Healthy Diet

The last Health Mantra is a healthy wholesome diet.

What constitutes a healthy diet ?. There are numerous diets to choose from and varied opinions to the right diet. Medical evidence changes with the times. What was considered healthy a few decades ago may not be necessarily true as new research suggests that the earlier restrictive diets were not entirely proven to be of benefit. High blood cholesterol levels do not correlate long term to the level of cholesterol intake in the diet and may be predominantly due to the genetic effects of any individual. Similarly fat content in a diet may not adversely affect this either. Previously thought to be bad saturated fats is also under debate. Indeed the focus has shifted to avoiding trans-fats and adopting poly unsaturated fats or even saturated fats. Organic vs inorganic... With so much confusion around diets is there any guidelines that seem to hold ground and pass the test of time ?.

Finally in conclusion, it appears that high glycemic index foods, rich carbohydrate foods may indeed be associated with a higher incidence of obesity and diabetes.

A healthy diet in todays era would therefore entail a good serving of mixed food types including vegetables, fruits, fish and meats, and a lower healthy serving of low glycemic index or whole grain carbohydrates. A balanced diet would contain the above in age and weight target appropriate portions. The amount of salt intake is also debatable and normal food salt levels are appropriate for most heart conditions. Fat intake of approximately 35% of the daily caloric intake is now considered acceptable ( earlier limits till 30% were advocated).

Avoid taking salt substitutes if you have kidney disease as potassium salts may indeed prove harmful. Finally a multivitamin daily with minerals may be an appropriate addition to the daily diet.

We can look into the various diets available medically as listed below. Please click to read more...