Issues with food, weight and body images are not easy to talk about. Most people are looking for ready to eat, a magic pill, or the latest popular diet. But the reality is that there are no magic secrets or quick tips when it comes to managing your eating habits and maintaining a healthy weight. Healthy eating is really a very simple concept.

An adequate diet should provide:

1. The necessary calories to supply the required energy,
2. Proteins and minerals for building and repair of body cells,
3. Vitamins and minerals to supply the protective materials.

The body derives its energy mainly from fats and carbohydrates such as butter, oil, ghee, cereals, pulses, sugar, cheese, its body building materials from milk, eggs, meat, fish, and cheese supplemented by cereals, pulses, and nuts; and its protective materials from the minerals and vitamins of milk, cream, butter, egg, cheese, fruits, vegetables, particularly green raw vegetables.

It is pointed out that it is unnecessary for the housewife to calculate the number of calories, the amounts of protein, this particular vitamin, or that particular mineral she was supplying in the daily diet of her family. We suggest that a diet made of the following foods would provide all the necessary nutrients:-

1. MILK: At least 1/2 litre daily and more for children.
2. CHEESE AND PULSES: At least once per day.
3. MEAT, FISH OR EGGS: Once in 2-3 days-for non vegetarians .This can be supplemented by dry fruits for vegetarians.
4. FRUIT: At least once daily, preferably in breakfast.
5. VEGETABLE: Two kinds’ daily and including one green vegetable. Salad should also be taken with each meal.
6. FAT: butter or ghee /oil.
7. CEREALS: Wheat flour is the most valuable.
8. WATER: About 2 litre daily, half in the form of water & remaining can be in the form of milk/tea/ coffee/juices.

Then eat any other foods you like in order to satisfy your appetite. The more varied in the diet the less likely it is to be deficient in any one nutrient.

The general problem is to arrange the foods in the form of meals in such a way as not only to provide the necessary calories, proteins, minerals, vitamins, roughage and water, but to do so in such a way as to make them attractive, palatable, satisfying, digestible and economical.

The following rules may be helpful in planning the menu:

1. The whole day, or better still, the whole weak, should be regarded as the unit rather than each individual meal. Any deficiencies in one meal can be made up in the others.
2. The same food should not be served more than once in the same day without varying the form in which they are served. This does not apply to such staple food as milk, butter etc.
3. The same food should not be served twice in the same meal even in different form.
4. The color, form and texture of different courses should be varied as much as possible to avoid monotony. A soft food should be alternated with a crisp food that needs chewing; a bland food with a high seasoned one; cooked food with raw food and so on.
5. No meal should contain too great a concentration of any one type of nutrient, i.e., no meal should be predominantly protein and fat should be accompanied by carbohydrate at the same meal.
6. Serve the milk, dry fruits, cheese etc. in small quantities at each meal rather than concentrate them in one meal. In this way the body makes better use of their building material, particularly if accompanied by vegetable or cereal protein, e.g., pulses and oatmeal.
7. Decide upon the protein ingredients of the meal first; Next consider the protective materials such as the dairy foods, fruits and vegetables, and finally, sypply energy food such as bread, cereals, fats and sugar to satisfy appetite.

Fruits are one of the oldest forms of food known to man. Fresh and dry fruits are the natural staple food of man. They contain substantial quantities of essential nutrients in a rational proportion. They are excellent sources of minerals, vitamins and enzymes. They are easily digested and exercise a cleansing effect on the blood and the digestive tract. Persons subsisting on this natural diet will always enjoy good health. Moreover, the ailments caused by the intake of unnatural foods can be successfully treated by fruits. Fresh and dry fruits are thus not only a good food but also a good medicine.

Fruits are at their best when eaten in the raw and ripe state. In cooking, they lose portions of the nutrients salt and carbohydrate. They are most beneficial when taken as a seperate meal by themselves, preferably for breakfast in the morning. A combination of fruits with meal is not considered good. If it becomes necessary to take fruits with regular food, they should form a larger proportion of the meals. Fruits, however, make better combination with milk than with meals. It is also desirable to take one kind of fruit at a time.

True economy in diet means the provision of necessary nutrients in adequate amounts at the lowest price, without, however, making the diet monotonous and unapetising. No matter how cheap it may be, no diet is really economical which does not supply the necessary calories, protein, minerals and vitamins. On the other hand the fact that a large amount of money is being spent on food does not necessarily guarantee a sound diet.

The cheapest sources of animal proteins are cheese and milk. The cheapest source of energy is bread and vegetables. Such a combination would also supply calcium, phosphorous, vitamin A and, if the bread be made from fortified flour, some iron and B vitamins. It would be lacking in vitamins C which could be more cheaply provided by cabbage and vitamin D which could be cheaply provided by a teaspoonful of cod liver oil.

Meat and fish are more expensive body building foods than cheese and milk which provide valuable calcium, phosphorous and vitamin A and energy in addition to animal proteins. Milk is relatively good & not so expensive food but is indispensable on account of its body building and protective materials. Dry fruits are excellent foods but the same proteins, calcium, phosphorous, iodine, vitamin A and D can be more cheaply provided by milk. . Eggs, in spite of their calcium, phosphorous, iron, vitamin A and D are unfortunately, dear sources of proteins and calories.

Some new proteins are coming on to the market, most of them at the moment are made from soyabeans, but foods from bacterial yeast and fungal sources will soon follow. The foods offer cheap sources of protein and if supplemented with other nutrients will become useful and economical additions to our range of foods.

The greatest economy in diet can be made in carbohydrate energy foods since they form the largest part of the diet and show the great variations in price. The cereals, potatoes, pulses and dried fruits are the cheapest of the carbohydrate foods. Sugar is a cheap energy food but supplies nothing else.

       Green vegetables and fresh fruits must be judged as sources of vitamins C and minerals and cabbage is easily the cheapest, followed by tomatoes and oranges. All green vegetables are dear for calories but their vitamins and minerals make them indispensable. To sum up, we may say that the diet may be made more economical but no less nutritionally satisfactory by an increased use of cheese, milk, soya foods , cereals, potatoes, pulses and dry fruits. Milk, green vegetables and fresh fruit are essential and it is unwise to economise in their use in spite of their relatively high cost.