A good diet is important for good health. A healthy and varied diet can help to maintain a healthy body weight, enhance general wellbeing and reduce the risk of a number of diseases including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. A healthy diet consist of four main categories of foods - of course there are some other minor groups. But these four main food groups will provide a healthy diet the bulk of its nutrition. They are: vegetables and fruits, grain products, milk products, and meats and alternatives. A healthy diet will serve a good balance of each of the food groups listed. Of course, different individuals will need different amounts of food. Other factors such as age, body size, activity level, gender will also affect the amount of food you eat. Below is a guide to provide you with a general idea of how much from each group you should serve for a healthy diet. Please note that meat is NOT a necessary part of a healthy diet. Contrary to what many say, you can get enough proteins from vegetables, beans and soy products. A healthy diet is a diet based on breads, potatoes, and other cereals and is rich in fruits and vegetables. A healthy diet will include moderate amounts of milk and dairy products, meat, fish or meat/milk alternatives, and limited amounts of foods containing fat or sugar. You must have carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals salts and fibre in the correct proportions. If there is not enough protein, you will not be able to grow properly and you will not be able to repair yourself i.e. wounds will not heal properly. If you do not have enough energy containing foods you will feel very tired, you will not have enough energy. If you have too much energy containing foods you will become overweight. If you think that you are overweight you might try taking more exercise to "burn off" some of the excess food which you ate at you last meal.