Most of us accept that a balanced diet is part of maintaining good health. It is quite clear form all the life-style and diet related illnesses (e.g. heart disease, diabetes, obesity complications etc.) that we are doing a pretty average job as a society in achieving balance in our diets & lifestyles.

The curious thing is that the more we understand about diet and health, the less able we seem to be in applying that knowledge. Never has scientific knowledge and medical understanding of nutrition been so sophisticated in western industrialized society. Yet, never have we been so ill from poor quality and over consumption of food. Maybe this illustrates the dichotomy of 'knowledge' versus 'wisdom' in society. All the knowledge under the sun is useless unless it is applied.

There are some simple ways to eat a balanced diet. In the dietary therapy of Chinese Medicine, one way food is categorized is according to flavor. foods are either pungent, sweet, sour, bitter or salty. Each of these flavors has an affinity for each different organ system. (pungent- Lung & Large intestine, sweet- Stomach & Spleen, sour-Liver & Gall Bladder, bitter- Heart & Small Intestine, salty- Kidney & Bladder)

Therefore a balanced diet will not only consider the calories and types of food consumed but also to maintaining a balance of the five flavors. In fact, this is a very easy and practical way to achieve balance as it means eating a wide variety of foods which contain a wide range of nutrients.