Knowing that for any set of real numbers $x,y,z$, such that $x+y+z = 1$ the inequality $x^2+y^2+z^2 \ge \frac{1}{3}$ holds. 
Knowing that for any set of real numbers $x,y,z$, such that $x+y+z = 1$ the inequality $x^2+y^2+z^2 \ge \frac{1}{3}$ holds.

I spent a lot of time trying to solve this and, having consulted some books, I came to this: 
$$2x^2+2y^2+2z^2 \ge 2xy + 2xz + 2yz$$ $$2xy+2yz+2xz = 1-(x^2+y^2+z^2) $$ $$2x^2+2y^2+2z^2 \ge 1 - x^2 -y^2 - z^2 $$ $$x^2+y^2+z^2 \ge \frac{1}{3}$$
But this method is very unintuitive to me and I don't think this is the best way to solve this. Any remarks and hints will be most appreciated.

It is enough to prove the result for $x,y,z$ positive since
$$\frac{|x|+|y|+|z|}{3} \geq \frac{x+y+z}{3}$$
One can use the generalized AM-GM inequality: If 
$$M_p = \left(\frac{x^p+y^p+z^p}{3}\right)^{\frac{1}{p}}$$ then for $p < q$, $M_p \leq M_q$ with equality holding if and only if $x=y=z$. Here, using $M_2 \geq M_1$, we get
$$\left(\frac{x^2+y^2+z^2}{3}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}} \geq \frac{|x|+|y|+|z|}{3} \geq \frac{x+y+z}{3} = \frac{1}{3}$$
