Chowdhury Tasneem Hasin

Regarded as a nutritional powerhouse, citrus fruits are a rich source of vitamins and minerals. It includes a variety of healthy ingredients, including vitamin C, an antioxidant that guards against cell damage.

From white, the brightest orange, to the deepest purple — make your meals and snacks as colourful as possible. Each colour provides unique health benefits and no one colour is superior to another, which is why a balance of all colours is most important. The ultimate goal of a ‘rainbow diet’ is to add 30 plus different colourful fruits and vegetables to your meals every week. Just plan for one colourful plant-based food at every meal and instead of rich, sugary treats after the meals or for between-meal snacks, use fresh fruits to satisfy the sweet tooth. Read on to learn more about the health benefits of coloured fruits and vegetables.

We observe a drastic change in our food preferences, metabolism, and even energy levels during winter. With falling temperatures, our cravings for food also increase. However, no season justifies unhealthy eating habits, and we must maintain a balance in what we consume. Irrespective of the season, we should make a proper meal plan to fulfill our nutritional needs.

There are many confusions and misconceptions surrounding the ideal diet of a person suffering from liver diseases. The diet of a person effected by liver disease like hepatitis and liver cirrhosis must be balanced yet nutritious as it is a part of treatment therapy.

Not only does it taste great, but hilsa is also a powerhouse of nutrition. A diet rich in hilsa fish has many health benefits and the fact that it’s the season for hilsa gives us another reason to include it regularly in our diet. A 100g of edible hilsa contains roughly 310 calories, 22g protein, and 19.5g fat. Polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA obtained from fish oil are reported to have potential in curing coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, diabetes rheumatoid arthritis, brain development, cancer, and depression. It also supplies the daily requirements of 27 percent of vitamin C, 2 percent of the iron, and an incredible 204 percent of calcium.

Many individuals with autism have food aversions and sensitivities. Many also have behavioural issues that make mealtime particularly challenging. Researchers have found that children with ASD are five times more likely to have mealtime challenges such as tantrums, extreme food selectivity and ritualistic eating behaviours. Inadequate nutrition is also found to be more common among children with autism.

We generally tend to think that sweet things are not good for people with diabetes. At first glance this seems to make sense. However, there is a big difference between the sugar that we find in a fruit and in the added sugar that we might sprinkle on top. In a fruit, the fructose accompanied by fibre, vitamins, minerals, and so many other nutrients are good for our bodies.  Fruits have other health benefits, ranging from controlling high blood pressure to reducing inflammation and even blood sugar levels. A person with diabetes should not avoid fruit in general, as it is essential for a balanced diet. When eating fruits, all we need to be mindful of is our serving sizes — one serving of fresh fruit is approximately the amount that can fit into the palm of an adult hand!

Frequently, we receive patients in our chambers with heaps of frustrations that they are starving and depriving their body and souls, suffocating the desire for food, but still failing to make any substantial positive results in terms of weight reduction.

The connection between sleep and diet is not a simple one. Many aspects, including physical and mental health, exposure to light, and other underlying physical issue, affect sleep. Diet too is multifaceted. Individuals can have distinct reactions to different diets, making it hard to generalise about the perfect regimen to good eating for everyone.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) account for nearly one-third of all deaths worldwide, and is on the rise in Bangladesh. Diet plays a major role in cardiovascular health, and can impact our risk of developing heart diseases.

Our eyes are complex organs that need many different vitamins and nutrients to function properly. Common conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts can impact our eyes, and malnutrition seems to have an influence on all of them.

Along with proper medication, the right food intake is essential in fighting dengue and ensuring quick recovery of patients. Through a balanced diet one can not only detoxify the body and improve the platelet count, but also prevent severe complications like gastrointestinal bleeding, dehydration, etc.

A healthy postpartum diet can help heal and boost energy levels during those sleep-deprived days. Every woman’s nutrition needs are different and depend on many factors.

The body enters into a fasting state eight hours or so after the last meal, when the gut finishes absorbing nutrients from the food. In the normal state, body glucose, which is stored in the liver and muscles, is the body’s main source of energy.

A surge in appetite around the age of 10 in girls, and 12 in boys, foretells the growth spurt of puberty. This paves the way for early adolescence when the human body needs more calories than any other time in life.

The female hormone oestrogen begins to decline during perimenopause, which usually begins in a woman’s 40s.

School-going age is the perfect time for children to learn about healthy food, healthy bodies and productive activities.

Dietary tips during COVID and POST COVID condition

There has been much talk about nutrition as a defence mechanism to reduce the chances of contracting the Coronavirus. How important is a change in our dietary intake towards fighting the virus?

The low carbohydrate diet — also known as the “low carb diet” has become the latest big thing in weight-loss plans. The low carb diet requires adhering to an extremely low-carb, high-fat diet in order to put our body into a metabolic state called low ketosis, in which, it has to burn fat rather than sugar for energy.