There was a time when people would go crazy after the low carb, high fat diet that Atkins recommended. However, if one takes a look at the history, the trend has always been the same. In each decade, a new kind of diet fad would affect the masses, and the result is that billions of books, packages and food products sell like hot cakes. And every time, the consumer realizes that the key to healthy living doesn't lie in counting the calories or units of carbohydrates to be consumed each day; rather, if we exercise moderation in diet, and don't get tempted to eat too much, we will be living a healthy life.

Old is gold, as the popular saying goes. The good old American culture which had everything to help us live healthily has gone now. Activities such as milking cows, tending crops, chasing the chickens were enough to give your body a boost and make it immune from almost any disease. Today, these common place activities are replaced by corporate jobs. We now lead a sedentary lifestyle, work for hours sitting at our desks, and eat junk foods, all of which has resulted in the birth of overweight Americans. Diabetes is more likely to affect obese people than the thinner fellows.

Obesity causes our body to become resistant to insulin, which results in diabetes. It even triggers heart and kidney diseases, as well as high blood pressure. If you want to get rid of all these diseases, there is only one and one way- you would need to lose weight. If you moderate your eating habits, and if you spend half-an-hour per day in exercises and physical activities, you will be able to improve your condition. Forget the low- carb-high-fat diet that you have been taught about all these years. An ideal diet is one where there is an equal balance of carbs, protein, and fats. Why? Because our bodies need all the three elements and we cannot afford to dispense with one for the other. All three are equally important for a healthy life. And with the steps I am detailing below, changing your diet patterns should not be too hard.

First of all, let's discuss the function of each element. Carbohydrates give us the energy we need to run our bodies. Foods such as bread, noodles, chips, crackers, or cereals are rich in carbohydrates.

Proteins are present in every part of our cell. They make up enzymes, antibodies, muscles, connective tissue, many hormones, and much more. Unlike carbohydrates, proteins are digested more slowly and once digested, they are converted to amino acid, which gives us satiety. Foods such as meats, poultry, fish, nuts and beans are rich in proteins.

Fats provide us with healthy skin and help us produce steroid hormones. Virtually every cell inside our body uses fat in the form of lipids. Foods such as butter, whole milk dairy foods, and oils are rich in fats.