Behavior Change Project: Unhealthy Food
Behavior Change Project
Many have a bad tendency of consuming unhealthy food rather than eat something that will benefit them. Many say it’s because “unhealthy” food is more conventional than eating “healthy” food. According to the Los Angeles Times, when one is going to work or simply heading to school one finds it easy to just stop by at a liquor store and buy a snickers and a fountain drink (2001). The food that is easily accessible when entering such stores is always junk food rather than having fruits. This has caused many problems, and one of the major one is obesity. Obesity is a sickness that occurs when an individual passes a certain weight ratio for their body. For some, being 250 pounds would be normal but …show more content…
to others it could be diagnosed as obese. “Fast Food” today has changed the way people eat.
Not only are their meals consisting of more food than usual but fast food restaurants continue to sell their product. According to Robert Albritton, fast food restaurants are aware of the amount of calories in their food and acknowledge that they could potentially be causing health problems to the world. But insist on selling it because it should be the consumer who should know that if eaten in large amounts it can cause health problems (Albritton, 2009). Consuming such foods can also lead to diabetes, which is a leading cause of death in the United States of America. It has grown to become a national issue, not only are adults suffering from junk food but even the children are being affected by junk food. I selected junk food as my issue for my behavior change program because I scored bad when it came to how much junk food I consume and how unhealthy it is.
I eat junk food at least 5 times a week and a week only consists of 7 days. This is very unhealthy and if I keep going at this pace it could have a huge impact on my health in the near future. Not only will it cause me to become unhealthy, but it can also shorten my life expectancy but quite some time. Time I would rather spend with my family in the future. I’ve seen many people that at a young age had the same bad habit as me and today some are obese or diagnosed with diabetes. I don’t want to end up in that situation and that is the main reason why I chose junk food as my issue for my behavior change …show more content…
program. It was hard to first devise a method that would help me cut my consumption of junk food. First I had to examine how much I would consume daily and how often I would consume junk food. To my surprise I realized I mostly ate junk food whenever I would be crazing a snack. To eat and say healthy I came up with a plan that will cut the amount of junk food I consume. The first step was to remove or at least put all the junk food in a place where it was not easily accessible. Then I placed healthy food such as bananas, oranges, and grapes where they were easily seen. It was a way to make me go straight to a fruit or apple for a snack since it was the first thing I would see when I would enter my kitchen. I also would take my own lunch to school rather than buying food at school. This not only would save me money but it would also keep me from purchasing junk food. I would also do the same when I would go to work. Working in a buffet where you see lots of junk food it was hard to not fall into temptation and sneak a snack here and there. I knew that in order for this behavior change to benefit me, I would have to stay commited. Also for every week I went without consuming junk food more than 4 times a month, I would reward myself with a trip to any restaurant of my choosing and buy myself a meal. It helped as a motivation to keep myself from consuming junk food. I measured my progress by the amount of junk food I would consume a week, excluding the meal I would reward myself at the end of the month.
As weeks went by, my amount on junk food consumed decreased to no more than once a week. Junk food was anytime of “unhealthy” food, which ranged from a simple snickers bar to a slice of chocolate fudge cake. Thankfully I was successful in achieving my goal, which was to reduce the amount of junk food I would consume. Throughout the semester, I faced many challenges. They ranged from big obstacles to simply saying no. One major challenge was to not eat any pizza at work while I was in my lunch. Even though I would take my own lunch, seeing the pizza freshly made tempted me in eating a slice or 2 but I stayed committed. Another huge challenge I faced was when I would be invited to go eat at dog house, or anywhere, by my friends. I knew that if I would go I would have fell into temptation easily. I managed to devise a way for me to go eat with my friends without having to eat junk food more than twice a day. Because I would usually get invited Fridays, I chose not to eat junk food until Friday. Like that if my friends were to invite me to go out to eat with them, I would be able to go out and eat without having to break my once a week junk food rule. This not only helped me physically but now I seriously watch what I eat to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. The beginning was hard because I was used to not eating junk food but by the
end of the contract, it was easy to go a whole week without eating junkfood.
Bibliography
Albritton, R. (2009). Let Them Eat Junk: How Capitalism Creates Hunger and Obesity. Londen:
Pluto Press.
(2001, June 30). Junk Food for Thought. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/30/local/me-16997 Cunha-vaz, J. (2010). Diabetic Retinopathy. River Edge: World Scientific Publishing Co.
Kasilambros, N., Gatenbein-Kanaka, C., Llatis, S., Konstantinos, M., Tentolouris, N.
