Diet plays a very important role in maintaining good health and preventing new diseases from affecting the body. Diet is something that is directly introduced into the body, and so it can perhaps be the most influencing factor in maintaining a good healthy constitution. But there are many misunderstandings related to diet. People think that just taking a balanced diet is sufficient for good health. This is actually far from the truth. Specific bodily conditions require specific diets. Developing specific diets for different problems with the body, that is what diet therapy focuses on.

If we talk especially about Ayurveda, then diet is a very important factor in this alternative therapy. Ayurveda treats the body to a union of three different governing factors, which are called as the vata, pitta and kapha. These elements are indicatives of the air, fire and earth/water elements respectively. The body is said to be healthy when the three elements are in a perfect balance, and this can be achieved through a diet. When any one of these humors is vitiated, then the body becomes vulnerable to diseases. Then, by correcting the diet, the body can be brought back to its normal healthy state. This is what diet therapy aims to achieve.

Definition of Diet Therapy

Diet therapy is a method of treating certain bodily ailments by consuming a diet which contains the necessary curative and preventive ingredients.

In any disease, there are foods that are good to eat as well as foods that may be harmful for the condition. A diet therapist would try to include the beneficial foods in the diet and eliminate all the harmful ones so that a speedy recovery could be assured. Even medical experts claim the benefits of a healthy diet plan during diseased conditions, and even otherwise, as a diet can assist in prevention of the disease.

Diet Plan for a Healthy Individual

The following are some guidelines which a healthy person must adopt as far as his/her diet is concerned:-

Food must be cooked properly; undone foods could play havoc with the digestive system.

Only salad vegetables and fruits are healthy if eaten raw.

Fruits which are under-ripe or overripe must be avoided.

The food must contain a healthy mix of the four basic nutrients – carbohydrates, proteins, fats and water.

Food should be neither too hot nor too cold.

It is good to have curds after eating a heavy meal as that aids in digestion.

Apart from the above foods that must become an important part of the diet, the following tips must be followed regarding the manner of eating itself:-

Do not eat or drink anything if the bowel movements have not been proper. First eliminate the wastes and then introduce a new meal.

Chew the food properly before swallowing. The saliva in the mouth helps in a major way in the digestion of carbohydrates.

Keep a gap of at least three hours before meals, whether they are breakfast, lunch, tea or dinner.

If possible, have a heavy lunch and a light dinner. In this way the food will be digested in the daytime, and in the nighttime your body will not need to overwork in digesting the food.

It is not good to sit down to work immediately after a heavy meal. The body must get proper time for digesting the food.

Never eat to your full capacity. The ideal limit is about two-thirds of the capacity of the stomach. This will protect you from digestive ailments.

At the same time, one must avoid the following combinations of food. These are called as incompatible foods, and the action of one naturally opposes the other. Hence, a combination of the two could be problematic to the digestive system.

Today dieticians are spending a lot of effort in designing special foods for different diseases, claiming their curative properties. The following are some of the popular diets in use today:-

Apart from these special diets which target only specific ailments, there are some more broad-spectrum diets which target a range of ailments. The following is a brief description of such diets:-

1. Breatharian Diet – This is a very restrictive diet, which is not possible to be done by everybody. The diet eliminates almost all foods and keeps only some liquids that are permitted to be taken. Claims are that such a diet helps to keep the body free of external attacks into the body.

2. Detox Diet – The detox diet or the detoxifying diet is a dietary regiment which enables to flush out the toxins from the body. This diet is composed mainly of high fiber carbohydrate foods which provide the collagen for the steady removal of undigested toxins from the body. The detox diet is becoming very popular in the western world today.

3. Fat Resistance Diet – This is a general diet to combat various problems caused due to excessive fat accumulation in the body. This diet presupposes that taking a lot of fruits, vegetables, omega fats and proteins will in fact help the fats in the body to be utilized better.

4. Fruitarian Diet – A fruitarian diet advocates the use of only fruits in the diet. It could be either all fruits, or at least three-fourths of the diet must be composed of fruits. Either way, the fruitarian diet aims at keeping the diet absolutely natural. Since fruits have high water content, diet experts claim that they are very easy to digest and also do not cause dietary problems within the body. However, detractors claim that a person living on a fruitarian diet will not get the adequate amounts of proteins, which could lead to the body becoming frail and also lower the resistance of the body towards diseases.

5. Low Carbohydrate Diet – Immensely popular in the western world, the low carb diet restricts all foods that are high in carbohydrate content. Food grains like rice, wheat and their products, sugars and other rich sources of carbohydrates are highly reduced. Instead, the foods containing proteins and fats are used in higher proportions.

6. Low Protein Diet – In this diet, the protein-rich foods like milk, eggs and all forms of meats are reduced. It is believed that proteins take a higher time to digest and so they can cause problems such as constipation and indigestion within the human system. Instead of proteins, carbohydrates and fats are used in excess. This diet is good for people who have constant digestive problems.

Several diets have been devised to help people out with their health problems. There are many people who are indulging in diets and even food fads and claiming to receive rich benefits of their dietary lifestyles. Diet therapy has become so popular in the world today because it is heavily substantiated by medical science, though there may be controversies against individual diet.