Rate your current diet.
How do you know your present diet isn’t dangerous? Take this test to find out.
1. Does this diet provide a reasonable number of calories?
It should be enough to maintain weight and should not be fewer than 1,000 calories to promote optimal metabolism efficiency. Yes____ No____
2. Does it provide enough protein?
At least one gram per two pounds of body weight but not much more. Yes____ No____
3. Does this diet provide enough fat for satiety but not too much fat as to become a health hazard?
Between 20 and 35 percent of your calories should be derived from fat. Yes____ No____
4. Does this diet provide enough carbohydrates?
It should be enough to spare protein. Usually 100 grams of carbohydrates for the average-sized person. No more than 20 percent of these calories should be simple sugars; the rest should be complex carbohydrates. Yes____ No____
5. Does this diet offer a balanced supply of vitamins and minerals derived from whole food sources and prevalent in the four food groups?
The least it should contain is the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowances. If you eat the right amounts from the four food groups and include fiber in your diet, meeting this criteria should not be a problem. Yes____ No____
6. Does this diet consist of foods that are easily attainable? Can you shop in your supermarket or neighborhood grocery store?
If the diet calls for health foods only, expensive diet foods or any food that sounds or looks unusual, don’t try it! Yes____ No____
7. Does this diet offer a wide variation of different foods that can be changed and substituted for other foods at your discretion?
If it’s a diet that warrants eating the same foods every day, this isn’t a good diet. Yes____ No____
8. Is this a diet you can live by? In other words, can you skip meals and make up for it. Are you restricted to only the foods on the diet, and are these foods easily obtainable, easy to prepare, and do you enjoy them? Can you realistically follow it without inconvenience? Yes____ No____
9. What does your doctor think of the diet? Does it stand up to his or her standards? Yes____ No____
10. Does it allow for snacking? Are you able to cheat? Yes____ No____
Now ask yourself, based on these questions, how does your diet rate? The more positive answers you give, the better the diet may be for you.
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