At the spur of the moment, many of us would want to go on a diet so as to stay healthy and fit.

However, it is important to stress that you should know the objective(s) of your diet management which might include one or all of the following:

  • If you are diabetic then the need to help control levels of glucose in the blood and prevent loss of glucose in the urine,
  • To achieve a satisfactory weight. Overweight is indeed a health hazard particularly for diabetics. If you are under-weight, you will need to increase your body weight,
  • To provide a palatable diet which is acceptable to each individual,
  • To provide sufficient calories for normal activities.

Once the objective is/are clear, the next step is to:

  • Prescribed the diet relative to each individualized person characteristics namely his/her age, weight, height and activity. The planned diet should take into account of the individual’s economic status, availability and cost of food items, national, religious and social customs, personal idiosyncrasies, occupation, facilities for preparing and obtaining meals and so on.
  • Whether the person is diabetic or not, type of medication, amount and when administered
  • Nutritional requirements of the individual.

With the aforesaid steps clear, meaning that (a) the reasons/objectives for specified diet (b) the size and portion which may be used, unfortunately, we still see people eating the same food over and over again. They resist changing food during a diet.

However, it is important to understand the following :

“ Eating Well, while eating right; Eating right is half the fight”

What it means here is that you can have a free choice for possible substitutions in your diet instead of  sticking to the same food diet program as long as guidelines on reasons/objectives of  the diet  and  right size and portion are used.