How and why to choose a balanced diet to lose weight? A healthy and correct diet allows us to lose weight in a lasting way, precisely because we go to correct our eating habits to have better ones, without having to be slaves to a regime that leaves us little variety in nutrition but without which on the other hand part we would not know how to lose weight. In short: instead of disposable diets, a balanced diet can be maintained for a long time, is more effective and leaves us motivated. Furthermore, it can be really easy to transform our food routine into a balanced and correct diet.

Here I will explain how to do it in 5 steps , with the advice of  Holly Rilinger, coach, trainer and expert in healthy nutrition, who explains how in 28 days you can lose weight thanks to a healthier life.
According to a recent statistical study, it seems in fact an incorrect diet is the cause for twenty percent of a reduction in life expectancy ( source ). This is why doing the diet of the moment and then abandoning it, without understanding why we tend to gain weight and have the consequences of an incorrect diet is a behavior that must be avoided, even if this means engaging a little more with ourselves.

HOW TO MAKE A BALANCED DIET IN 5 STEPS

1. What may be true for others may not be true for you. It’s very simple: learning about your body is the foundation of a balanced and healthy diet that works. For example, try making a list of foods that cause intestinal problems and a list of foods you love but know are not exactly healthy, for example because they are high in sugar and fat. Now, try varying your diet by choosing alternatives. Are smoothies indigestible to you? Try adding different vegetables to your side dish and skip juices and smoothies even if they are all the rage. Do you like grilling?Try choosing grass-fed meat and increase your fish consumption by treating both meat and fish with a marinade of herbs and citrus juice that allows you to reduce cooking times. Do you love cheeses? You don’t have to give them up, but limit their consumption and choose DOP cheeses and not the fridge alternatives that you don’t know what milk they are made of, if they are Italian or not, and so on.
   Do you love pasta? Always eat balanced meals to reduce the glycemic load of your meals by dividing your carbohydrate consumption throughout the day. Little pasta for lunch but a slice or two of wholemeal bread for dinner or breakfast. A baked potato instead of a sandwich.
   Of many foods you enjoy, too many are commercial and industrial?Try to figure out if you can get the same thing by using natural ingredients and making them at home in a lighter version. Without demonizing food, but using what you like to your advantage for a personalized meal plan.  
2. Snack or not? It depends. Even your eating habits may be different from those of your friend, but not irreconcilable with a balanced diet. You don’t have to feel guilty if you are hungry during the day, but learn that there is a snack and snack: reduce the quantities of lunch and dinner if you love to nibble between meals, and for between meals, opt for simple choices, such as a boiled egg, half a apple spread with a teaspoon of almond butter, a slice of toasted rye bread with a slice of avocado, a stalk of celery with a little gorgonzola on top, a Greek yogurt with a teaspoon of organic honey, two or three cubes of extra dark chocolate , a handful of nuts. These top choices will reduce your craving for chips, pretzels, and snacks in less than two weeks.
3. Drink a large glass of water before your meal. A good rule of thumb to avoid overeating is to drink a glass of water about twenty minutes before a meal. You can flavor it as you like with fresh mint and basil, citrus slices, but also organic fruit peels such as apple peels. These foods will mineralize the water and make it more functional but also better to drink. Also, this trick will allow you to eat less.
4. Avoid eating before bed.  To do this, try brushing your teeth half an hour after dinner, and make yourself a nice digestive and fragrant herbal tea to drink during the evening, without sugar. It doesn’t seem like it but many people eat a balanced diet during the day but then sin after dinner. Sins of gluttony should not be controlled, only improved and periodized. You can’t eat chips and cookies or ice cream every day. To reduce these cravings, make your evening meal more beautiful and palatable, with raw vegetable sticks, a handful of oilseeds or sprouts in the salad, half a glass of wine. In this way you will not feel dissatisfied, with the desire to tease in front of the TV. Do you have the desire anyway? Buy yourself a vegetable dehydrator, and prepare a dish of dried zucchini, carrots, beets and eggplant to munch on without remorse.
5. Learn to reduce stress without taking it out on food: we can know all the rules for a balanced diet, but if we live a stressful life, being more hungry for foods rich in calories is even normal, that is, it is a response of the body to stress and life hectic. In this, cutting the deadwood, reducing commitments, considering our time as precious and carving out moments for us is worth more than any diet. Likewise, treating sleep is a way to reduce both hunger and cravings for less healthy foods. Sometimes you need to sleep more to help your waistline.