Nutrition Behavior Change Project Essay

Keeping up a behavior can be hard, the motivation must write out from within. For the past 23 age I pretend been striving to mixture and succeed, by the twenty-second of October, in two specific nutritional behavior goals. adept of them was to br havehing in at least 30 grams of quality on week twenty-four hour periods and at least 25 grams on weekends. The other was to reduce my atomic occur 11 inhalation by a quarter, on weekdays, of what it was per day and reduce it by an eighth on weekends. This pre comparisonation all started much or less a week before my 23 days of transformation. In the three beginning days I tracked my diet and found that my low fiber and postgradu consume atomic number 11 consumptions were eye-opening problems. My average fiber intake per day rested at 21.18g, which was epochally lower than my goal of 38g per day. As this issue arose so did my sense that multiple aspects of my health were at risk. For example, my low fiber intake could com e on me in danger of developing heart disease.Fiber nutrients reduce the come about of disease like heart disease, diabetes, and many other frightful illnesses. In addition, foods that consist of fiber provide a feeling of fullness without additional calories being added to a diet. As for my Sodium intake, I was recommended a show of 1500mg a day but I was actually devouring a skyrocketing 3959.4mg a day. Without thinking twice I knew I had to defend significant behavior assortments. Concerning my towering sodium intake, I found that high sodium consumption makes the body preserve more water, which can raise the countercurrent volume and, in turn, increase blood obligate. Considering my high blood pres authentic it would be essential and crucial to lower my sodium intake. Fortunately, the data gathered demonstrated that the amount of sodium I have been taking in each day has been playing a role in my promote blood pressure. After reviewing this data and conducting research o n these two nutrients I felt very serious about changing my dieting behaviors.In which case, relative to the Stages of Change/Transtheoretical Model of behavior change, at the start of this hold I was most certainly in the preparation pointedness. I began with a determined attitude that would alleviate me change my current behaviors within a month. To change my behavior I madegoals to reach by the 22nd and used strategies that would help me to complete my SMART goals. For example, I made sure that I controlled my environment by buying reaping and other strong snacks instead of un sun-loving snack foods. I also had peer co-occurrence from my roommate who reminded me when I was snacking unhealthily to instead snack on a banana or apple. My excellent preparation skills granted me mastery in my dietetical behavior goals.Overall I feel confident that I have succeeded in changing my behaviors. Everyday I have been conscious of my fiber and sodium goals. Rarely did I go eat desp atch campus. I consistently ate lunch at the Hanwell dinning hall, except for 1 day when I was sick and in bed, and I always ate dinner party party at Smith dinning hall. Hanwell and Smith provide a great plectron of fruit and mixed color, so everyday I could eat my essential bowl of fruit for lunch and required dinner salad. I didnt eat a salad or a bowl of fruit on solely one day, however, I felt very ill that day. Also, since I only had Gatorade, juice and water with my meals, my sodium level decreased substantially.My regular(prenominal) day consisted of eating microwavable breakfasts with juice in the dorm, lunch at Hanwell and dinner at Smith. My achievement in changing my supporting behaviors was due to safekeeping up with my tracking sheet. In turn, I increased my fiber intake to 34.34g on weekdays and 26.61g on weekends. This data exceeded my goal of fiber intake on both weekdays (30g or more) and weekends (25g or more). My sodium intake also exceeded the par weekdays I consumed 2841.32mg a day and 3303.9mg a day on weekends.With committedness comes success and in order for me to stay dedicated I inevitable to construct thought out strategies. A strategy that contributed the most to my carry through goals was to eat off campus only two times a week. ordinarily I saved eating out for the weekends but eating on campus made it easy to make healthy choices. For instance, when I ate off campus for lunch on the 9th my sodium intake was 1324.22mg for that single meal and when I ate lunch on campus on the 29th, a weekday, my sodium was less(prenominal) than half the sodium of the off campus meal I ate on the 9th. Another strategy that helped my success was my use of environment control. I halt buying junkfood and ended up snaking on fruit, in particular bananas, and occasionally canned beans. In turn, I increased my fiber above my weekday and weekend intake goal. These two strategies acted as a spine to my success in my goals.Even though I was very successful in my goals, I faced two major bulwarks in the process. Finding a way to eat healthy on weekends was a huge restraint with my busy soccer schedule. Breakfast is easy to make but lunch and dinner is very difficult to attend due to afternoon practices and dark games. The weekends on average encouragemented up my sodium about 600mg higher than the weekdays nevertheless, I still fulfilled my sodium intake goal. I knew weekends would create a problem even before I started the project because its been an ongoing issue since school started. Furthermore, time was also a complicated barrier to work around. Time is a common barrier when trying to eat healthy, be more active or simply going about a routine.When I was in a rush to class or hurrying around campus taking care of things, I would sometimes agree for quick microwavable products, which I learned contain more sodium than the normal. stunned of the barriers I faced there was one that I did not predict, my attention de ficit disorder medicine. This medication minimized my hunger, sometimes to the point where I did not regard to eat. When this happened I force-fed myself but with smaller portions. I tended to eat more salad greens instead of the heavy, filling food. Despite these obstacles, after one week I made only one change to my behavior. I developed best shopping skills that helped me obtain superior quality microwavable foods and I started to keep fruit in my clench in case I felt crunched for time. This change helped me to complete my activities and thrive in my goals.During this project three major issues emerged regarding my nutrition. One was that some foods that I thought were healthy arent. For example, I always ate flavored instant oatmeal thinking it was very healthy and nutritious, however, oatmeal that has flavour in it, I learned, usually has more than 12 grams of sugar in it per serving. As I learned more about this product I found that this oatmeal was not whole oats which a re far more healthier and can be just as quick to make as instant oatmeal. Choosing an alternative for this food was important to decrease my intake of sugar.Another major issue that emerged was what food I took in when change of location with the soccer team. It had nothing to do with the organization. It was my personal choice of snacks that I intractable to bring on the bus rides like popcorn or as surprising as it sounds, yogurt. Yogurt is healthy as long as its kept simple, however, my yogurts were loaded with flavoring and coloring that boosts up the sugar content. In result I made alternative choices (apples, bananas) that would improve my game and boost my energy healthily.Lastly, I experienced a major issue with my roommate. As much as he helped me to make healthy decisions, hypocritically, he seemed ineffective to make healthy decisions for himself. He usually always has a bag of chips and an immense amount of candy laying around which didnt help in contribution to my g oals my sodium intake goal. Although I learned that in order to get in a habit of eating cleanse and more healthy, I spent less time in the room. straight I am pretty good about saying NO when fatty junk food in in my presence. Overall I learned many things about changing a health behavior. I learned that changing a behavior takes time and effort in order to succeed. Most of all, changing a health behavior takes termination because without that it is impossible to change.After completing this project I am purple to say I have moved form the preparation stage at the beginning of the project, to the action stage in the Transtheoretical model. This came with the help of my commitment, in accepting the responsibility of change, goals, to keep me motivated, rewards, when I completed my goals I bought a redskins jersey Ive been wanting, and lastly environment control, where I only bought healthy foods like fruit and vegetables. Currently I am successfully changing my negative behavior s and adopting new healthy behaviors in my quest to stage number 5, the maintenance stage.