The Right Medicine For Our Body Is The Correct Diet, Says Dietician Ritu Sharma Of 'Ritu's Diet' Fame.

What prompted me to write this article is the increase in the number of youngsters coming to my clinic (Ritu's Diet) with numerous diseases.

A girl in her teen came with PCOD, Hyperthyroid, high triglyceride, and obesity. I later felt the need to educate kids to learn a lifelong habit of right eating for mental and physical strength.

You can find many such examples but whom to blame for their suffering? Stress, depression, and obesity are also taking a heavy toll on kid's health. Obesity is the most common nutritional disorder and a major health concern worldwide.

It puts a strain on the kidneys, liver, heart, and other organs and increases the risk of diabetes, heart problems, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. About 40 percent of cancers are diet-related, according to the American Institute of Cancer Research.

No two human beings are alike; each has a different size, metabolic composition, body shape, health issues, genetic-makeup, etc.

So there can never be a diet that works for all. Don't believe if someone says so.

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Our diets have to be customized to our body needs. Individual requirements of each nutrient are related to a person's age, gender, level of physical activity, state of health, and many other factors. Each nutrient has a particular series of functions. Excess or deficiency of nutrients can lead to diseases.

For instance, selenium (RDA 30-60 mcg) which is required to maintain youthfulness and slow down the aging process, is mainly found in barley and wheat germ.

High doses of selenium can result in alopecia (patchy baldness), emotional instability, and deficiency lead to cancer, cardiovascular, disease, and premature aging.

Diet therapy is a better option than weight loss for those who have already tried to lose weight in unhealthy ways. One should understand that the right way to lose weight is to have a properly customized diet.

Do you know that we need nutrients in our daily intake? Most foods contain several nutrients but no one food contains them all.

That's why at least one should have a customized diet plan. When milk is converted into curd, can we convert back curd into milk? The point is one should always take care of diet and remember that lifestyle diseases like hypertension and diabetes will never go away once they come into one's life; they can only be controlled. So prevention is better than cure.

Dietician Ritu Sharma (M.Sc.- Food & Nutrition) has more than 14 Years of experience in hospitals, gyms and working with people from all walks of life- including those in the film industry, politics, and sports.

She also works with women and children and currently provides diet consultancy from her clinic.

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