Diet (nutrition)

In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism.[1] The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related). Although humans are omnivores, each culture and each person holds some food preferences or some food taboos. This may be due to personal tastes or ethical reasons. Individual dietary choices may be more or less healthy.

For weight loss diets, see Dieting. For animal diets, see List of feeding behaviours. For other meanings, see Diet (disambiguation).
A selection of magnesium containing food consumed by humans. The human diet can vary widely.

Complete nutrition requires ingestion and absorption of vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids from protein and essential fatty acids from fat-containing food, also food energy in the form of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Dietary habits and choices play a significant role in the quality of life, health and longevity.

Health
Main article: Healthy diet

A healthy diet can improve and maintain optimal health. In developed countries, affluence enables unconstrained caloric intake and possibly inappropriate food choices.[2]

Health agencies recommend that people maintain a normal weight by limiting consumption of energy-dense foods and sugary drinks, eating plant-based food, limiting consumption of red and processed meat, and limiting alcohol intake.[3]

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is an evidence-based information source that policy makers and health professionals use to advise the general public about healthy nutrition.

Dietary choices
Raw food tacos prepared with guacamole, non-fried beans and sour cream. Raw foodism promotes the consumption of food which has not been cooked.

Many do not eat food from animal sources to varying degrees (e.g. flexitarianism, pescetarianism, vegetarianism, veganism) for health reasons, issues surrounding morality, or to reduce their personal impact on the environment, although some of the public assumptions about which diets have lower impacts are known to be incorrect.[4] Out of the above diets, veganism is the most selective.[5] People on a balanced vegan diet can get all necessary nutrients, but may need to specifically focus on consumption of nutrients like protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.[6]

Raw foodism is another contemporary trend.

Weight management
Main articles: Dieting, Diet food, and Weight management

A particular diet may be chosen to promote weight loss or weight gain. Changing a subject's dietary intake, or "going on a diet", can change the energy balance and increase or decrease the amount of fat stored by the body. The terms "healthy diet" and "diet for weight management" (dieting) are often related, as the two promote healthy weight management.[7][8] If a person is overweight or obese, changing to a diet and lifestyle that allows them to burn more calories than they consume may improve their overall health, possibly preventing diseases that are attributed in part to weight, including heart disease and diabetes.[9] Conversely, if a person is underweight due to illness or malnutrition, they may change their diet to promote weight gain. Intentional changes in weight, though often beneficial, can be potentially harmful to the body if they occur too rapidly. Unintentional rapid weight change can be caused by the body's reaction to some medications, or may be a sign of major medical problems including thyroid issues and cancer among other diseases.[10]

Eating disorders
Main article: Eating disorder

An eating disorder is a mental disorder that interferes with normal food consumption. It is defined by abnormal eating habits and thoughts about food that may involve eating much more or much less than needed.[11] Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.[12] Eating disorders affect people of every gender, age, socioeconomic status, and body size.[12]

Religious and cultural dietary choices

Some cultures and religions have restrictions concerning what foods are acceptable in their diet. For example, only Kosher foods are permitted in Judaism, and Halal foods in Islam. Although Buddhists are generally vegetarians, the practice varies and meat-eating may be permitted depending on the sects.[13] In Hinduism, vegetarianism is the ideal. Jains are strictly vegetarian and in addition to that the consumption of any roots (ex: potatoes, carrots) is not permitted.

In Christianity there is no restriction on kinds of animals that can be eaten,[14][15] Various groups within Christianity have practiced specific dietary restrictions for various reasons.[16] The most common diets used by Christians are Mediterranean and vegetarianism.[17][18][19][20]

Diet classification table
Food type Omnivorous Carnivorous Pescetarian Pollotarian Semi-vegetarian Vegetarian Vegan Fruitarian Paleo Ketogenic Jewish Islamic Hindu Jain
Alcoholic drinks YesNoYesYesYesYesYesNoNoMaybeMaybeNoMaybeNo
Fruit YesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesMaybe
Berries YesNoYesYesYesYesYesYesYesMaybeYesYesYesYes
Vegetables YesNoYesYesYesYesYesNo[lower-alpha 1]YesYesYesYesYesYes
Greens YesNoYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYesYesYesYesMaybe
Legumes YesNoYesYesYesYesYesMaybeNoNoYesYesYesYes
Nuts YesNoYesYesYesYesYesMaybeYesMaybeYesYesYesMaybe
Tubers YesNoYesYesYesYesYesNoMaybe[lower-alpha 2]NoYesYesYesMaybe
Grains YesNoYesYesYesYesYesMaybeNoNoYesYesYesYes
Honey YesNoYesYesYesYesNoNoYesNoYesYesYesNo
Dairy YesMaybe[lower-alpha 3]Maybe[lower-alpha 4]MaybeMaybeMaybe[lower-alpha 5]NoNoNoMaybeYes[lower-alpha 6]YesYesYes
Eggs YesYesMaybe[lower-alpha 4]YesMaybeMaybe[lower-alpha 7]NoNoYesYesYesYesMaybeNo
Insects YesYesNoNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesNo[lower-alpha 8]No[lower-alpha 8]MaybeNo
Shellfish YesYesYesNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesNoMaybe[lower-alpha 9]MaybeNo
Fish YesYesYesNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesYesYesMaybeNo
Poultry YesYesNoYesSometimesNoNoNoYesYesYesYesMaybeNo
Mutton YesYesNoNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesYesYesMaybeNo
Venison YesYesNoNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesYesYesMaybeNo
Pork YesYesNoNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesNoNoMaybeNo
Beef YesYesNoNoSometimesNoNoNoYesYesYesYesMaybe[lower-alpha 10]No

