Happy Dietetics Day, Healthiest congratulations to all IDA members

Wishing one and all a Happy Dietetics Day. Healthiest congratulations to all IDA members for being the torch bearer in the diet renaissance.

This year’s theme for Dietetics Day is “Diet Diversification – The Need of the Hour”. Come, let’s understand this ‘Diet Diversification Thing’.

It can be renamed as Diet Quality. To break it simpler, let’s take an example of the ‘My Indian Plate Concept’, a certified concept by NIN, Hyderabad.

This concept tells us that our daily food plate MUST contain these 3 food groups i.e.,

            Fruit & Vegetable – 50%

            Protein Rich Food – 20 %

            Whole Grain Cereals or Nutri-cereals – 30 %

So, first & foremost, every plate should contain 50% of fruits & vegetables; that too mix of seasonal, local, mostly raw & colorful because they look after the body’s requirement of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers which are required to enhance our good gut flora and responsible for boosting the immunity in us.

The second important group is ‘Protein Rich Food Group’. Yes, we must include pulses, Rajma, nuts, oilseeds, milk & milk products, egg, fish, and poultry to get protein. And it’s better to inculcate 50% of these proteins from plant sources because these sources are more environmentally friendly & sustainable.

 The third group is of ‘Nutri-cereals’ or the ‘whole grain cereals’; we must have a variety in our grain cereals like Jowar, Bajra, Ragi etc.

Diet Diversification is not only keeping the plate in 3 groups but also a combination of these 3 to help the body to get the quality valued nutrients.

Mixing Rice & Pulse in our plate also has reasons, else we would be taking all the rice part at once & following the meal by pulse as soup. The rice enhances the protein quality available in our bodies. We add lemon juice to the salad; the vit ‘c’ in lemon enhances the required absorption of iron & calcium in the body.

This Dietetics Day, let’s pledge to have a diversified Indian plate for our dietary routine and bring more of environmentally friendly & sustainable ingredients in the 3 food groups required for a diversified diet.