Oral health reflects on our overall well-being, impacting the entire body. A symbiotic relationship exists between a healthy mouth and body, influencing essential functions. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Optimal Oral Health as ‘Freedom from conditions like chronic pain, oral infections, gum disease, and tooth decay’.

The 2016 Global Burden of Disease Study notes that half of the world’s population faces dental caries, highlighting the widespread impact of oral health issues. Severe periodontal (gum) disease, ranked 11th globally, emphasizes the importance of oral care.

This year’s theme for World Oral Health Day, celebrated on 20 March, is ‘A Happy Mouth Is…. A Happy Body’ highlighting the deep link between oral health and overall well-being. Understanding how diet and eating behaviours contribute to dental caries in youngsters and adults is essential to improving oral health.

What is Dental Caries?

Dental caries is the breakdown of tooth enamel due to bacterial acid erosion. Cavities range from yellow to black colours, and symptoms may involve pain and eating difficulties. A significant correlation exists between the quantity and frequency of free sugar intake and dental caries risk.

The Relationship Between Sugar, Plaque, and Tooth Decay

Diet significantly impacts oral health, contributing to problems like tooth decay and enamel erosion. Sugary foods foster plaque, a bacterial film that produces acids, leading to enamel damage if not properly cleaned. Acidic attacks result in tooth decay and cavities over time.

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New Year resolutions often emphasize on weight loss, developing a hobby, exercising, or increased productivity, thus suggesting that we’re not sufficient as is. It turns life into a continuous task of self-improvement, robbing it of its joy. This year, let’s resolve to embrace life without the constant pressure to fix ourselves all the time.

Let’s aim to enjoy life by focusing on additions rather than subtractions. To start, let’s incorporate a superfood into our daily diet each month.

In the realm of health and wellness, superfoods are recognized as nutritional powerhouses, offering significant benefits to overall health. These include plant-based foods and select animal products known for their exceptional nutrient density. Superfoods play a vital role in promoting a holistic and healthy lifestyle.

We can elevate our well-being with the curated inclusion of twelve superfoods — one for each month in 2024.

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Exam season is approaching, which can make it challenging to prioritise healthy habits due to late-night studying, lack of sleep, piles of highlighted study notes and textbooks. However, maintaining a healthy lifestyle even during challenging times will help you get the best outcome.

You may not know it, but your diet has a direct impact on how your body operates under various circumstances. Certain foods can boost mental clarity, memory recall and overall well-being, and can also boost energy levels. Here are a few guidelines for students to maintain a healthy lifestyle during exam time.

Rule 1: Never skip a meal

Sometimes you might feel tempted to skip a meal in order to finish studying one more chapter, but ignoring your hunger cues and skipping a meal is only going to set you back.

The brain requires adequate glucose for proper functioning. While studying, there is a constant inclination to munch on sweets (biscuits, chocolates) and heavily salted foods (crisps, farsan). Simple sugars from candies and sweets cause a brief spike in energy, which is followed by a collapse in blood sugar levels that causes exhaustion, lethargy and other symptoms.

Include slow-releasing carbohydrates in your meals, such as whole grain roti, bread or porridge made with whole rolled oats. Add a protein-rich food such as milk, yoghurt or eggs, to your meal to help you feel satiated for a longer period.

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Every year the 1st of January is celebrated as the start of a new chapter. Post New Year’s Day when the toasts are raised and the fireworks and celebration are done, many of us become serious about life. We take the time to reflect on the important moments in the past year — especially our achievements and failures. We often come to the conclusion that we need to be better, healthier, nicer versions of ourselves.

In a world focussed on nutrition, health and exercise we are aware that changes need to be made. However, making them in “resolution style” might not be the best way to see sustainable changes and achieve the set goals. This year, instead of rattling resolutions let’s focus on making S.M.A.R.T. sustainable goals:

Specific
Measurable
Action-oriented
Realistic
Time-framed

To give you a helping hand with breaking those B-I-G dreams into smaller, more achievable goals, here are 12 healthy tips I’d encourage you to inculcate into your 2022 routine.

