Why Special Diets are Good for Everyone

What's a special diet? The normal answer would be food made specifically for people with special medical conditions. That is the perception most people have. Like special diet for people with diabetes, heart or kidney problems. Or people recovering from a surgery.

But that's only half the story.

There are indeed special diets for people with diabetes, heart or kidney trouble – and it is possible to create a suitable diet for just about any health condition.  At MKMeals for instance, we have Diabetic-Friendly Meals, Low Sodium Meals and Meals for Seniors – each having an entire range of special diet meals made specifically for an existing medical condition. 

But there are, too, special diets that have little to do with existing medical issues. An obvious example is our Seniors Special Diet Meals which is basically about a wholesome, carefully balanced diet created around the needs of advanced age. Less obvious are meals such as low sodium meals, low carb diets and, most famously, vegetarian diets.

Why are such diets important to perfectly healthy people? It turns out that eating a diabetic diet, for instance, helps you keep your weight down, keeps your heart healthy and gives you the proper daily amounts of the nutrients you need.

The Big Deal about Special Diets

Special diets are about three things: managing existing medical conditions, reducing risk of acquiring certain health conditions and maintaining good health. Here are the main differences:

• Special Diets to Manage Existing Health Complications:  These are the special diets made to deal with specific health problems. There are many different kinds of such diets, but perhaps the most common are the diabetic diets and renal diets.

Diabetic diets emphasize low fat foods, fish and whole grains over white refined grains. It is about giving the body all the necessary nutrients so as to maintain the proper body weight while also preventing swings of sugar content in the system.

• Special Diets to prevent onset of Complications:  These are meals for people with known pre-dispositions to health complication – as distinct from those already with existing problems. For example, if your family has a history of diabetes, heart or kidney problems, there is a possibility that you are pre-disposed to such conditions. Excess weight is also a risk factor. Special diets will delay, or even, prevent the onset of such complications at bay. 

In other words, a diabetic diet is not just good for people with diabetes but also good for people with a pre-disposition to the condition.  Of course, it is best to seek professional advice before embarking on such a special diet, especially if you plan to prepare your own food.

• Special Diet to Stay Healthy: Why would a perfectly healthy person want to go on special diet?  Because being healthy is not the same thing as remaining healthy. Excessive consumption of sodium, saturated fat, cholesterol, animal protein and complex carbohydrates can turn a healthy body into an unhealthy body.

It therefore makes sense to have an eating habit that avoids unnecessary risks.  That, mercifully, does not mean eating similar special diets as people with existing health problems or those with a pre-disposition to such conditions. But it does mean eating special diets as a matter of habit.