Notes
  1. Some plants traditionally considered to be vegetables—such as tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums, and zucchinis—are permitted.
  2. Typically, potatoes are not permitted but cassava, yams, and sweet potatoes are.
  3. Some variants of the diet are paleolithic-oriented and exclude dairy while other variants may include dairy products provided that they are ketogenic. Less strict approaches allow all animal sourced foods.[21]
  4. Almost all permit either egg or dairy consumption, with most allowing both. Stricter variants, like seaganism, also reject eggs and dairy along with their rejection of poultry and red meat.
  5. Lacto vegetarians, ovo-lacto vegetarians, and Jain Vegetarians permit dairy.
  6. Dairy is permitted but is not to be cooked or consumed with any meats. Dairy may be prepared and eaten alongside pareve foods.
  7. Both ovo vegetarians and ovo-lacto vegetarians permit eggs.
  8. Locusts are sometimes permitted, depending on the religious denomination.
  9. Mollusks and crustaceans like crab are prohibited according to the Shi'a branch of Islam. The acceptability of shrimp/prawn is debated
  10. Although beef is banned by law in many Indian states due to religious reasons, some states, for example Kerala, do not ban beef. Some Hindus in these states choose to eat beef.[22]

See also

References
  1. noun, def 1 – askoxford.com
  2. "Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders Fries" article by Kim Severson in The New York Times September 24, 2010, accessed September 25, 2010
  3. "Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention Food, Nutrition, and Physical Activity" (PDF). World Cancer Research Fund & American Institute for Cancer Research. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-11. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  4. The embodied energy of food: the role of diet DA Coley, E Goodliffe, J Macdiarmid (1998) Energy Policy 26 (6), 455-460
  5. "Vegetarian diet: How to get the best nutrition". Mayo Clinic. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  6. Melina, Vesanto; Craig, Winston; Levin, Susan (December 2016). "Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets". Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 116 (12): 1970–1980. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.025. ISSN 2212-2672. PMID 27886704.
  7. "Healthy Eating: How do you get started on healthy eating?". Webmd.com. 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  8. Aphramor, Lucy (2010-07-20). "Validity of claims made in weight management research: a narrative review of dietetic articles". Nutrition Journal. 9 (1): 30. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-9-30. ISSN 1475-2891. PMC 2916886. PMID 20646282.
  9. "Diets". medlineplus.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  10. "Body Weight". MedlinePlus. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  11. "Eating Disorders". medlineplus.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  12. "NIMH » Eating Disorders". www.nimh.nih.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  13. Keown, Damien (26 August 2004). A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9780191579172.
  14. Marcos 7:14-23
  15. Mateo 15:10-20
  16. "Code of Canon Law". vatican.va. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  17. James Tabor, The Jesus Dynasty p. 134 and footnotes p. 335, p. 134 – "The Greek New Testament gospels says John's diet consisted of "locusts and wild honey" but an ancient Hebrew version of Matthew insists that "locusts" is a mistake in Greek for a related Hebrew word that means a cake of some type, made from a desert plant, similar to the "manna" that the ancient Israelites ate in the desert on the days of Moses.(ref 9) Jesus describes John as "neither eating nor drinking," or "neither eating bread nor drinking wine." Such phrases indicate the lifestyle of one who is strictly vegetarian, avoids even bread since it has to be processed from grain, and shuns all alcohol.(ref 10) The idea is that one would eat only what grows naturally.(ref 11) It was a way of avoiding all refinements of civilization."
  18. Bart D. Ehrman (2003). Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press. pp. 102, 103. ISBN 978-0-19-514183-2. p. 102 – "Probably the most interesting of the changes from the familiar New Testament accounts of Jesus comes in the Gospel of the Ebionites description of John the Baptist, who, evidently, like his successor Jesus, maintained a strictly vegetarian cuisine."
  19. James A. Kelhoffer, The Diet of John the Baptist, ISBN 978-3-16-148460-5, pp. 19–21
  20. G.R.S. Mead (2007). Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book. Forgotten Books. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-60506-210-5. p. 104 – "And when he had been brought to Archelaus and the doctors of the Law had assembled, they asked him who he is and where he has been until then. And to this he made answer and spake: I am pure; [for] the Spirit of God hath led me on, and [I live on] cane and roots and tree-food."
  21. https://journals.lww.com/co-endocrinology/Abstract/2020/10000/Can_a_carnivore_diet_provide_all_essential.11.aspx?context=LatestArticles “Can a carnivore diet provide all essential nutrients?”
  22. PATNAIK, BISWARAJ. "Study shows ancient Hindus ate meat-heavy food". The Pioneer (India).
  • The dictionary definition of diet at Wiktionary
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