How To Get Optimal Nutrition By Avoiding Deficiency or Over Nutrition
On this occasion of National Nutrition month also known as Poshan Maah, let’s talk about nutrition for everyone.
Nutrition means all the nutrients in a balanced way. Carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water are those nutrients. Eating food which is a combination of these nutrients in a healthy manner can help children get the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development. For adults, a healthy diet can help your body to function properly and protect against a number of serious and costly chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity.
Nutritional deficiency and how to treat them via food:
A 2018 study in the Indian Journal of Medical Research underlines the fact that despite advances in meeting nutritional requirements since 1947, especially where micronutrients like iodine and vitamin A are concerned, iron-deficiency anemia affects 50-60% of the Indian population. Another study in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care in 2018 shows that 80-90% of the Indian population of all age groups and high-risk groups alike are vitamin D deficient, which is simply alarming.
In that situation, If you want to check the nutritional status of your body or you are moving on the right track; blood test, urine test, stool test, BMI, Waist circumference, waist-hip ratio are the real marker of anyone’s heath. Go for once a year basic health check-up to check the current situation of your body.
How to get optimal nutrition:
Healthy and balanced nutrition should be started from childhood. Once your child is 12 months old or older, they’ll be eating more of the foods that you eat. Eating a healthy diet sets a good example for your children. It’s important for children and adults alike to limit foods that are high in sodium, unhealthy fats and added sugars.
When you are planning your meal for the whole family, try to add all type of food group in your food plate, such as for carbohydrate add whole wheat or mixed grain chapati or hand-pounded rice; for protein, calcium add milk, curd, paneer, pulses, legumes, egg, chicken, fish; for healthy fats at add olive oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, almond, walnut, pine nuts, etc. For vitamins, minerals and antioxidants add colourful fruits and vegetables. And do not forget to take a good amount of water in daily diet. This type of diet can fulfil all the nutritional requirements of your body without any supplementation
Work on habits that gives you overnutrition (a type of malnutrition):
Foods which are high in calorie simple carbohydrates, unhealthy fats and high levels of sodium can give you obesity and other health-related issues. Try to cut them from your daily diet.
· Try to avoid table salt, replace it with lemon or herbs.
· Avoid packaged and processed food and snack such as chips, namkeen, biscuits, rusk, burger, pizza. Try to take home-cooked snack such as homemade khakhra, roasted chana, roasted foxnut.
· Avoid coke, pepsi, limca or any carbonated drink and replace it with home made nimbu pani, jaljeera, salted buttermilk.
Take home message- Always take home cooked balanced meals to fulfil your nutritional requirements and to avoid complication or deficiency, do regular health check.
