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Therapeutic diets: principles, modifying the normal diet and diet calculations sheet
10-mark answer frame

Explain the principles of therapeutic diets and the modifications of the normal diet.

How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.

  1. 1 · Open in two lines. A therapeutic diet is a normal diet modified to treat a disease. It works with medical treatment to speed recovery.
  2. 2 · Objectives. Keep up nutritional status, correct deficiencies, rest the organ, adjust to the body's ability to use food, correct weight.
  3. 3 · Principles.
    • Start from the normal balanced diet; change only what is needed.
    • Respect food habits, religion and budget.
    • Meet the RDA for nutrients not restricted; review often.
  4. 4 · Draw a modification chart. [Chart: Normal diet → consistency, energy, nutrients, fibre, fluid, specific foods, meal pattern, each with one disease]
  5. 5 · Explain each modification with an example. Low-sodium in hypertension, low-protein in kidney failure, low-fat in gallstones, gluten-free in celiac disease, high-calorie high-protein in TB.
  6. 6 · At the bedside. Work out IBW (Broca's: height − 100) and energy (kcal/kg IBW) before writing the plan.
  7. 7 · Close in one line. A good therapeutic diet treats the disease without losing the balance of the normal diet.

Scoring tip: Make the modifications a three-column table (what is changed, how, disease). Add Broca's formula even if not asked; examiners like it.