Types of Modified Diets

A modified diet is a diet with a nutritional or food-type intake that is altered from the average diet. An individual may follow a modified diet for a number of reasons. He may have altered his diet to lose weight, manage or prevent a medical condition, avoid foods he is allergic to or to pursue vegetarianism.

Weight Loss

Fruit is a common component of weight loss diets.

A diet to promote weight loss typically limits the amount of calories an individual will consume each day. Foods with high amounts of saturated fats are limited and the consumption of fruit, vegetables and unrefined carbohydrates is encouraged. Unrefined carbohydrate foods commonly used in a weight loss diet include whole-wheat bread and whole-grain rice and cereal. A follower of this type of diet will source his protein from oily fish, lean meat, eggs and legumes.

Medical Conditions

People use modified diets to help manage medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. A heart disease patient restricts her fat intake, especially that received from animal fats. She is encouraged to eat plenty of oily fish, fruit, vegetables and whole-grain foods. A diabetic's typical diet will be low in fat, sugar and salt and high in fruit, vegetables, fiber and starchy carbohydrates. Although some diabetics consume specially labeled "diabetic" products, neither the U.K.'s Food Standards Agency nor Diabetes U.K. recommend these foods.

Allergies

Some people have a severe allergic reaction to peanuts.

Foods such as peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, dairy and fish and shellfish can cause allergies. A person who is allergic to any of these foods excludes that particular item from his diet to prevent allergic reactions, which at best cause discomfort and at worst may be life-threatening.

An allergy sufferer often replaces the foods she's allergic to with alternatives or seeks nutrients she may be missing out on from other sources. If she's allergic to dairy products, she might replace them with soy milk or rice milk products. A person intolerant to wheat can substitute it with alternatives including arrowroot, barley, buckwheat, cornmeal, maize, millet and rye. Someone allergic to fish or shellfish may instead source protein from meat, beans and legumes.

Vegetarian

Vegans eat only plant foods.

There are several subtypes of vegetarian diet. The ovo-lactovegetarian diet consists of only plant foods, dairy products and eggs. The lactovegetarian diet includes just plant foods and dairy products. The vegan diet consists exclusively of plant foods.

Any vegetarian diet may lack nutrients typically found in animal foods such as protein, iron, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, calcium and zinc. However, it is possible to source these nutrients from non-animal foods including soy protein, beans, legumes, grains, nuts, certain vegetables and fortified breakfast cereals. Some vegetarians and vegans take vitamin supplements, such as vitamin D and zinc, to receive nutrients that can be difficult to obtain from non-animal foods.