Healthy Eating and Behavior Change

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Introduction

The health of individuals could be improved by altering the behavior of those who are vulnerable to diseases or at a greater risk of acquiring diseases. In order for one to be healthy, there is need of eating healthy food, food that is balanced and avoid consuming substances that will affect the health of an individual (Baroni, Cenci, Tettamanti & Berati 2007, pp. 280-282). Basically, healthy eating is based on behavior change. The aim of this report is to establish the success of those recommendations made to the client in the previous report and to make further lifestyle recommendations the client can benefit from in the long run. The client will be questioned on how the previous advice given to him.

Weight, body fat ratio and BMI

The client was successful in implementing the recommendations that were made during the first consultation. This is because there were changes which were observed during the second consultation regarding some variables. For instance the client reduced weight from 92 kilograms to 90 kilograms. In addition, the client’s BMI reduced from 26 to 25.5 though the target BMI was 24.8. His BMI also came down by 0.5 which means he is almost only halfway off from his targeted BMI, 24.8.Thus, reducing the BMI is the appropriate method of lowering the risk of premature death or dying earlier and to thrive in a healthier manner (Wanless 2004, p. 56).There were some changes on the body fat ratio since it changed from 21.6 to 19.6. Therefore, between two interviews, the client managed to lose 2 kilograms and decreased his body fat ratio by 2%.

Exercise and lifestyle factors

The client has also gained the habit of exercising moderately three times per week on average. İnitially, the client was a gym member though he did not attend to the gym activities regularly. The one and only time he ever attended was the time to sign up. Thus, he was inactive in the past but after the second consultation, he had improved his exercise lifestyle since he does it approximately three times in a week. Exercise is important since it assist in increasing the muscle mass; therefore, enhancing the ability of the body to burn the fats and calories (Wanless 2002, p. 34). Hence, both regular exercise and minimized calories helps in losing body weight.

Similarly, when physical exercise is implemented together with health eating or appropriate nutrition, it could assist in preventing obesity and reducing weight, which are the primary factor for several illnesses (West 2007, p.146). According to the second consulation, the client also admitted to gaining the knowledge to question what is stated on the packaging of the foods he buys when shopping for food. İn the past, the client had no particular diet which he had adopted; thus, there was the need to advise him on the food to avoid in his diet and the type of foods he needed to integrate in his eating routine.

Food intake

An increase in daily fluid intake is another positive indication of the client adopting a healthier lifestyle. The client had admitted to usually neglect drinking water and his daily water intake was approximately three glasses. Basically, a healthy adult person requires approximately eight glasses of water in a day. Water is a major nutrient in a diet and approxiamtely 75 percent of the body is made up of water. Thus, water is a significant component in the body. İn addition, increased water intake was significant since it helped the client in eliminating toxins from his body through sweating, urination and bowels (Tanner 2003, pp. 76-82).

SMART goals

Therefore, looking at the SMART goals of the clients during the first consultation, there is a great change regarding his weight and BMI which he wanted to reduce. The client increased his awareness of the fact that he has to adopt a healthier lifestyle for his well being in the long run.He said he wants to change, which is a big step. With the positive outcomes he has witnessed, the client is now more confident than ever to achieve what he is aiming for.He believes there is a reward in the end for working hard.

The client’s intrinsic motivation for exercising have increased enormously since our interview for assignment 1.He said he started to enjoy working-out like he never did before. Nevertheless, the behavior of the client need to be modified further in order to attain the target goals over the next six weeks based on his current lifestyle factors. Therefore, based on the client’s SMART goals, he should be introduced into a training program where he attends twice or thrice in a week. This is because a rise in body mass is confirmed to increase basal metabolic rate (Dalgleish & Dollery 2001, p.23). Moreover, the client should change from eating fast food and integrate proper nutrients in his eating such as vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats rather than eating one type of meal all through.

Level of support

In order for the client to chnage his behavior, he needed some level of support in the knowledge of the type of food he should eat in order for him to reduce his weight. İn addition, he claims that he does not have skills on cooking, thus, he requires some support on how food is prepared in order for him to avoid eating fast food. İn order for the client to embrace the idea of eating healthy, there is the need to promise him a reward when he attains the targeted goals. This is a form of behavior modification method or technique that will assit the client to embrace the practice and desires to repeat it in future (Lopez, Mathers, Ezzati, Jamison & Murray 2006, pp. 1748-1750). As a result, the client will be in a position to attain his SMART goals.

