Building a balanced diet: A guide to healthy eating
Consuming a balanced diet is essential for high performing athletes to be able to function optimally on and off the sporting arena. By establishing a solid foundation of a well-balanced diet to meet nutrition needs performance can be enhanced benefiting training, recovery, and elite ranking.
Through adequate nutrition, the body can better combat heart disease, cancers, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, which can often be fatal. Diet is also able to influence response to infection, fatigue, and poor performance.
A balanced diet will always incorporate food sources from each food group to offer your body the nutritional needs that are essential to function well and improve performance.
The Healthy Eating Pyramid designed by Nutrition Australia provides a visual example of the key food groups that should be consumed to contribute to a well-balanced diet.
Approximately 70% of our diets should be based on the bottom tiers of the pyramid being vegetables and legumes, fruits, and grains. It’s through this 70% that the essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants are incorporated into our diets.
Within the next layer is dairy products, protein, nuts, and seeds. This group is beneficial for calcium, protein, B12 and iron intake.
Finally, the top layer illustrates healthy fats. Healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nut, and seed oils are good examples of fats to incorporate into your diet.
We encourage you to work with your dietitian to get individualised advice.
For more information about how to optimise your diet for performance visit our Nutrition and Athletic Performance page.