(2011). Diabetic Emergencies: Diagnosis and Clinical Management. Hoboken: John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Johnson, C. A. (2012). The Information Diet. O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Moss, M. (2013, February 20). The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. The New
York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0 Freedman. D. H. (2013, June 19). How Junk Food Can End Obesity. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-junk-food-can-end
obesity/309396/
Many have a bad tendency of consuming unhealthy food rather than eat something that will benefit them. Many say it’s because “unhealthy” food is more conventional than eating “healthy” food. According to the Los Angeles Times, when one is going to work or simply heading to school one finds it easy to just stop by at a liquor store and buy a snickers and a fountain drink (2001). The food that is easily accessible when entering such stores is always junk food rather than having fruits. This has caused many problems, and one of the major one is obesity. Obesity is a sickness that occurs when an individual passes a certain weight ratio for their body. For some, being 250 pounds would be normal but …show more content…
to others it could be diagnosed as obese. “Fast Food” today has changed the way people eat.
Not only are their meals consisting of more food than usual but fast food restaurants continue to sell their product. According to Robert Albritton, fast food restaurants are aware of the amount of calories in their food and acknowledge that they could potentially be causing health problems to the world. But insist on selling it because it should be the consumer who should know that if eaten in large amounts it can cause health problems (Albritton, 2009). Consuming such foods can also lead to diabetes, which is a leading cause of death in the United States of America. It has grown to become a national issue, not only are adults suffering from junk food but even the children are being affected by junk food. I selected junk food as my issue for my behavior change program because I scored bad when it came to how much junk food I consume and how unhealthy it is.
I eat junk food at least 5 times a week and a week only consists of 7 days. This is very unhealthy and if I keep going at this pace it could have a huge impact on my health in the near future. Not only will it cause me to become unhealthy, but it can also shorten my life expectancy but quite some time. Time I would rather spend with my family in the future. I’ve seen many people that at a young age had the same bad habit as me and today some are obese or diagnosed with diabetes. I don’t want to end up in that situation and that is the main reason why I chose junk food as my issue for my behavior change …show more content…
program. It was hard to first devise a method that would help me cut my consumption of junk food. First I had to examine how much I would consume daily and how often I would consume junk food. To my surprise I realized I mostly ate junk food whenever I would be crazing a snack. To eat and say healthy I came up with a plan that will cut the amount of junk food I consume. The first step was to remove or at least put all the junk food in a place where it was not easily accessible. Then I placed healthy food such as bananas, oranges, and grapes where they were easily seen. It was a way to make me go straight to a fruit or apple for a snack since it was the first thing I would see when I would enter my kitchen. I also would take my own lunch to school rather than buying food at school. This not only would save me money but it would also keep me from purchasing junk food. I would also do the same when I would go to work. Working in a buffet where you see lots of junk food it was hard to not fall into temptation and sneak a snack here and there. I knew that in order for this behavior change to benefit me, I would have to stay commited. Also for every week I went without consuming junk food more than 4 times a month, I would reward myself with a trip to any restaurant of my choosing and buy myself a meal. It helped as a motivation to keep myself from consuming junk food. I measured my progress by the amount of junk food I would consume a week, excluding the meal I would reward myself at the end of the month.
As weeks went by, my amount on junk food consumed decreased to no more than once a week. Junk food was anytime of “unhealthy” food, which ranged from a simple snickers bar to a slice of chocolate fudge cake. Thankfully I was successful in achieving my goal, which was to reduce the amount of junk food I would consume. Throughout the semester, I faced many challenges. They ranged from big obstacles to simply saying no. One major challenge was to not eat any pizza at work while I was in my lunch. Even though I would take my own lunch, seeing the pizza freshly made tempted me in eating a slice or 2 but I stayed committed. Another huge challenge I faced was when I would be invited to go eat at dog house, or anywhere, by my friends. I knew that if I would go I would have fell into temptation easily. I managed to devise a way for me to go eat with my friends without having to eat junk food more than twice a day. Because I would usually get invited Fridays, I chose not to eat junk food until Friday. Like that if my friends were to invite me to go out to eat with them, I would be able to go out and eat without having to break my once a week junk food rule. This not only helped me physically but now I seriously watch what I eat to help maintain a healthy lifestyle. The beginning was hard because I was used to not eating junk food but by the
end of the contract, it was easy to go a whole week without eating junkfood.
Bibliography
Albritton, R. (2009). Let Them Eat Junk: How Capitalism Creates Hunger and Obesity. Londen:
Pluto Press.
(2001, June 30). Junk Food for Thought. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/30/local/me-16997 Cunha-vaz, J. (2010). Diabetic Retinopathy. River Edge: World Scientific Publishing Co.
Kasilambros, N., Gatenbein-Kanaka, C., Llatis, S., Konstantinos, M., Tentolouris, N.
(2011). Diabetic Emergencies: Diagnosis and Clinical Management. Hoboken: John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Johnson, C. A. (2012). The Information Diet. O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Moss, M. (2013, February 20). The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. The New
York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0 Freedman. D. H. (2013, June 19). How Junk Food Can End Obesity. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-junk-food-can-end
obesity/309396/