Eating a balanced diet is not about going without: it is about varying your food and spreading it sensibly across the day and the week.

The plate rule

A simple, visual guide for putting a plate together:

• Half vegetables (raw or cooked).
• A quarter starchy foods (rice, pasta, wholemeal bread and so on).
• A quarter protein (meat, fish, eggs, pulses).

Round it off with a piece of fruit, a dairy product and a little healthy fat. Keep ultra-processed, very sweet or very salty products to a minimum, without demonising them.

Key takeaway: half vegetables, a quarter starchy foods, a quarter protein. Varying your food each day covers most of your needs.