Specialised Diets for Medical and Health Reasons
Common dietary adjustments for medical needs include diets that are:
🥑 Gluten free – Gluten occurs at high levels in wheat grain. It occurs in many processed foods, not only baked goods. Many people do not digest gluten very readily. Diets free of the gluten protein found in wheat products are necessary for living with coeliac disease and some other conditions.
🥑 Dairy free – free of all dairy products, include added lactose, casein, and whey, as an adjustment to allergy or sensitivity.
🥑 Egg free – free of egg products (primarily chicken, but all other eggs as well), including added albumin, usually as an adjustment to allergy.
🥑 FODMAP – This diet was developed at Monash University, Australia, and considers how fast and easily different foods digest. It adjusts for certain compounds to help treat diseases and disorders of the gut, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS); research into low FODMAP diets for treating other conditions is under exploration.
🥑 Sensitivities – Different people react differently to different foods. Excessive use of any one food type may be a factor in developing a sensitivity to that food. There can be other factors as well – genetics, environment etc) Some people can become sensitive to soy, coconut, certain vegetables, nuts, and other foods which might be healthy choices for the majority. It is wise to consider variety in the ingredients you use in different products. e.g., don’t produce everything with soy in it, or nuts, or anything else.
🥑 Low salt diets for helping keep blood pressure low and maintain cardiac health.
🥑 Diabetic diets focused on low sugar intake.