Balanced on paper is not enough: why good nutrition is more than a numbers game

A balanced diet – that seemingly perfect combo of nutrients that keeps us functioning today and preserves our health for years to come. Is balanced enough though? In this week’s blog I’m shedding light on the flaws in this numbers game.

Can an unhealthy, nutritionally balanced meal exist?

Yes. Welcome to a hidden truth of ultra-processed food (UPF), the mainstay of today’s food landscape.

UPF is a food substitute. It’s engineered in factories from extracts and additives to look like food, taste irresistible, and have a long shelf life. It isn’t just processed; it’s rebuilt from powders, oils and additives, then flavoured, sweetened and softened so it may be eaten quickly.

However, UPF can boast that it’s nutritionally balanced, and this is where it gets confusing.

If we close our eyes and imagine a balanced diet, it usually conjures up images like this: fresh, colourful, obvious protein and some grainy carbohydrates.

My children have just returned to school and both love a school lunch, but the whole-food options that were diligently made and keenly devoured by pupils and staff are becoming a thing of the past. A new, trust-wide provision has arrived that leans heavily on UPF.

The school chefs are not happy, and many parents, whether led by instinct or knowledge, have questioned the menu shift. But,

"fear-not" we’ve been reassured,

"the menu is nutritionally balanced."

Not all is as it seems…

Balanced and healthy don’t always go hand in hand, so this week I aim to address this misconception and raise points around the hidden costs of convenience.

Beginning with what healthy looks like

Defining healthy and unhealthy can be messy; many scientists find their own criteria to rank food by, but this is hard to argue with:

A healthy diet is one that, eaten regularly, helps you feel and function well today and protects your future health. It’s built from plants, quality protein and healthy fats. It’s rich in fibre and micronutrients, low in free sugars and excess salt.

A healthy diet: all the major food groups in their whole form

Keep this in mind as we consider why a change from a home-made to pre-made misses the mark, and why balanced UPF isn’t the answer.

Defining ‘balanced’

Nutritionally balanced meals tick these boxes:

• Energy:  appropriate calories for age group and gender.

• Macronutrients in range: carbs/protein/fat within guidelines.

• Micronutrients met: key vitamins/minerals (often via fortification).

• Limits respected: salt, saturated fat and free sugars under set limits.

• Fibre grams stated: can be boosted with added isolated fibres.

  
  

That’s the numbers test, and both real and UPF can hit these.

The inconvenient truth: why the numbers don’t add up when it comes real nourishment

Labels meet standards but bodies reveal the truth. UPF give flavour and energy but not nourishment. It comes with real side effects too, felt daily and compounded over time to create real and significant longer-term health problems.

Who wants food with side effects?!

Here are a couple of headline:

Eating rate and energy density

• UPFs are soft and packed with energy, so they’re eaten faster and in a smaller volume for the same number of calories from whole foods.

  
  

• Fullness signals arrive too late, so we often eat more than we need.

  
  

• This makes us vulnerable to weight gain and the health effects associated with it.

Not enough real fibre

• Fibre is our number 1 ally for health and weight control. It slows digestion, feeds our microbiome, steadies blood sugar, and maintains fullness. Isolated, added fibre doesn’t do the same.

Blood-sugar swings

• Refined starches rapidly become glucose once inside your body. Labels may look fine, but blood glucose spikes from these carbs are the same as those from sugar.

  
  

• Dramatic rises in blood glucose heighten fidgeting and poor concentration, and when the spike crashes it brings lethargy and hunger. This scenario is familiar to many, fuelling snacking habits throughout the day.

Heady food ‘bliss points’ retrain tastebuds

• Even when UPF boasts low sugar and salt, they have other tricks up their sleeves to engineer ‘crave-able’ flavours, which will always trump whole foods. These desensitise tastebuds, widening the gap between whole foods and UPF.

  
  

• The earlier we become accustomed to UPF flavours, the harder it is to revert back to healthier, whole-food alternatives.

