What's a diet?
Over the last few year people have become more and more aware of their health, mostly due to the rise of the internet as a source of information. One of the most popular health topics is about diet. So what is a diet? Better still what is a balanced diet? A diet simply put is the type of food one eats. It is influenced by very many factors including religion, environment, personal desires and culture among other factors. A balanced diet is more of a medical concept which attempt to classify food into groups such as proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and fibers. An individual taking all these food groups in the required or recommended quantities is said to taking a balanced diet. A balanced diet by itself helps to avoid 'third world diseases' such as kwashiorkor and marasmus as well as other modern day diseases such as obesity.
For an ordinary person choosing a diet can be really confusing! There is just too much misinformation or information out there about diets. How many types of diets are there? Knowing the types of diets out there can aid one in choosing an ideal diet for weight loss. A fixed -menu diet consists of a pre-selected list of foods for one to eat, one has to simply follow the list. These types of diets have the advantage of having the necessary food groups in the recommended quantities. Its disadvantage is that such diets tend to assume that 'one fits all', thus leave very little space for personal desires. With this type of diets the lost weight can easily be gained since it does not teach its users how to choose types of food.
Exchange types of diet are an improvement of fixed-menu diets, in that it is sets out the number of serving for all types of food groups. The food groups in exchange types of diets contains measured quantities of calories, and be changed to suit personal tastes. For example, in the starch part of the diet can have one serving of cereals which is designed to have same energy and nutritional value as three slices of bread thus can be interchanged as one wishes. These types of diet help to one to learn how to choose food to keep off the weight even long after its shed off.
Other types of diets include prepackaged-meal diets; these are bought from food stores or supermarket as readymade food with appropriate portions. They are often expensive. Questionable diets are diets that provided one type of food group in exaggerated concentration to aid in quick weight loss, as such provide little or none of the other essential food groups. Formula diets contain all the food groups in appropriate concentrations to aid in weight loss, though often in liquid form.
When choosing a diet it is of prime importance to choose a type of diet that one can live with not only during the life of the diet but also way after the weight is shed.