Eating a healthy, balanced diet is far more satisfying than following a strict weight-loss diet that leaves you feeling deprived, hungry, and obsessed with food. Everywhere we turn, however, we get conflicting advice on what foods are good for our health. Knowing where to start once you've decided to make a change can be difficult.

Components of healthy eating

A healthy, balanced diet provides the proper amounts of fat, carbohydrate, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

• Fat. Choose fats that are monounsaturated like olive and canola oil, nuts, and fish. Limit the amount of saturated fats and trans fats you eat.
• Carbohydrate. Choose carbohydrate that comes from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and low-fat dairy products.
• Protein. Choose lean protein as often as possible. This means protein that is low in fat, especially saturated fat. Some examples of lean protein include all types of fish, poultry that has the skin removed, low-fat dairy products, and legumes.
• Fiber. Fiber is found only in plant foods. Most people need between 20 and 35 grams of fiber each day. Fiber is found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts.

Getting started

Make changes in your eating habits slowly and stick to them. Try some realistic and balanced changes you're ready to make and can fit into your lifestyle. Changing the type of snacks you eat can be an easy place to start. Keep nutritious and satisfying snacks, like fruit or nuts, available at home and work. When you plan your snacks ahead of time and have food on hand, you are less likely to pick a less nutritious snack when you get hungry.

Another way you can begin to improve your nutrition is to pick low-calorie drinks instead of higher-calorie versions. For instance, if you drink a lot of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, try sugar-free or low-calorie fruit-flavored sparkling water, or unsweetened iced tea instead.

Once you find that your new eating habit has become a normal part of your everyday routine, you can add a new nutrition goal.

Overall, you will receive the most health benefits if you routinely choose mostly foods that are plant-based. This means eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.

To have healthy eating habits, try to:

• Eat at least 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables each day.
• Eat at least 6 ounces of grains each day. Make at least half of those servings whole grain. An ounce serving of grains is equal to about ¾ cup dry cereal; 1 small slice of bread; or ½ cup of cooked cereal, pasta, rice or other grains.
• Eat 2 to 3 servings of low-fat dairy products every day. A serving of dairy is 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of yogurt, or 1½ ounces of natural cheese. If you do not eat dairy products, choose nonmilk sources of calcium such as calcium-fortified orange juice, calcium-fortified soy milk, and calcium-fortified tofu.
• Limit your meat, fish, and poultry intake to no more than 6 ounces each day. This is about the size of two decks of cards.
• Choose homemade and fresh foods instead of packaged or processed foods to limit the amount of salt you eat.
• Use monounsaturated fats such as olive or canola oil when cooking instead of shortening, butter, or margarine.
• Choose a calorie goal that is right for your body and activity level.