A healthy diet is that helps protect against malnutrition in all its forms. According to World Health Organization (WHO), unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health.
Increased production of processed foods that includes harmful preservatives, rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles have modified the dietary patterns.
With the influx of ready to cook and processed foods coupled with bombardment of advertisements, people are now consuming more foods high in energy, fats, sugars and salt.
On top of it, many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables and other dietary fibre such as whole grains.
Kate Llewellyn-Waters, award-winning London-based nutritionist and author of The Immunity Cookbook, broke down the strengths and weaknesses of vegan, keto, paleo, alkaline and Mediterranean diets.
Keto Diet:
Keto is a low-carb, high-fat diet. You eat fewer carbs and replace it with fat, resulting in a state called ketosis.
Unlike other low-carb diets, which focus on protein, a keto plan centers on fat, which supplies as much as 90% of daily calories. And it’s not the type of diet to try as an experiment.
“The keto diet is primarily used to help reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures in children. While it also has been tried for weight loss, only short-term results have been studied, and the results have been mixed. We don’t know if it works in the long term, nor whether it’s safe,” warns registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Because the keto diet has such a high fat requirement, followers must eat fat at each meal. In a daily 2,000-calorie diet, that might look like 165 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbs, and 75 grams of protein. However, the exact ratio depends on your particular needs.
Paleo Diet:
A Paleo Diet typically includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, foods that in the past could be obtained by hunting and gathering. This is the reason it is called caveman diet.
The diet avoids processed food and typically includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, and meat and excludes dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, processed oils, salt, alcohol, and coffee.
It may lead to improvements in body composition and metabolism compared with the typical diet.
According to London based nutritionist Kate Llewellyn-Waters: “As this is a high-protein diet with lots of fibre from the veg and fruit, you should feel quite satiated and full, but due to the exclusion of certain foods such as dairy and whole grains, it may be too restrictive and hard to sustain in the long-term for a lot of individuals”.
Vegan Diet:
Vegetable markets are full of a variety of greens at this time. Eating green leafy vegetables regularly has been linked to numerous health benefits because of the nutrients present in them.
A vegan diet contains only plants (such as vegetables, grains, nuts and fruits) and foods made from plants. Vegans do not eat foods that come from animals, including dairy products and eggs.
According to experts, vegan diet seems very effective at helping people naturally reduce the amount of calories they eat, resulting in weight loss.
According to Nichole Dandrea, Registered Dietitian & Yoga Instructor, “Veganism is healthy because of what it adds and what it avoids. When based on whole-food plant-based choices, it is the highest in fiber, vitamins, magnesium, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. It is also naturally low in added salt, sugar, fats, persistent organic pollutants, antibiotics and hormones. When combined with supplemental B12, it is the only dietary pattern proven to reverse the number-one killer in the western world, cardiovascular disease. Finally, it is also the kindest diet and least damaging to our fragile planet.”
Alkaline Diet:
Alkaline diet describes a group of loosely related diets based on the misconception that different types of food can have an effect on the pH balance of the body.
These diets have been promoted by alternative medicine practitioners, who propose that such diets treat or prevent cancer, heart disease, low energy levels, and other illnesses.
“This essentially is a type of plant-based diet, which contains limited processed foods, and plant-based diets with low refined sugar intake have been shown to have many health benefits including weight loss,” Kate Llewellyn-Waters says.
Mediterranean Diet:
Mediterranean diet was first across the finish line in the annual race for best diet for 2022, according to ratings announced Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.
Mediterranean diet is based on the traditional cuisines of Greece, Italy and other countries that border the Mediterranean Sea.
The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of non-fish meat products.
Olive oil has been studied as a potential health factor for reducing all-cause mortality and the risk of chronic diseases.
Healthy Diet for Adults:
- Fruit, vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains (e.g. unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
- At least 400 g (i.e. five portions) of fruit and vegetables per day (2), excluding potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy roots.
- Less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars (2, 7), which is equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 level teaspoons) for a person of healthy body weight consuming about 2000 calories per day, but ideally is less than 5% of total energy intake for additional health benefits (7). Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
- Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats (1, 2, 3). Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard) and trans-fats of all kinds, including both industrially-produced trans-fats (found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads) and ruminant trans-fats (found in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and camels). It is suggested that the intake of saturated fats be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake (5). In particular, industrially-produced trans-fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided (4, 6).
- Less than 5g of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day (8). Salt should be iodized.
Healthy Diet for Infants and Young children:
In the first 2 years of a child’s life, optimal nutrition fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.
- Infants should be breastfed exclusively during the first 6 months of life.
- Infants should be breastfed continuously until 2 years of age and beyond.
- From 6 months of age, breast milk should be complemented with a variety of adequate, safe and nutrient-dense foods. Salt and sugars should not be added to complementary foods.