Following a healthy diet is about nourishing your body with a variety of nutrients that support your overall health and well-being. At its core, a balanced diet includes food from all the major food groups – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein sources, dairy (or dairy alternatives) and healthy fats – to ensure your body receives essential nutrients.

Here are key points on what makes a diet healthy to help select a plan that works for you throughout the entire year.

What Makes a Diet Healthy?

The foods you eat should provide you with nutrients for good health. Aim to include foods from each food group to ensure a balanced intake of vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutrients.

While you may lose weight on a diet without any grains, that doesn’t make it healthy. Diets that limit carbohydrates, for example, are often low in fiber. Diets containing a lot of red meat are often high in saturated fats, which can increase the risk for heart disease.

A healthy diet should:

Fruits and Vegetables for Healthy Eating

Research shows that the healthiest diets are rich in fruits and vegetables, which are associated with a lower risk of:

Fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber while being relatively low in calories. All non-starchy fruits and vegetables can be part of a healthy diet, so if you like one fruit or vegetable over another, enjoy it.

Because fruits and vegetables are low in calories, you can enjoy a bigger portion without worrying about weight gain. For optimal health and for reducing disease risk, aim for an assortment of colorful fruits and vegetables, which will contain different nutrients and antioxidants.

Whole Grains Reduce Disease Risk

Many diet plans call for cutting out grains, including whole grains, particularly if you want to lose weight. However, whole grains are rich in nutrients and fiber, which are associated with a lower risk of chronic disease and support a healthy digestive system.

Whole grains include these foods:

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, at least half of the grains you eat every day (3 servings or ounce equivalents) should be whole grains. This would amount to around ½ cup cooked oatmeal, a slice of whole wheat bread, and ½ cup cooked brown rice.

Healthy Fats to Include in Your Diet

A healthy diet includes healthy sources of fats, including:

Dietary fats are necessary for maintaining good health, and they provide energy, protect your organs, support cell growth, and help you absorb fat-soluble nutrients.

Guidelines advise that 20%–35% of calories come from fats, mostly unsaturated fats, with no more than 10% of total calories coming from saturated fats. However, because fats are calorically dense (they contain 9 calories per gram compared to protein and carbohydrates, which have 4 calories per gram), practicing portion control is important; aim for 1 tablespoon of olive oil to dress your salad or enjoy ¼ cup of nuts as a snack.

Protein as Part of a Healthy Diet

Protein is important for growth and development and to help your body repair cells and make new ones. A healthy diet should include these sources of protein.

Red meat should be consumed in moderation as it is high in saturated fat and associated with a greater risk for heart disease. It’s also best to meet your protein needs with whole foods instead of protein supplements.

Diets for Reducing Disease Risk

Regardless of whether you are looking to maintain your weight or lose a few pounds, the best diet is one that can minimize your risk of diet-related chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

Such a diet would include plenty of fruits and vegetables, healthy starches including whole grains and starchy vegetables, lean sources of protein including plant proteins and healthy, unsaturated fats.

A Healthy Diet Should Be Easy to Follow

While the nutrients a diet provides are important for good health, high on the list is how easy the diet is to follow. It should:

If a diet plan is overly restrictive or complicated, it is unlikely that you will be able to stick to it for the long haul.

All too often, diets promote overly complicated food preparation or scientific theories or require tedious calorie counting. These diets are rarely able to be followed for long and often lose focus on the most important piece, which is creating a plan with a balance of whole foods rich in nutrients.