The typical Pakistani diet that is based on roti and rice as the main part of the meal is a good diet. In addition to the calories provided by the carbohydrates, all cereals and grains are carriers of important vitamins and minerals if they are consumed in the unrefined form.

Refining results in the loss of a large percentage of essential nutrients. Also remember that atta (flour) and rice contain protein as well and when they form the base of your diet they too will contribute to your protein intake. The carbohydrate food that we can do without is sugar, since it provides calories and no other nutrients. 1 to 3 teaspoons per day may be used to improve the palatability of foods and beverages but larger amounts may displace other foods, which can also provide nutrients.

On the other hand, even if you do not consume any table sugar, you are not going to develop low blood sugar or any other problems due to lack of sugar in your diet. If your diet contains the complex carbohydrates, most of it will be digested to sugar before being absorbed into the blood stream.

The next segment of the pyramid consists of vegetables and fruits. The worst offenders, in terms of vegetable intake are men and children. Experience shows that women in general tend to consume more vegetables. However, if you eat vegetables cooked in the Pakistani style, you will most probably get a large dose of oil as well. We need to develop cooking practices that will enable us to cook vegetables without adding much oil and yet retain the taste we like. One good way is to add vegetables into meat dishes, e.g. peas, legumes, spinach, cauliflower etc. Another way is to incorporate the vegetables into salads. Go easy on the salad dressings, and use lime, vinegar or a little yogurt instead. The advantage of eating raw vegetables is that you get plenty of vitamins, minerals and fibre and best of all, very few calories.

As far as fruit intake goes, it is rare to find a person who does not like fruit. However, there seems to be a belief that fruit juice is as good or better than druit. Actually, it is much healthier to eat the fruit than to consume fruit juices. There are several reasons for this. One, juice that is expressed and kept even for a short time loses nutrient value due to contact with air. Two, you lose out on all that fibre which is so good for you. Three, you don't get the same sense of satiety from a glass of juice as you would from eating an equivalent amount of fruit. Lastly, if your kids get used aving a glass of juice waiting for them,they will become lazy about eating fruit when you are not there with a glass of juice in your hand.

A smaller segment of the pyramid consists of high protein foods such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, lentil and beans. Most people believe that the more protein one eats the better. This is not true. We all need proteins for the growth and repair of our tissues. Children, as well as pregnant and lactating women need more proteins than the average adult. All protein consumed in excess of this need for tissue synthesis is used for energy instead. However, unlike carbohydrates, when protein is used for energy, the body is left with nitrogenous waste material which has to be excreted in the form of urea, thus increasing the work-load of the kidneys. In general, if a sedentary female whose caloric requirement is 1500-1800 calories, consumes 2-3 ounces of meat (mutton, beef, chicken or fish), 3-4 tablespoons of lentils or beans and a glass of milk, in addition to cereals and grains, she will get enough protein to meet her daily requirement. As your caloric requirement increases you should increase foods from all segments of the pyramid proportionately. Most of us who can afford it, get more than enough protein in our diet. Our problem is that lentils and beans appear only occasionally on our menus.

Although meats are a good source of proteins, they are also carriers of saturated fats and cholesterol. A high intake of both of these is associated with increased risk of heart disease. Lentils, on the other hand, contain very little naturally occurring fat and our lentils are cooked with less oil than meats. In addition, lentils are an excellent source of fibre. High intake of animal proteins is also linked with increased risk for other problems such as kidney stone formation, gout, etc. So make sure that you include lentils and beans several times a week in your diet in place of animal foods.

Another component of a balanced diet is milk and milk products. The major nutrient that milk provides, which other foods do not, is calcium. Therefore, it is important for adults to consume at least one glass of milk or its equivalent. Children of course need more milk, depending on their age. Many Pakistanis have a problem with the digestion of milk but can tolerate yogurt (dahi), so it is a good substitute for milk.

One often hears mothers say, "since my children do not drink enough milk I encourage them to have cheese, or I don't mind them having ice-cream, at least they get some milk that way." The only problem with this is that along with the protein and calcium that is present in the milk, cheese and ice-cream are high in fat. This holds true not only for milk but other foods as well.

So, the next message is, "watch out for fats, they are loaded!" Fats are a concentrated source of calories. One teaspoon of ghee or oil provides 45 calories per teaspoon as compared to one teaspoon of sugar, which provides 4 calories. Although we need some fats in our diet we can get most of it from the foods we eat as all animals' foods, seeds and nuts contain fat. As a result, cooking fat should be kept to a minimum and oil rather than ghee should be used for cooking. A general guideline is that the use of cooking oil should net exceed 750 grams per person per month. This means that a household where food is cooked for 4 persons should not be using more than 3 kg oil per month.