Two Essential Questions To Be Answered About Your Diet Plan

Are you ready for a diet regimen? First ask yourself 'Which one to choose' and while you are still enduring your chosen diet plan, answer the question 'For how long am I going to continue it?' Why so? Let us understand. I am on a diet - is easier said than done as it's a herculean task to accomplish! Nonetheless, having a personalized diet plan by a personal nutritionist is the ideal way, it's hardly possible for all to have one. Instead, what one can do is to prepare a personalized wellness goal to accomplish and choose the targeted diet plan to achieve it. "You win some and lose some." This quote is most apropos as far as diet plan is considered because no diet plan can be designed to cover all the health goals to accomplish. For example: What are the consequences if one starts a Ketogenic diet (diet having 70% of calories from fat, 25% from protein, and only 5% from carbohydrates)? One can definitely increase their good cholesterol level but at the cost of the decreased daily requirement of carbohydrate and protein i.e. only 5% and 25% respectively as opposed to the American Council on Exercise guided standard daily requirement of 45-65% of carbohydrates and 10-35% of proteins.

Various Goal-oriented Diets

Wellness Goal and Diseases Concerned	Suitable Dietary Regimen
Weight loss and its management	Weight Watchers Diet Ketogenic Diet Raw Food Diet Zone Diet
Diabetes Care	Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, Zone Diet
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Care	DASH Diet (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension), Zone Diet
Hypertension Care	Alkaline Diet
Irritable Bowel Syndrome Care	Low FODMAP Diet (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols)
Anti-epileptic Response	Ketogenic Diet
Infertility Care	Fertility Diet

Apart from all these, Vegan Diet and Mediterranean Diet are particularly helpful for Prevention of diseases like Cancer, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Heart Disease. According to US-health News, DASH Diet has topped the list for the most Healthy Diet.

Some of the Contemporary Diets Include:

• Flexitarian Diet
• TLC Diet (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet)
• Mayoclinic Diet
• MIND Diet
• Volumetrics Diet
• Ornish Diet
• Asian Diet
• Spark Solution Diet
• Vegetarian Diet
• Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet
• Flat Belly Diet
• Jenny Craig Diet
• Glycemic-Index Diet
• Nutritarian Diet
• Abs Diet and many others are included in the list.

Why Not One Particular Diet for Long?

Here are some of the ill effects of various Diet plans if followed for the long duration of time. Also, all the diet plans are not meant for everyone and of all age-group persons. For example, Atkins diet is not meant for people with Diabetes and patients suffering from Kidney Diseases. Let us take a look at some of these.

1. Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, Zone Diet and Ketogenic Diet:

As all three of them emphasizes on a low carb diet plan, side effects are also common for them. During the early phase of the regimen, some of these side-effects may be observed.

• Fatigue
• Headache
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Constipation

The beneficial Dietary Fibres (mostly complex carbohydrates) are consumed in a very low amount in these types of low-carb diets. This results in side-effects like diarrhea, constipation and other bowel problems. These types of diets are contraindicated in conditions like Alcoholism, Severe Kidney Disease and Type 1 Diabetes due to the possibility of Ketosis (high levels of ketones in the body leading to osteoporosis and kidney stones) Certain foods are avoided like Wheat and banana which provide many other nutrients too like iron, certain vitamins, and minerals. So people following these dietary patterns are devoid of these essentials nutrients.

2. Raw Food Diet:

Raw foods do provide some essential nutrients and enzymes that are degraded by the process of cooking. But there are certainly other benefits of cooking the food. Here are some of them.

• Cooked food is easy to digest.
• The nutrients of foods containing lycopene and beta-carotene (examples are carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes) are more readily absorbed by the body when cooked.
• There are certain harmful bacteria and pathogens in some raw foods that are killed when the food is cooked especially foods like eggs, meat, fish, etc.
• Certain raw cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. contain goitrogen compounds that if taken beyond a certain limit can cause thyroid problems leading to hypothyroidism.
• A variation of this diet is Vegan Raw Food Diet i.e. raw food devoid of all the animal products including milk and milk products. So the people following this diet are devoid of Vitamin B12 and iron which are present in absorbable form only in the various animal products. Deficiency of Calcium is another drawback of it as Calcium is present in a considerable amount in all the milk products.

3. DASH Diet

Though it stands first in the review by the U.S. News & World Report, it severely restricts fats and oils which are one of the essential fuels for the brain.

4. Low FODMAP Diet

A low-FODMAP diet restricts various foods (mostly fermentable sugars like monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, etc.) This, in turn, has a deleterious effect on the gut microbiomes that feed on the sugars. The healthy gut microbiome is crucial for the maintenance of the immune system, central nervous system, and digestion of food.

5. Zone Diet

It is a diet containing a high concentration of proteins. As proteins are ultimately metabolized in kidneys, there is much strain to the kidneys in people following this type of diet. So its long-term effects are kidney damage and osteoporosis.

Takeaway

Any particular diet followed for the long duration of time affects one or the other system of the body while repairing one particular physiology of the body. Also, no particular diet can claim to be perfect or meant for everyone. Discontinuing a particular diet after an interval of time or after experiencing visible signs of improvement would be a wise option in order to maintain a healthy balance. But one aspect must be kept in mind that discontinuing a particular diet regimen doesn't mean that one can start eating 'anything and everything' however unhealthy that may be! One can always cut down on unhealthy fatty, fried foods, refined carbs, saturated fats, high-calorie and high-salt foods whatever age, gender or diet plans one is following.

About the Author

Sonal has completed her post-graduate in pharmacy with a post-graduate diploma in Clinical Research. She is a huge patron of natural ways of healing and holistic health and loves to search and write about them with great zeal. Sonal believes it's highly essential to get back to one's roots, get back to nature for a healthy living.