Does Everyone Have The Same Balanced Diet?

There are standard recommendations for healthy eating. Striving for a healthy, balanced diet may present a challenge, however, if you suffer from medical conditions that prevent normal digestive processing, or put you at risk for heart disease or diabetes. Focus on cutting out or ramping up certain foods that irritate or soothe your disorder to balance your special needs diet. Always consult your physician before using any diet to treat a serious health condition.

Cardiac Diet

The cardiac diet focuses on low-fat foods in an effort to reduce your risk of heart attack and heart disease. The cardiac diet strives to reduce the saturated fat you eat by increasing your intake of fats from plant sources. The monounsaturated fat from olive and canola oils in cholesterol-reducing margarine also works to reduce any existing plaque already built up in your arteries, reports MayoClinic.com.

Diabetes Diet

If you're diabetic, your balanced diet will look a lot slimmer in sugar and starches than the diets of others. To keep your blood glucose levels within normal limits, starches that convert to sugar during digestion and sweets must be limited. Any time you eat carbohydrates, you should also consume protein to keep your blood glucose levels from experiencing a rapid rise and fall.

Diet for Lactose Intolerance

If you do not produce enough of the lactase enzyme, which facilitates digestion of the milk sugar lactose, your diet should include minimal milk products. People who are lactose intolerant may still consume milk products, such as yogurt and harder cheeses like Parmesan and Romano, depending on the amount they can tolerate. You might tolerate more or less lactose than another individual, based on your body's chemistry. Check your grocer's dairy case for a variety of lactose-free products geared toward individuals who suffer from this disorder.

Gluten-Free/Celiac Diet

Celiac disease sufferers have a tough time sticking to the gluten-free diet, because so many products contain gluten. Gluten causes damage to the small intestine of the Celiac patient. If you are diagnosed with this disorder, you must read every label of every product, even if it says "gluten-free." Many food additives contain gluten, but are known by a different chemical name, and your doctor can educate you on those chemicals. A gluten-free diet cuts out wheat, rye and barley, as well as several rice and corn products if they are produced in a factory that also produces gluten products.

GERD/Heartburn Diet

When stomach contents back up into the esophagus and cause pain, it's called gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. The result is irritation and burning to the end of your food tube and chronic heartburn. When you suffer from GERD, your balanced diet will cut out highly acidic foods, which can irritate and damage the esophagus. A diagnosis of GERD means you should not consume coffee, chocolate, high-fat fast foods, mints, soft drinks, citrus fruits, tea and whole milk products.