Planning balanced diets

A simple way to plan a balanced diet is to sort foods into groups and make sure every group appears in our meals. Different countries group foods differently depending on what foods are available, their cost, meal patterns and common deficiencies. In India, ICMR (the Indian Council of Medical Research) uses five food groups:

• Cereals, grains and products (rice, wheat, ragi, bajra, bread): mainly energy, plus some protein, B vitamins, iron and fibre.
• Pulses and legumes (dals, rajma, chana, soyabean): protein and energy, B vitamins, calcium, iron, fibre.
• Milk, meat and products (milk, curd, paneer, eggs, fish, chicken): protein of high quality, calcium, vitamin B12. Milk provides almost every nutrient except iron, vitamin C and fibre.
• Fruits and vegetables: carotenoids (which form vitamin A), vitamin C, minerals and fibre.
• Fats and sugars (oil, ghee, butter, sugar, jaggery): energy and essential fatty acids.
• Each group supplies some but not all nutrients, and foods within one group differ in their nutrient content. So one group cannot replace another, and no group is more important than the others.

Guidelines for planning meals:

• Include at least one serving from each group in every meal.
• Vary choices within a group: not wheat chapati every day, but also rice, jowar, ragi.
• For better protein in a vegetarian meal, combine cereals with pulses (rice with dal, khichdi, idli with sambar) or add a little milk or curd.
• Include some raw fruit and vegetables (salad, fresh fruit).
• Have at least one serving of milk a day for calcium.
• Cereals should give no more than 75 per cent of the day's calories.
• A simple rule: eat cereals and pulses adequately, fruits and vegetables liberally, animal foods moderately, and oils and sugars sparingly.

The food guide pyramid shows these proportions visually:

• At the broad base: grains (bread, rice, chapati), about 6 to 11 servings a day.
• Next: vegetables and fruits, about 3 to 5 servings each, the protective foods.
• Then: meat, pulses, nuts, milk and curd, about 2 to 3 servings, the body-building foods.
• At the tiny top: fats, oils and sugars, to be used very little.
• About 75 per cent of servings come from plant foods. The pyramid is a general daily guide for healthy people, not a strict prescription; people who are ill may need different advice.

Vegetarian food guide. Vegetarians use the same number of servings but replace meat with legumes, seeds, nuts, tofu (soyabean curd) and, if they eat them, eggs. For iron, they should eat plenty of dark green leafy vegetables and legumes. Those who avoid cow's or buffalo milk can use fortified soy milk, to which calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12 are added.

Example: improving a lunch. A lunch of plain rice with a little pickle gives mostly energy. Adding a bowl of dal (pulses), a vegetable sabzi, a cup of curd (milk group) and a fruit after the meal brings in all the groups.