Maintain a Balanced Diet

One of the best way of coping with food intolerance is to avoid the sensitve foods. However, while following a diet free from of foods that will make you sick, it is important to ensure that your body receive the desired vitamins and minerals needed.

Maintaining a balanced diet means ensuring that we have a balanced daily intake of protein, fats and carbohydrates.

Proteins are made up of 9 essential amino acids, which is the building material of our body. The 9 essential amino acids are found mainly in food source such as animal meat, fish and eggs. Vegetable proteins tend to lack some of the essential amino acids hence in order to obtain all the required proteins from plants, a combination of vegetables, pulses, grains, nuts and seeds need to be eaten for a complete protein source. Insufficient intake of protein may lead to muscle wasting and excess consumption of protein could cause kidney disease and some form of food allergies.

Fat is a concentrated form of energy, Fat play an essential role in our body in terms of maintaining healthy skin, keeping us warm, insulate our body against shock and promoting healthy cell function. It is unhealthy to remove fat completely from our diet as they are essential nutrients for our body. However, we need to be able to differentiate between good fats and bad fats, taking only good fats and avoiding the bad ones.

Carbohydrates are sugars and starches which are our body’s primary source of energy. There are two types of carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates made up of single sugar and complex carbohydrates made up of starch. Simple sugar such as sucrose should be taken in small amount as it can have an adverse effect on our blood sugar level and will also cause weight gain. Starchy carbohydrates provide most of the glucose our body needs and is an important source of energy especially for the brain. Insufficient intake of carbohydrates may cause fatigue and poor mental function but likewise if taken in extreme can be dangerous to our well being.

Eat a balanced diet consisting of the following food group:

• Meat and Fish are valuable for their protein and other nutrients. You can get iron from red meat, liver and calcium from fish. Meat, fish and eggs are sources of high biological value proteins. A meal with either fish or meat will ensure that we get the essential proteins per day. 
• Fruit and Vegetables are a major source of minerals and vitamins. Some fruit and vegetables also contain starch and sugar essential energy for our body. Take as wide a variety as possible to ensure a broad spectrum of nutrients. 
• Grains such as cereal and breads provide carbohydrates, vitamin B, calcium and it is also a good source of fibre. People that have a reaction to wheat can still get the desired carbohydrates from other non wheat grain such as millet, buckwheat and rye. 
• Milk and Dairy products provide calcium and other minerals, protein and fat soluble vitamins. Nutrients in dairy milk can obtained from other sources like soya milk and oat milk. Most of us obtained calcium through dairy milk hence in order to continue our intake of calcium, they are also found in fish, shellfish, parsnips, sesame seeds and walnut. 
• Beans and Pulses are an important low fat source of protein especially for vegetarians. They contain starch and dietary fibre which is an ideal energy food. Beans and pulses are also rich in vitamin B and minerals. 
• Nuts and Seeds are an important source of protein, fibre and essential fatty acids especially Omega 3 which have been proven to reduce heart disease. It also contains many essential vitamins such as A an E, minerals such as phosphorus and potassium. 

The key to a healthy body is moderation. A balanced diet will ensure that you get sufficient intake of the nutrients your body need without the risk of over consuming any one of the food group.