ONE serving of dessert

When it comes to eating healthy, most of us wonder where sweets and desserts fit in. There is absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying some of your favourite treats if you remember to pay attention to portion size.

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Every time you scrolled through a food blog or some colourful food posts on Instagram or Facebook, I’m sure you came across the phrase — ‘Eat the rainbow’, or bloggers advising you to try ‘The Colour Diet’, or ‘The 7-day Rainbow Diet’ or various quotes like ‘add a splash of colour to your meal’. I am sure you’ve wondered whether it’s another fad diet worth trying.

To put it simply, adding colour to your plate is adding fruits and vegetables to your daily diet. In today’s world, going vegetarian is in vogue. The Rainbow Diet is a vegetarian diet — with a difference, i.e., apart from the regular nutrient content the added splash is in the colour!

Adding colour to your plate is much more than making your plate look pretty.

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Healthy food choices and eating habits are important at all stages but vital for teens. Because of the changes taking place in your body, your total nutrient needs are higher during teenage than any other time in your life cycle. Nutrition and physical growth are closely related. Adequate nutrition is a must for achieving your full growth potential.

Naturally, most teens have increased appetites so their bodies can get the extra nutrition they need for the growth spurts. This is the stage when you may be changing your food and eating habits too. You’re also likely to choose food for reasons not related to nutrition, like peer pressure and changing social activities and your choices may not be the best ones.

Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats

Your level of physical activity and stage of development, rather than age, determines how much you need to eat. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats, all play an important role in your diet. Teens generally consume approximately 53% of their calories as carbohydrates. Foods that contribute the most carbohydrate to their diets include bread, soft drinks, milk, cereals, cakes, cookies, donuts and sugar. While being rich in carbohydrates, all of them are not healthy foods.

Regular healthy meals and snacks should include carbohydrate-rich foods like bread, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, lean meats, poultry, eggs, legumes and nuts. These ensure keeping sugar levels adequate, preventing sudden energy crashes.

Proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids. Your body produces most of these naturally. However, there are nine essential amino acids which your body cannot make. These must come from the food you eat.

Teens need protein for building and repairing muscles, ensuring hair and skin health, fighting off infections and carrying oxygen in the blood. Proteins also help with building enzymes, hormones and vitamins. Meat, chicken, eggs, fish, milk, cheese and yogurt are all good sources of protein and they provide the nine essential amino acids.

If you are a vegetarian there are many options for protein. They include beans, legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds, whole grains, soya, quinoa and vegetables. Sprouts of alfalfa, green gram, chickpeas and soya beans are highly nutritious and rich in protein.

The human body requires dietary fat and essential fatty acids for normal growth and development. It is recommended that adolescents consume no more than 30% of these from fats. Major fats in a teen’s diet come from milk, meats, cheese and butter.

Healthy dietary fats promote proper skin and hair development. They also help absorb essential vitamins and minerals.

Micronutrients

Micronutrients, including calcium and iron, are critical for you.

Calcium helps you reach peak bone density and build strong bones. The skeleton accounts for at least 99% of the body stores of calcium. The gain in skeletal weight is most rapid during teen growth spurt. About 45% of the adult skeletal mass is gained during adolescence. Because of the dramatic increase in skeletal growth, calcium needs during teens are greater than in other stages.

Milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream are major sources of calcium in a teen’s diet. Juices, breakfast bars, breads and cereals are calcium-fortified. Soft drink intake by teens often displaces the consumption of nutrient-rich beverages such as milk and juices.

Your bones begin to stop taking in calcium deposits by the time you reach your early adulthood. That is why it is critical to get enough calcium as a teenager. If you don’t meet your calcium requirements now, you have higher risks of brittle bones, bone breakage, stunted bone growth and osteoporosis later in life.

Increasing blood volumes and growing muscle mass means you need more iron during your teens. Iron has an important role to play in muscle function, energy creation and brain development. It aids red blood cells’ ability to carry and circulate oxygen throughout your body. So, if you are not getting enough iron through the food you eat during the day, you’ll probably feel tired and lethargic.

