Catherine Riley
HUM/111
Sunday June 1, 2014
Nadine Francois
Individual problem or issue investigation and solution
Option 2: Solving process, part 2
For some time, I have fought with the issue of being healthy. This is not to say that I am overweight or look unhealthy but that I know that I am unhealthy because of the eating and sedentary lifestyle I live. This is an issue to me because it is not a problem which has an easy answer. What I have learned is that being healthy is an issue in our society because of many social and lifestyle factors. From the time that we are children, we are indoctrinated with ideas of being unhealthy that are often skewed from the reality. Media and upbringing constantly link the idea of being overweight with being unhealthy yet never really touch on the idea of being unhealthy at normal weights. This idea extends into our lifestyles in which people who are overweight are considered lazy while people who are of normal weight might also be sedentary but are not criticized in the same manner. This is an issue because it gives a false sense of being healthy despite the fact that a person might be far from being healthy. In order to solve the issue of being unhealthy, I need to research and learn to define and understand health and being healthy. In order to understand health to a greater degree I will need to research the topic. There is a wealth of knowledge available on this topic but I believe that my research should be confined to credible sources. I will research using scholarly work and verifiable data. For example, using sites like the United States Department of Agriculture which provides extensive diet related information can help me learn about health and what is healthy and I can trust the source. Once I have a working model and definition for my health plan, I will need to refine the idea and make sure that my concept of health and being healthy can stand up to scrutiny. In order to achieve this I need to be able to anticipate counter arguments and other opinions. According to Ruggiero (2012) in order to create counter ideas it is necessary to consider whether ones ideas:
• The idea is impractical.
• The idea is too expensive.
• The idea is illegal.
• The idea is immoral.
• The idea is inefficient.
• The idea is unworkable.
• The idea will be disruptive of existing procedures.
• The idea is unaesthetic (that is, ugly or lacking in taste).
• The idea challenges accepted beliefs.
• The idea is unfair (that is, it favors one side of the dispute without any evidentiary basis) (Ruggiero, (2012). Depending upon the answers to these questions, I can alter my plan and implementation for being healthy. As well, I can improve my strategies by using criticism from other people. Using these strategies for critical thinking can help me to understand and to formulate a lifelong strategy for being healthy.
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