Diet Precautions, Importance of Correct Diet

Food is our lifeline. It is one of the important things that we live on. Whatever we eat or drink affects us directly according to its basic nature. Practically, while choosing the food main focus of attention generally goes to the taste with some consideration to its nutritional value, vitamins and calories not paying much attention to other effects that it can produce. Factually it is not just the food value; there is much more to that. Modern science knows down to the minutest detail what chemicals a food item or herb contains but other effects that are produced in the body are hardly ever considered.

The effects produced by food and drinks can be short term, which may be prominent and noticeable very soon as in case of drinking water, tea or coffee etc. but at times they may not be noticed at all. Such effects are usually the result of prolonged and persistent use of particular items. Magnitude and depth of the effects depends on the type of the item and frequency of its use.

There is a natural balance of heat and moisture that needs to be maintained in the body. Primarily the food we take does this. Every item that we take has its own capability or strength of affecting this balance. Some have more and some have less whereas some items do it quicker than the others. Prolonged and persistent use of certain items can tilt this balance to their side and disturb it according to their nature and capability. At times this disturbance can be very fast, nearly instantaneous. If such imbalance persists, acute or even chronic ailments may set in. Traditionally most of the diseases are taken as the result of some kind of viral infection. The fact that the person may have been taking wrong diet for a long time is hardly ever considered. For example, a person with persistent low blood pressure and subnormal body temperature may have been taking such food items that produce cooling effects or may not have been taking enough or correct diet to maintain balance of heat in the body. If this condition occurs temporarily, it could be due to other reasons but if it persists then most probably it is a case of incorrect dietary habits that need to be modified otherwise blood pressure and body temperature of the person may not improve.

Correct diet has its unquestioned importance during ailments as well as under normal health conditions; during ailments to avoid hindrance in the process of cure and during normal health to avoid sickness. A hypertensive person for example, usually needs to avoid spicy food apart from some other food items that he must not take. What he needs to do in addition to regular medication is to use correct food leaving the desire alone. He must use what his body needs not what he likes. If he chooses to follow the path of his heart’s desires, he might as well forget about seeing good health. This is why it is said that correct diet gives you energy whereas wrong diet takes your energy. So is the case for other diseases and conditions. Diet precautions are not limited to a few or particular diseases or a particular healing system. They are applicable in nearly all the ailments whether acute or chronic and irrespective of what treatment system you use. However, in some diseases they may not be as critical.

Some of the diet precautions are commonly known but in certain cases the diet is not given due importance. A patient of coronary thrombosis or other heart diseases knows that he needs to avoid red meat, the patient of diabetes knows his diet but precautions in case of vitiligo (leucoderma), arthritis and hepatitis for example, are not commonly known. The sufferer generally does not know what to do. Probably he does not know at all that certain food items can aggravate his condition. If he continues to eat and drink all that he likes, he might never see the cure even with good medication. This is where the role of doctor gains more importance. He needs to advise his patients in detail but I have noticed that unfortunately many of the physicians are not sure of what to advise. More often than not they advise what they have heard from others, without basic knowledge of characteristics and effects of a dietary item.

During sickness whether acute or chronic, the importance of correct diet automatically becomes multiplied. This is not a new concept. This fact was known thousands of years back and was practiced by the physicians of those times but these days primary emphasis is laid on medicines and secondary on diet, which only delays the cure and recovery. While consulting a physician, you must ask for the details of what to take and what to avoid. If you are suffering from a chronic disease, it can be of immense value if you acquire related information yourself, but this certainly does not free your physician of his duty. He/She must give you as much of information as practically feasible.