Stage of change

Since the client desires to loose weight and reduce his BMI, these changes cannot be attained at once but rather have to be achieved slowly (Stewart, Martella, Marchand & Benner 2005, p. 56). Therefore, for physical activities, the client ought to start slowly and as time goes by, he could improve and this could help him in reducing the BMI and body weight.

Barriers of change

Some of the barriers of change include lack of food preferences and acid reflux problem of the client. Therefore, since the client was diagnosed and treated in the year 2008, there is need for him to engage into physical activities like gym that could help him reduce the amount of fats and calories in the body. In addition, he ought to be specific on the type of food he has to integrate into his eating such as vegetables and fruits which could help him live healthier.

Lifestyle changes

Some of the activities which prevented the client from changing his behavior included; academic activities in which he spends much of his time working towards his degree. Thus, he finds it difficult to get time for exercising and living healthy. Secondly, he claims that he goes for the ready made food since he has inadequate cooking skills. Therefore, the client need to prepare a timetable that guides him on the time to study and time for other activities in order for him to manage his time properly.

Food intakes and activity guidelines

Regarding food intake, the client during the first consultation admitted the act of neglecting water and roughly he used to take about three glasses of water in a day. Basically, the client should take eight glasses of water per day since it is the most abundant chemical within the body (Ajzen 1985, p 123). In order to achieve this, one should ensure the client buys or store specific liters of water such that by the end of six weeks, he should have finished that water. In case, the client finishes the water by that time, a reward should be given to him.

This form of intervention was successful over the entire 6 weeks since the client managed to achieve his SMART goals such as reducing body weight, body fat ratio and BMI. Secondly, the client is currently aware of the knowledge to question what is stated on the packaging of the foods he buys when shopping for food. Therefore, the client’s intrinsic motivation for exercising have increased enormously since our interview for assignment one. He said he started to enjoy working-out like he never did before.

Therefore, the future guidelines that should be given to this client include; continue engaging into physical activities in order to attain the desired weight. This is because before he started regular exercise, he was overweight, thus any physical activity like sports could help in incraesing the body mass thus help in burning calories in the body (Campbell, Brad & Robin 2006, p. 2). additionally, the client should lok into teh type of food he includes into his diet since eating a single form of meal continuously amde him become overweight. Thus, healthy eating would help him reduce weight and more importantly reduce the rate of chronic diseases occurrence. The client should also prepare a cooking program on what he should eat everyday.

Conclusion

Chronic illnesses like lower and upper respiratory infections, cardiovascular illnesses, and cancer are the primary cause of mortality and impairment worldwide. There are reasonable researches that have been carried out showing that some practices such as healthy eating, smoking cessation, regular exercise and avoidance of excessive quantities of alcohol could minimize the rates of terminal diseases (Maton, Charles, LaHart & Wright 1993, p. 65). Therefore, the above mentioned practices are based on individual behavior change. For instance, the above discussed client changed his behavior, thus, he was in a position to lower his body weight, BMI and body fat ration among other significant changes.

Reference List

Ajzen, I. 1985. From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In Action Control: From Cognition to Behavior. (eds. J. Kuhl and J. Beckman). Springer.

Baroni, L., Cenci, L., Tettamanti, M. & Berati, M. 2007. Evaluating the environmental impact of various dietary patterns combined with different food production systems. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 61 (2): 279–286

Campbell, A., Brad, W. & Robin, J. 2006. Biology: Exploring Life. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Dalgleish, J. & Dollery , S. 2001. Handbook of Health & Fitness. Essex:Longman

Lopez, D., Mathers, D., Ezzati, M., Jamison, D. & Murray, C. 2006. Global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data. Lancet, 367 (9524): 1747–57.

Maton, A., Charles, W., LaHart, D. & Wright, J. 1993. Human Biology and Health. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. USA: Prentice Hall.

Stewart, M., Martella, R., Marchand, N. & Benner, G.2005. Three-Tier Models of Reading and Behavior. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention, 2(3), 115-124

Tanner, G. 2003. Medical Physiology.(2nd Ed.). Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Wanless, D. 2002. Securing our Future Health: Taking a Long-term View HM Treasury. New York: Macmillan.

Wanless, D. 2004. Securing Good Health for the Whole Population HM Treasury. New York: Macmillan.

West, R. 2007. Obesity Reviews 8 (Suppl.1).Journal of nutrition, 6 (21):145-150.

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