amount of zinc and iron other than vitamin B12 in their healthy diet chart. While iron helps you to stay active and strong, zinc is necessary to maintain immune system. Go for spinach, black-eyed peas, lentils, apricots and wheat germ, pumpkin seeds for zinc supply.

What to Avoid?

As a health conscious individual, you can limit or cut down the food listed below and treat your body better. Also there are some healthy alternatives to make your life simple-

  • Sugar: Added sugar means a large amount of fructose which is not essential to normal body functioning. They contain no vitamins or minerals and cause deposition of fat in the liver. If you dive more about sugar, you will find many reasons apart from the zero calorie count.
  • Junk: French fries, burger, pizza needs to be your occasional companion for your better good. Start slowly and give occasional treats to save you from despair.Fruity juice: Fruit juices are loaded with large amount of liquid sugar and are little more than just fruit-flavoured water. Alternative: Eat Whole Fruits.
  • Industrial vegetable oil: Consumption of refines oil such as soyabean oil, canola oil etc. are high in omega-6 fatty acids. The latest trend of using such oils have surged which wasn’t before. Increased risk of cancer and oxidative stress in the body are some of the consequences. Alternative: coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil.
  • Pastries and cookies: Luxurious treats are fun when not taken frequently. Refined wheat flour, sugar, added fats have some disturbing shortcomings putting your body to the unhealthy levels.
  • Low-fat yogurt: Yogurt is incredibly healthy but which is fresh and without preservatives. Alternative: Regular full-fat yogurt
  • Highly Processed foods: First rule to lose weight and stay healthy is to avoid processed food.

 

Top 20 Indian Healthy Foods calorie and nutrition chart

Here is the List of 20 Foods, which we Indians eat most, also I listed few other healthy foods, which will make your Balanced diet chart more healthy and effective, if you add them.

1 Serving SizeCaloriesProtein(g)Carbs(g)Fat(g)
Wheat Flour90g3399.671.40.9
Rice (cooked)160g2054.244.50.4
Besan23g895.213.31.6
kidney beans (cooked)88g1127.7200.5
Chickpea (cooked)82g1347.25222.1
Mung (Sprouted)104g313.26.20.2
Yellow Lentils (cooked)100g1158.2210.4
Milk250ml1958.612.512.5
Dahi (Amul)250ml15510.251112.4
Paneer (Amul)50g289717.5
cauliflower100g251.950.3
bottle gourd112g160.420
Sweet Potato (cooked)100g90220.70.2
spinach30g70.91.10.1
apple125g650.317.30.2
banana200g1772.2460.6
Orange Juice250ml1121.725.80.5
Pomegranate (seeds)87g721.5161
Almonds28g1626 g6 g14 g
Peanuts28g1706.6g6g14g
Flaxseeds28g1575.18.111.8
Olive oil1 tsp40004.5

I am sure, many of you are thinking, when why foods like Bottle Guard, Spinach etc, when they don’t provide much macronutrients, basically they provide micro nutrients, mainly they are rich in vitamins and minerals, fiber etc.

If you are looking for Specific diet for reducing weight, you can also view our Vegetarian Keto diet plan and GM diet plan for Indians.

NOTE - Friends, I am not dietitian or Doctor, I write information here on the basis of my own 25 kilo weight loss experience and sometimes from online research. Please take doctor advice before applying any tip, as each and every human body is different.

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