Having a balanced diet can keep you healthy, because it should contain food from every food group. It will also keep you mentally healthy, by improving mood, and brain concentration.

An standard male adult between the age of 19-51 should eat 6 serves of grains a day. Some examples of 1 serving include: 1 slice of bread, 30g of muesli, 1 crumpet...

A standard female adult between the age of 19-51 should eat 5 servings of vegetables a day. Some examples of 1 serving include 1/2 cup of sweet corn, a medium tomato, 1/2 cup of brocoli...

A male that is 70+ years old should eat 2 servings of fruits per day. Some examples of 1 serving include 2 small kiwis, 1 medium apple, 1 cup of canned fruit (no added sugar)...

A female that is 70+ years old should eat 2 servings of lean meats and poultry per day. Some examples of 1 serving include 2 eggs, 170g of tofu, 100g of cooked fish fillet...

A female that is between the age of 19-50 should eat 2 and a half servings of dairy per day. Some examples of 1 serving include 1 cup of fresh milk, 3/4 cup of yogurt, 120g of ricotta...

All of this information comes from the Australian Guide To Healthy Eating.

Carbohydrates is essential for the body, especially for swimming, as is helps store energy, long duration endurance and it stores glycogen in muscles.

Protein can come from food sources such as meat (lamb, lean meats...), poultry (chicken and poultry), fish, eggs, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and soy products. Protein is essential for the body, especially for swimming, as it provides 'amino acids' which help build muscle tissue, that have been damaged during swimming. Protein is also essential for recovery, strength, and endurance.

Fats can come from food sources such as avocado, nuts (walnuts, peanuts...), seeds (chia seeds, pumpkin seeds...), olive oil, fatty meats/fish, butter and coconut oil. Fats are important for swimmers, as they provide and fat-soluble vitamins.

Overall, macronutrients are essential for everybody, especially athletes, like swimmer, as they provide energy, acids, fat-soluble vitamins, and they help with endurance.

You get a lot of carbohydrates from the pasta (in 100g of pasta, you get around 25g-30g of carbs), which is the main part of the meal.

As your protein, chicken. In 100g of chicken, you get an average of 27g of protein.

And finally, as your fats, you get that from the olive oil, the sun-dried tomatoes (Only if they are packed in oil, otherwise they don't contain fats), and finally from the cheese (Parmesan cheese contains 25g-35g of fats per 100g, and tasty cheese contains 33g-35g of fats per 100g).

This chicken pasta meal is an example of a mails that contains all macronutrients.

Sodium is important for your body, because it helps maintain fluid balance, blood pressure and keeps your nerves and muscles working properly. Sodium also helps transport of nutrients through your whole body. Too much of this micronutrient can cause short-term problems, like thirst, bloating and headaches, but also long-term problems, like heart diseases, kidney diseases and strokes. Sodium usually comes from foods which are processes or packaged, and full of salt. Some exemples include: Fast-food pizza, chips, bacon...

Calcium in your body is important, because it help maintain and grow strong bones and teeth, but also muscle contraction, nerves transmission, blood clotting, a healthy heartbeat... 99% of calcium is stored in your teeth and bones, and whilst calcium is essential for your bones, too much of it can weaken them. It can also cause kidney stones, and affect the heart and brain. Calcium comes from foods dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt...), dairy-product equivalents (tofu...), certain leafy green vegetables (kale, bok choy..) and some fish, seeds and nuts.

Iron helps transport oxygen in the blood, store oxygen in muscles, support immune function and helps with DNA and cell growth. Too much iron in your body is called a condition called iron overload. It can lead to severe, and possibly fatal organe damage, liver diseases (cancer...), heart problems and type 2 diabetes. You can get iron from foods like red meats, poultry, sea food, beans, lentils, vegetables and tofu.

To sumarise the micronutrients, whilst vital for your health and wellbeing, can cause problems if consumed too much of.

Too much consumation of sugars can lead to weight gain and obesity (sugars contain many calories, but few nutrients), long-term diseases (exemples: type 2 diabetes, high blood sugar, heart diseases and strokes), 'fatty' livers, cavities and teeth decay, acne and mental problems (high sugar intakes create a negative impact on your mood, which can then lead to depressive thoughts). A simple way to reduce high sugar intakes is to read the food labels and choose foods that are full of nutrients.

Not eating a whole load of added sugars promote clear skin, more and longer lasting energy levels, weight loss and a lower chance of chronic diseases.

The purpose of the HSR is to give consumers a quick and easy way to choose the healthier option between similar foods. The information is presented as shown above, with a star rating, ranging from 1/2 star (unhealthiest) to 5 stars (healthiest). It also gives information about the amount of energy, saturated fats, sugars, sodium and protein per 100g/100mL.

The 'stars' given to the product are determined by: reducing points for high-levels of risk nutrients, such as energy, saturated fats, sodium (salt), and the total amount of sugars. Point are added if the product has a (preferably high) presence of fibre, protein and FVNL (Fruit, Vegetable, Nut, Legume) content. A calculation is then made by experts, based on the amount of points the product has been given. The data is then used to give an overall score (star rating out of 5).

A key strength of the HSR is that just by looking at the rating out of 5, you can make quick, easy and healthier decision as to what food you choose.

However, the Health Star Rating can be misleading, for it doesn't take into account processed foods, which add to the 'unhealthiness' scale.