• Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group.
• Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake.
• Diet food, foods that aid in dieting.
• Cuisine, the diet of a particular culture

The human body is roughly 63% water, 22% protein, 13% fat, 2% minerals and vitamins. Eating and drinking a balanced diet plays an important part in coping with having cancer and its treatments. Up to 4 out of 10 people (40%) have unintended weight loss when their cancer is diagnosed, or have problems with nutrition early on.
If you are eating and drinking well, you will be able to cope better and recover faster. This could improve your chance of survival. You need a balanced diet, with plenty of calories, to keep your immune system working well. This can help you fight off infections, as well as helping your body fight the cancer.

Healthy Eating Guidelines are intended to promote overall health while reducing the risk of developing nutrition-related diseases like cancer and heart disease. They are directed at all healthy individuals over the age of 14. There is nothing difficult about healthy eating. It is simply a common-sense approach to food that is easy to live with, once you get used to it.

Balanced diet:

It is important to include everything you need in your diet, including:

• Protein
• Carbohydrates
• Fat
• Water
• Fiber

The food pyramid
Guidelines for choosing foods are widely represented in various food pyramids. The triangular shape of the pyramid shows you where to focus when selecting foods. Foods to eat the most of create the base of the pyramid, and foods to eat in smaller amounts or less frequently are shown farther up the pyramid.

With the variety of food pyramids available, you may wonder which one to follow. Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, reduce intake of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol, limit sweets and salt, drink alcoholic beverages in moderation, if at all, control portion sizes and the total number of calories you consume, include physical activity in your daily routine.

Food pyramids place foods in categories such as dairy products or meat and beans to help guide your food choices. No single food provides all of the nutrients that your body needs, so eating a variety of foods within each group ensures that you get the necessary nutrients and other substances that promote good health.

Grains
The grains group, which includes foods like bread, cereal, rice, and pasta, should provide the majority of the energy your child needs each day.
These foods are high in complex carbohydrates, which are the body's favorite fuel, and give your child the energy to play, pay attention in school, and do many other activities.
Grains also provide other important nutrients such as vitamin B-complex (folate), which helps your child's body use the protein needed to build muscle.

Vegetables
Vegetables provide many of the vitamins and minerals kids need for good health, and they provide fiber to aid digestion. So it's important to have a variety of them in your child's diet.
Be sure to scrub vegetables before cooking them. It's best to steam or microwave vegetables, or eat them raw. Occasional stir-frying is OK. Boiling vegetables is also acceptable, but some of the vitamins and minerals will be lost to the cooking water.

Fruits
Fruits are especially good sources of important vitamins like A and C. This food group also adds minerals such as potassium and fiber, which help digestion. Be sure to scrub fruits before feeding them to your child. It is best to eat fruits raw.

Dairy
This food group, which includes milk and other foods like milk, yogurt, and cheese, is an important source of vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, and protein.
Vitamin A helps build healthy eyes, skin, and hair. Vitamin D helps your child's body absorb calcium and use it for healthy bones and teeth, along with muscle and nerve functions.

Meat, Fish, Beans, and Nuts
This food group provides your child with protein, which helps your child's body maintain and repair body tissues and build muscle.
Foods in this group also provide vitamin B-complex and iron, which helps build strong bones and teeth and support muscles.

Fats, Oils, and Sweets
Fats and oils are essential nutrients to maintain body function but should be used sparingly. Fats help the body absorb vitamins A, D, E, K, and beta-carotene. Even though fats may be needed to maintain good health, it may be a good idea to limit them, since they still contain calories.
Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature, like the vegetable oils that are commonly used in cooking. Oils can come from many different plants and fish. Some other common oils include olive oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil.
Some foods are naturally high in oils, like nuts, olives, some fish, and avocados. Most oils are high in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. These fats raise your child's level of (good) HDL cholesterol, which seems to help prevent heart problems, and do not raise levels of (bad) LDL cholesterol, which can lead to heart problems.
Solid fats, like butter, shortening, and margarine, contain more saturated fats or trans fats, which can raise (bad) LDL cholesterol levels in the blood and increase your child's risk for heart disease.
Fats shouldn't be restricted in children under age 2. The developing brain and other organs of the young child need a certain amount of fat for proper development.
Sugars are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream to provide your child a quick dose of energy. It's a good idea to limit the amount of sugar you feed your child from candy, sweets, and other foods. That's because the body stores the extra sugar it doesn't immediately need as fat. That can lead to weight gain and other health problems.

Food pyramid differences
Food pyramids reflect the same general principles of healthy eating, they demonstrate different food choices. These differences reflect dietary preferences, food availability and cultural eating patterns. For example, the Latin American Diet Pyramid might include tortillas and cornmeal within the grains food group, whereas the Asian Diet Pyramid might emphasize noodles and rice.

Food groups. The food groups among food pyramid may vary somewhat. For example, some might group plant-based proteins soybeans, beans and nuts separately from animal proteins found in meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. This is because animal proteins are often higher in fat and cholesterol, and some diets limit or avoid animal proteins.

Serving recommendations. How food pyramid address servings also varies. The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, for example, recommends a daily number of servings from each food group. And it specifically defines serving sizes; for example, a serving of cooked brown rice is 1/3 cup and a serving of milk is 1 cup. But other plans offer more general guidelines, such as eating particular foods at every meal, or on a weekly or monthly basis. For example, the Latin American Diet Pyramid recommends that you eat whole grains, vegetables and fruits at every meal but eat red meat, sweets and eggs once a week or less.