Balanced nutrition means eating so as to achieve the ideal balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, as well as a range of nutrients needed for good health.

By following a few tips, you can create a diet plan that's both flexible and nutritionally balanced. One basic step is to ensure that your diet includes adequate calories.

Fiber is an indigestible substance found in most fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. There are two major types of fiber: soluble (SAWL-you-buhl) and insoluble (IN-sawl-you-buhl).

There's little doubt that it's preferable to obtain vitamins and minerals through your diet rather than from supplements. Foods contain many additional substances called phytochemicals (FYE-toe-kehm-ih-kuls) that scientists are just beginning to understand.

Calorie counting involves two steps: learning how many calories per serving a given food contains and figuring out how much constitutes a 'serving.' Most packaged foods list the calorie information on the labels.