CONCEPT OF BALANCED DIET AND IT’S ROLE IN MAINTAINING HEALTHY LIFE

Abstract

A healthy balanced diet is a diet that helps to maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition, fluid, macronutrients and micronutrients. When we take food in this manner it is known as balanced diet. A balanced diet is important because our organ and tissue need proper nutrition to work effectively, without good nutri-tion our body is more prone to disease, infection and fatigue. Person’s specific daily calorie intake can vary depending on their age, gender and physical activity level. Man generally needs more calories than woman and people who exercise need more calorie than people who don’t. In Ayurveda the balanced diet has been explained in various Samhitas in scat-tered form. It defines the balanced diet as Samyak Ahara Matra which depends on various factors such as Panchmahabhut as ‘Sarvam drayvam panch-mahabhautiks, the body and food are mutual to each other’.Guru –Laghu Ahara, Nitya Sevaniya- Asevaniya Ahara, Hitkara Ahara and Ahitkara Ahara etc. This review article is just an attempt to explore the Ahara its Panchbhautika and to understand that how Panchbhautika Ahara is considered as balance and healthy diet ,which can nourish the body, also how it balances the Tridosha and how it maintains the harmony of the body.