A regular diet for most people avoids fad foods, sidesteps popular weight-loss diets, and simply recommends healthy portions of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and the other necessary nutrients. Mayo Clinic dietitians advise you to base your diet on tested guidelines from major health organizations. Plan a balanced diet to promote good health and resist illness. If you have heart or blood pressure conditions, check with your doctor. A little work makes a regular diet still possible.
Carbohydrates
Eat carbohydrates, which are starches and sugars, for your body's main energy supply. Select potatoes, corn, grains and peas for their complex carbohydrates. Fruits and milk, and any food made with sugar, like candy and sweets and honey contain mostly simple carbohydrates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, offers guidelines on using fruit and vegetables in your carbohydrate budget. A regular 2,000-calorie-a-day diet should provide 45 to 65 percent of your calories from mostly complex carbohydrates. This amounts to about eight to 12 oz. of carbohydrates a day.
Protein
Protein is essential for your muscles, bones, skin and healthy organs, including blood and hormones. A regular diet includes meat, dairy products, seafood and poultry as protein sources. If you prefer a vegetarian diet, legumes, nuts and seeds offer a rich selection of proteins. Mayo Clinic nutritionists suggest 10 to 35 percent of your calories should come from proteins, or about two to five oz. on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet.. Make your meat choices lean and have seafood twice a week.
Good Fats
The right kind of fat in a regular diet helps you absorb essential vitamins, maintain structure and function in cell membranes, and supports your immune system. Unsaturated fats are best, as found in nuts and olives and their oils and canola oil. Fat is high in energy with a high calorie count per ounce--about twice as many as proteins and carbohydrates. Consume no more than 20 to 35 percent of your calories as fat. Only 1 1/2 to three oz. a day are needed on a regular 2,000-calorie-a-day diet.
Bad Fats
A regular diet will avoid the saturated fats in palm, coconut, and other tropical oils. Whole milk, butter and fatty red meat and poultry are also high in saturated fats. Lean meat and low-fat dairy provide protein without the bad fats. Mayo Clinic dietary specialists warn that more than 1/2 oz. a day--about 1 tbsp.--of saturated fat is too much. The other bad fat to avoid in a regular diet is trans-fat. This is manufactured by adding hydrogen to solidify liquid oils. It is used in many baked goods, cookies and confections. A regular 2,000-calorie-a-day diet should contain no more than 2 g. of trans-fat--about as much as a level teaspoon can hold. Do not exceed one percent of your calories in trans-fat. Read your food labels to assess your daily intake of these fats. Too much saturated- and trans-fat can raise your blood cholesterol and risk coronary artery disease.
Cholesterol
A regular diet provides cholesterol from dairy products, eggs, meat, poultry and seafood. However, your body makes all the cholesterol you need for the normal function of all your body's cells. Excess builds up in arterial plaques, or fatty blockages. A regular diet should limit cholesterol intake to under 300 mg a day. According to My Foodapedia.gov and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) a regular diet is low in cholesterol when you eat more fruits and vegetables and less than 6 oz. of meat a day.
Fiber
A regular diet is high in both soluble and insoluble fiber, the indigestible part of plants. Insoluble fiber from vegetables, wheat bran and whole grains keeps your gastrointestinal tract working smoothly. Soluble fiber from oats, beans, apples and oranges helps regulate cholesterol and blood sugar. Mayo Clinic dietitians say a regular diet for women contains 21 to 25 grams of fiber daily; for men, 30 to 38 grams a day is ideal.
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