Eat balanced food and stay fit

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Sanchita Sharma
Mina Rahman, 35, has been on a diet of rice and boiled green papaya for about a year to stay fit and slim. But one day she collapsed and doctors told her that she was suffering from malnutrition and anemia. Since then Mina has been taking nutritional food on her doctor's advice.
Doctors say balanced diet - not medicines - is key to good health.
Says Syeda Sharmin Akhtar, a physician at Diet Counseling Centre in Dhaka, "Many in Bangladesh do not have a clear idea about dieting. There are people who think that to be on a diet means reducing extra fat in the body. But it is more than that. Diet control should vary from person to person."
She says her organisation prescribes dieting considering the condition of the person. ``We first take into consideration of the condition of a person before diet counseling. We also provide counseling on diabetes, peptic ulcer, obesity, kidney and liver diseases, food allergy, constipation, nutrition for the old people and pregnant women. We prepare separate dieting chart for each person," she says.
She says, "The type of diet most people take in our country is not right because what may be good for an American or Japanese should not be good for an average Bangladeshi. We must first know about the pros and cons of dieting before we select it. An old man's diet should be different from a young person."
According to Prof. Shaheen Ahmed, Principal of Home Economics College, malnutrition is a major health problem in Bangladesh. ``Nutrition comes from food. We suffer malnutrition if we don't take nutritional food. It is clear that those who don't take enough nutrition do not grow well and healthy. They lack energy and power to fight diseases. As a result, they become weak and sick, and unable to work hard.
In order to rectify such a condition, one must take balanced food with enough nutrition. A large number of people in Bangladesh suffer from malnutrition for lack of taking enough and balanced food, she points out.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics say 47 per cent people in rural areas and 50 per cent in urban areas take less that 2122 calories a day as they live under poverty level. Twenty-five per cent of them are children in villages and 27 per cent in urban areas.
UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) recommends 2310 calories for an average person. In Bangladesh, the average intake of calorie is less that 1950 -- 16 per cent less than what is needed for a healthy person.
A survey conducted by Helen Care International and Bangladesh Institute of Public Health Nutrition has found that one-fourth of rural population and half the people living in slums in urban areas live on less than 1805 calories a day. The food an average Bangladeshi takes is not balanced; there is no enough vegetables in the daily diet. Because of that many people suffer from malnutrition-caused blindness, anemia, scurvy and rickets.
Experts say lack of balanced diet affects the body-mass index -- the balance between height and weight. The ideal BMI is 25 and if it goes down 20 that's called underweight, and at 29 it is overweight.
Even though many people are now conscious about their health and nutrition, many are still not aware of their food need. So, there is a tendency of not eating proper food to fight overweight.
``Dieting does not mean to refrain from taking food and get thin," says Sharmin Akhtar.
``What we need is a scientific and balanced diet."
— NewsNetwork