Iron is a mineral that is naturally present in many foods. Red meat, eggs, poultry, fish, shellfish, dark green vegetables like spinach collards and kale, nuts, black beans, black-eyed peas, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, other cooked or dried beans, rice and cereals are also good sources of iron.

A vegetarian diet can provide enough iron too if you eat iron-rich vegetarian alternatives to meats. They include green leafy vegetables, legumes like beans and lentils, whole-grains and fortified cereals. Getting the right amount of iron can improve your performance in sports and in studies.
Iron deficiency leads to anaemia. Anaemia occurs when you don’t have enough healthy red blood cells. Without sufficient red blood cells enough oxygen does not reach all parts of your body. This causes you to feel weak and tired. Your skin may become pale especially around the hands, nails and eyelids, your heart beat may quicken, you may become irritable, lose appetite and feel dizzy, too.

Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins and minerals are called micro-nutrients because your body needs only tiny amounts of them. Yet failing to get even those small quantities of vitamins and minerals, can cause serious diseases. Lack of vitamin C, found in fresh fruits and vegetables, can cause scurvy which results in the bleeding of gums and listlessness. Vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness. Deficiency of vitamin D can cause rickets — a condition marked by soft, weak bones that can lead to skeletal deformities such as bowlegs. Your body is designed to get the vitamin D it needs when your bare skin is exposed to sunlight. A combination of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin K and phosphorus ensures strong bones.

Fluids

Teens need to drink plenty of fluids. Water is obviously the best source (easily available, too) of liquid and supplies fluid without calories. Other fluid sources are milk, milk drinks, fruit juices and soft drinks.

As a teenager you will be exposed to periodic food fads and slimming trends, and may fall into the habit of skipping meals, and develop irregular eating habits. One of the most frequently missed meals is breakfast. Breakfast plays an important role in providing energy and nutrients needed after your overnight fast. It also helps concentration and performance in school/college.

Snacks are an integral part of your meal pattern. You cannot eat large quantities of food at one go and you often become hungry before the next meal. Small mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks can help meet your energy needs of the day.

Over-nutrition

You need about 3000 (for boys) and 2500 (girls) calories daily. But if you are overeating in general or indulging in a lot of junk, over-nutrition and weight gain can become a problem.

Excess weight gained during adolescence does not go away automatically, even after the teen growth spurts. An obese teen has 80% chances of becoming an obese adult. That raises long-term risks of heart disease, diabetes and sleep problems. Teens who are obese also tend to have lower self-esteem and higher emotional ups and downs.

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A healthy diet is essential for teenagers not only for their heightened nutritional needs, but also because the foods they eat as teenagers can impact their health when they reach adulthood. The nutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fats in food serve as the body’s energy sources. And to make sure teenagers grow into energetic adults, eating healthy is something that should be taught at a young age. Though most of the teenagers today are well aware of what are good and bad carbohydrates, how good is a high or low protein diet, how “counting calories” makes one fat and much more, a lot of them are totally left unaware of what “fats” are and how some can be good or bad causing good or ill effects to health respectively.

What are fats?

Fats are nutrients in food that the body uses to build nerve tissue, brain tissue and hormones. The body also uses fat as fuel. If fats eaten aren’t burned as energy or used as building blocks, they’re stored by the body as fat cells. Besides being a source of fuel, fats also play other roles such as:

• Help the body absorb some vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble, meaning they can only be absorbed if there’s fat in a person’s diet).
• Insulate nervous system tissues in the body.
• Help people feel full, so they’re less likely to overeat.

Types of fats

The good fats — unsaturated fats!

Unsaturated fats are an important part of a healthy diet. These fats help reduce the risk of heart disease and lower cholesterol levels when they replace saturated fats in the diet. These “Heart Healthy” fats are of two types:

1. Polyunsaturated fats: Plant-based foods and oils are the primary source of this fat. There are again two types of polyunsaturated fatty acids:

Omega-3 fatty acids: Important for normal metabolism, these are found as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in plant oils, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both commonly found in marine oils.

Omega-6 fatty acids: These essential fatty acids are essential for human health, but are not made by the body. Thus, you have to get them from their various food sources. They help stimulate skin and hair growth, maintain bone health, regulate metabolism, and maintain the reproductive system.

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