Dental reality

Balanced menus can still hide free sugars and refined carbs, which is tough on teeth, especially if routinely eaten. 

More than 1 in 5 five-year-olds already have obvious tooth decay; by age 12, this rises to 1 in 3, much of which is in their adult teeth and is treated with extractions or fillings.

Comparing balanced UPF with whole-food equivalents

When whole-foods come in their natural form they provide a structurally unique food matrix. It’s only when we consume the whole food that we reap the benefits of what's held within.

Deconstruct the matrix, isolate all the macro and micronutrients, and the interactions within our bodies just aren’t the same. Furthermore, if we eat whole foods, the food 'side-effects' disappear.

“It’s not what’s in the food that counts; it’s what’s been done to it that matters”

– Professor Robert Lustig

Author, Metabolical: The lure and the lies of processed food, nutrition, and modern medicine

UPF meals have their place

We need to be realistic about the world we are living in today; sometimes pre-made is the only option. The trick is having the awareness and simple skills to blunt the effect wherever we can.

Augment with fresh or frozen vegetables. Aim for 2 on the side and eat them first. Check labels and try to find the meals with the fewest additives. Perhaps try making one meal from scratch: double the recipe so that the same effort make 2 meals, giving you 1 for now and 1 for later as an instant freezer meal.

Why UPF-free meals really matter in schools.

Early exposure to whole foods trains the palate for later life and provides steadier day-to-day energy

School dinners are the catalyst for this blog, so it’s time to acknowledge why UPF-free ones matter so much.

Childhood provides endless opportunities for learning, and a palate apprenticeship shouldn’t be exempt. Every meal nudges our taste buds one way or the other: towards packets or towards real food.

Schools are where we entrust our children’s care five days a week. For many pupils, school lunch is their one guaranteed hot meal each day. If that meal leans heavily on UPF then they’re being let down.

The hidden costs of a cheap menu

Schools run on tight budgets but skimping on good food has a proven, direct hit on outcomes:

It reduces learning time: wobbly energy leads to wobbly focus and increased poor behaviour after lunch.

Equity: for some pupils, school lunch is the best meal of the day, so they should have the full advantage they deserve from their free school meal.

Attendance & comfort: A healthier diet and well-nurtured microbiome leads to healthier kids. Attendance is a big ticket item for all headteachers, so common sense alongside the science should keep numbers up.

Kitchen pride: morale falls when skilled cooks can’t cook. We need to reinstate school cooks’ autonomy and morale before their roles are displaced by ready meals.

Reputation: A commitment to good food is a commitment to care. Families notice, and people talk. A whole school can build its reputation around its culture of food – UPF-free, reduced packaging, composting missions, growing what they eat.

Change needs to happen

This blog is not a finger-pointing mission; it’s an awareness one.

Many school decision-makers, like most of us, don’t have the full picture. They’re offered cost-effective, “balanced” options by large catering companies that tick compliance boxes and keep service running. The bigger picture isn’t known, so it isn’t considered.

As a nation our food literacy isn’t where it needs to be. We are vulnerable to loud, well-engineered misinformation, and what trusted brand tell us quietly shapes how we eat at home, school and at work.  

There’s no strong voice for the foods that serve us best

– they’ve been silenced.

My work is improving people’s food literacy for real life: empowering people to read their food landscape and make small, repeatable changes that fit their time and budget. We don’t need perfect, but as a nation we need a better baseline where food is given priority status, and is no longer an afterthought.

With knowledge and understanding comes passion and action for change. I’d like to see impact over time: one person, one freezer, one household. One meaningful conversation at the school gate, and let it cascade into further action.

This is a life-long dialogue we should all be part of.

If you’d like to understand your diet in more detail and find workable opportunities to change it for the better then please reach out. Whether you’re a single person, a family or even someone looking to better workplace eating culture, I can help.

The why is clear, but the how often needs a little help.

Sarah x

sarah@nutritionwithsarah.co.uk