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The Importance of Eating a Balanced Diet - Carbohydrates, Fats and Proteins

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Do you know where your calories come from? For most normal people, their calories are supplied by carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The only difference is the ratio each type of food contributes to these calories. Unlike popular perception, any excess calories you do not use up gets converted to body fat. So, even if you eat a completely fat-free all-fruit diet, you can still get fat if you do not get enough exercise. On the other hand, if you are on some extreme form of Atkins diet with high protein and high fat, do add some carbohydrates to your diet. Without this carbohydrate, you will likely feel listless and enervated, because fat needs a bit of carbohydrate to be properly consumed.

Even if you expect to get most of your energy from protein, as long as there is fat in your diet, make sure you include a little bit of carbohydrates as well. If you fail to do this, acid products will accumulate from the incomplete conversion of fat. This will eventually lead to untoward results. Fortunately, it does not mean that you have to eat rice, or bread, or french fries together with your steak. Fruits can provide the carbohydrates you need. Or even a small, sweet dessert can do the trick. Of course, when you add that dessert to your meal, please remember to cut down on your steak. The key to losing weight is to eat less calories than you burn everyday.

Now, what if you are on an extreme vegan no-fat diet? Unless your doctor recommended this diet to address a particular health problem, I would advise you to add some fat to your diet. Animal experiments conducted by scientists have shown that fat-free diets produce kidney diseases and an alarming disinterest in the opposite sex. In other words, fats are essential to normal nutrition.

In general, there is no excuse to completely eliminate protein from your diet. Even on a vegan diet, there are certain nuts and beans you should add to your diet to ensure that you have an adequate supply of protein. You may ask, "Why do I need protein in my diet?" There are three reasons. Firstly, together with carbohydrates and fats, proteins also provides the energy you need for your daily living.

Secondly, protein is the building block of your body. After exercise, and even in your normal day-to-day life, your muscle tissue will die out. Not just the muscles in your arms and legs, but the muscles in your internal organs. You need protein to rebuild these muscles. The third and most important reason is that proteins provide the amino acids needed to create the hormones and neurotransmitters in your body and mind. Basically, an imbalanced diet with too much or too little protein could lead to problems like acne, impotence, infertility, slowness of thought, timidity or over-aggression.

Overall, if you are reducing weight with a DIY diet plan, you should make sure you have a balanced diet. Your calories need to come from carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Just remember to eat a bit less and exercise a bit more and you will definitely lose weight.



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