IF you’ve ever tried to research new diets, you know that the sheer number of options could overwhelm anyone.

From the popular vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian diets, to the more modern options like ketogenic, flexitarian and intermittent fasting, the range of diets to choose from is almost endless.

There are several things to consider when choosing the right diet for you, but according to director of operations for health food brand Not Jus’ A Salad, Khadine Smith, the type of diet is not as important as what individuals consume in the diet.

“I would advise that no matter what type of diet a person is on, you need at least half of your meal to be fresh vegetables. Fresh fruits should also be a part of your diet every day,” she said.

“The way that we were taught to consume food portions, even with our popular box lunches, vegetable salads are just a forkful on the side. While carbohydrates are important, I would suggest rearranging those portions so that your largest serving is vegetables, with your smallest serving being your carbs, and then you have your middle ground, that medium-sized serving being your protein. So even if persons don’t want to necessarily swap out everything that they currently consume or switch to vegan or vegetarian, by simply adjusting those sections you will be on your way to a much healthier, more balanced diet,” Smith added.

With new dietary trends popping up ever so often, lecturer in the Caribbean Institute of Health Research at The University of the West Indies and Not Jus’ A Salad consultant, Dr Joanne Smith, wants more people to consider how the body will be affected by a new diet over a long period of time.

“When you are thinking about a diet, you have to think about a lifestyle change. A diet is not something that you are just going to do for six months and then go back to your regular scheduled programming. A diet is something that you want to be able to do for a long time, or even for the rest of your life. A lot of these diet trends, like the keto diet, for example, where you have no or low carbohydrate intake, persons need to be careful because we need some amount of carbohydrate in our system because our brains need glucose,” Dr Smith said.

Without carbohydrate in the body over a long period of time, Dr Smith said the body will be forced to break down protein and fat that is consumed to make the glucose that it needs, which is what ketogenesis is.

“In this state, the body is not functioning normally. You might lose weight in the short term but you must also think about if you can do this for a long time, and you can’t. Naturally, your body is going to go into a state of plateau, so you will be forced to again add more possibly refined carbohydrates back into your diet, and that put persons at risk of developing other metabolic conditions,” she explained.

For best results, Dr Smith advises that individuals should do extensive research before starting any diet, and pay attention to how their bodies are reacting to it over the short term.

“If you want to try the ketogenic diet or any other diet, pay attention to the meals to ensure you are getting the amount of nutrients that you need. For many people when they are doing their new diet, they don’t think about the micronutrients like the vitamins and other nutrients that may be lacking in that diet, so you have to investigate what nutrients you may be lacking and you also need to think about whether you can do this for a long period of time without any adverse health risks,” she said.

According to Not Jus’ A Salad director of operations, the health food brand’s focus is a lot less on being vegan or vegetarian, but more on providing balanced lunch options.

“Regardless of what the meal is, carbohydrates are always the smallest portions in our meals. Throughout our day we consume a lot of carbohydrates in almost everything we eat and drink. So, even if your meal is the very common rice and peas and chicken and salad, you could have a half cup of cooked rice and peas, about five ounces of chicken, and then you can go wild on vegetables. There is no specific weight, but you want for at least half of your plate to be vegetables, regardless of the diet you are on,” she said.

Not Jus’ A Salad is a health food brand based in Kingston, which delivers daily healthy and organic lunches according to carefully crafted meal plans.