Introduction
In the present day, food choices are a complex matter influenced by a variety of factors. In this choice, a person is motivated by their health, environment, religion, culture, social situation, and many others. With the modern world offering global access to information, people have gained the opportunity to learn about other people’s diets and food taboos. Such limitations are not always beneficial, and changing nutrition and health in a certain way may cause problems in other ways. However, if approached carefully, the drawbacks of such diets can be compensated with the right replacement food.
Nutrition and Healthy Diet
Nutrition is, generally, the consumption of food to get nourishment for the organism. Merriam-Webster defines nutrition as “the sum of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in and utilizes food substances” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Nutrition is, therefore, necessary to stay alive, as, without food substances, life is impossible. In a healthy diet, macronutrients are consumed in optimal proportions to address the needs of the body. Excess is as harmful as insufficient micronutrients or dehydration. To achieve such a result, one must consume healthy food, such as fruits and vegetables, nuts, and low animal-derived proteins or sugar (Cena & Calder, 2020). In some regions, such diets have become naturally common, such as the Mediterranean diet (Cena & Calder, 2020). Thus, a healthy diet is characterized by balanced consumption of food, with an important but not exclusive role of fruits and vegetables.
Food Choice
There exist multiple factors that affect a person’s food choices. The most common of them is poor health, resulting in non-standard needs in some nutrients. For example, older adults need to take more calcium to keep their bone density intact (Cena & Calder, 2020). Special diets are utilized for specific ailments, for example, low-carbohydrate diets can potentially reverse metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease. Ketogenic diets are the most useful ones in that regard, as they have low carbohydrates but high fats and proteins (Brandhorst & Longo, 2019). Another example is fava beans, which are prohibited for North Americans with hemolytic anemia (La Vieille et al., 2018). Thus, a person’s health can easily affect their food choice, and special diets are prescribed for such people.
Another factor is low income, which can potentially block access to the most expensive food. For example, lower incomes Americans have limited access to fruits and vegetables while consuming more sugar-sweetened beverages. This contributes to obesity and diet-related chronic diseases (French et al., 2017). A possible way of improving the situation in America is limiting federal nutrition program funds aimed at purchasing such food from a lower-income population. Thus, low income is an important factor and is the opposite of the factor of health problems. While people with ailments have to change their food choice to improve their health or at least not worsen it, people with low income have to buy food that worsens their health.
Dietary Culture
There are many traditional diets based on religion or regional habitat. However, in this essay, the vegan dietary culture will be examined. Veganism dictates not eating any source of animal protein, which causes several problems and makes it problematic for an individual to achieve a healthy diet. First, as a vegan diet excludes animal protein altogether, vegans have to replace it with plant-based protein from legumes. Legumes, in turn, contain too many carbohydrates and anti-nutrients that can increase intestinal permeability, causing the so-called ‘leaky gut.’An alternative to legumes in the vegans’ case is soy. It, however, contains phytoestrogens, affecting hormonal levels of the body if consumed in large quantities. Vegans have higher risks of the hip, leg, and vertebral fractures, as well, because of their lower intakes of calcium and protein (Tong et al., 2020). Finally, vegans lack iron in their organisms, as well as the B12 vitamin, which only animal foods contain. Therefore, vegans can develop a number of difficulties with health if they are not careful with their diets.
There are certain measures vegans can take to overcome the aforementioned problems, however. The harmful effect of anti-nutrients can be countered by foods with natural probiotics, such as sauerkraut or tempeh. The latter is useful to avoid the negatives of eating soy as well, especially if combined with limiting soy consumption. To deal with too many carbohydrates from legumes, a vegan should switch from simple carbohydrates to complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes. Thus, most of the detrimental effects of one of the most limiting diets can be overcome.
Conclusion
The drawbacks of many diets can be compensated with suitable replacement food, even if they significantly limit food choice and cause problems with health. However, the factors causing people to turn to diet or food taboos are global, diverse, and cannot be dealt with by diets alone. For example, diets, in most cases, do not cure serious illnesses, only ease their symptoms or prolong patients’ lives. An income low enough to influence food choice remains a factor affecting health even if the cheap and harmful sugar-sweetened beverage is limited in sales. Diets are a valuable method to assist individuals in their needs, be it health problems, lack of income, or personal beliefs, as in the case of vegans or religious restrictions. However, despite their detrimental effects being solvable by modifying them, diets alone cannot deal with the factors causing them.
References
Brandhorst, S., & Longo, V. D. (2019). Dietary restrictions and nutrition in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Circulation Research, 124(6), 952–965.
Cena, H., & Calder, P. C. (2020). Defining a healthy diet: Evidence for the role of contemporary dietary patterns in health and disease. Nutrients, 12(2), 334.
French, S. A., Rydell, S. A., Mitchell, N. R., Michael Oakes, J., Elbel, B., & Harnack, L. (2017). Financial incentives and purchase restrictions in a food benefit program affect the types of foods and beverages purchased: Results from a randomized trial.International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1).
La Vieille, S., Lefebvre, D. E., Khalid, A. F., Decan, M. R., & Godefroy, S. (2018). Dietary restrictions for people with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.Nutrition Reviews, 77(2), 96–106.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Nutrition. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.
Tong, T. Y. N., Appleby, P. N., Armstrong, M. E. G., Fensom, G. K., Knuppel, A., Papier, K., Perez-Cornago, A., Travis, R. C., & Key, T. J. (2020). Vegetarian and vegan diets and risks of total and site-specific fractures: Results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study.BMC Medicine, 18(1).