It is important that you eat a balanced diet with foods from each of the five major food groups. Choosing a variety of foods within and across food groups is also important. Each food group contains at least one nutrient (called the ‘characterising’ nutrient) for which it makes a particularly rich contribution to the total diet. For example, the milk group is known as a rich source of protein, calcium and riboflavin.

In each food group, different foods provide more of some nutrients than others. If you eat a variety of foods from each group, you will probably get all the nutrients provided by the foods in that group. For example, some vegetables contain vitamin C (capsicums), while others (asparagus and spinach) are high in folate. Most of the variety in your foods should come from plant foods (fruits, vegetables and grains).

Choosing a variety of foods within each group will also help to make your meals interesting, so you don’t get bored with your diet. The major food groups are:

Fruit

Vegetables, legumes

Lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes

Bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles

Milk, yoghurt, cheese.

Food variety means eating a wide variety of foods (a balanced diet) from within and across each of the five food groups, in the amounts recommended. Eating many different foods helps maintain a healthy, well-balanced and interesting diet that provides adequate nutrition. Eating a variety of foods can help prevent diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. So its not just a vegetarian diet that can prevent health problems.

No i don't agree, as i think that not all vegetables provide protein in high intake. Why? Its because a few servings of vegetables wouldn't be enough to provide a balanced diet like what you said. However if there was a mixture of meat and vegetables, one would feel more energetic than pure-meat lovers and pure-vegetarians. But the good points of being a vegetarian means less red meat which causes cancer or health problems etc.. So in conclusion, a well balanced meal of both is still for the better!

However, some vegetarians are picky with their food since they don't have much of a choice. Therefore what are the consequences if they do not eat these protein..? Hence a balanced diet of meat and vegetables could help in providing protein/ vitamin B and other nutritions needed, with a larger variety. But if vegetarians are more of vegans, they could have eggs or milk. But not all are vegans.

Meat is a vital part of a child's diet, according to a two-year study of schoolkids. Without it, children grow up smaller, less strong and less intelligent, the results suggest. Over two years, kids given food supplements gained an average of 400 grams more than those without, Allen told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC on 20 February. Those given meat showed the biggest benefits.

Children in the meat-supplemented group showed up to an 80% greater increase in upper-arm muscle compared with the non-supplemented children; for milk drinkers, this figure was 40%.Kids who were fed meat also outperformed their peers in tests of intelligence, problem solving and arithmetic. "The group that received the meat supplements were more active in the playground, more talkative and playful, and showed more leadership skills," Allen said. adding meat to a child's diet improves their development.