Healthy Food and Healthy Dieting - Essay Example

Healthy Food and Healthy Dieting Healthy food and healthy dieting are important s which are gaining grounds in recent times. Obesity or over weight related problems are growing day by day because of the crazy food habits of the people. Heart attacks, cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, anxiety, lack of self-esteem etc are some of the major physical and mental diseases associated with overweight. Modern people are getting less time for physical workouts since their personal, family, social and professional commitments are more than that of the generations in the past. Moreover advancements in science and technology have eased out difficult works and hence the physical workloads of current generation have been reduced considerably. Moreover, modern generation increasingly interested in depending fast foods rather than kitchen made foods. All these changes in life styles are causing health problems in one way or another. The importance of healthy food and healthy dieting is getting prominence under the above circumstances. There are plenty of people who still practices unhealthy food even though they are aware of the consequences. Such people argue that life happens only once for a person and that life should be enjoyed as much as possible with the help of tasty foods rather than healthy foods. For them, death will happen once even if healthy food habits and dieting are being practiced. On the other hand supporters of healthy food and healthy dieting argue that life can be extended substantially if one would practice healthy diets. Moreover, the quality of the life could be improved further if a person practices dieting and healthy food habits. This paper analyses these arguments and argues in favor of practicing healthy food and healthy dieting. Although healthful eating was seen as necessary for health, high-fat, high-sugar foods were a source of pleasure and enjoyed during social times. Physical activity was a way of spending time with friends, either through active play or watching sports. Boys viewed screen time and homework as barriers to physical activity, while girls identified no common barriers. Children viewed physical activity as easier than healthful eating, describing the former as "play" and "fun" (Becker, et al, p.19). It is difficult for a person to control his food habits all the time. Even diabetes patients like to take some sweetly or fatty foods during celebration times. Many people believe that food is the most important pleasure giving activity for a person. If that is controlled, then he may not get many other options to enjoy his life. Plenty of studies have proved that people in wealthy countries are interested in junk foods: soft drinks, sweets, desserts, alcoholic beverages, and salty snacks. Thus, obesity is more in developed countries than in developing or underdeveloped countries. Pleasure seeking people always neglect the consequences of having junk foods. It should be noted that majority of the tastier foods are junk foods. Physical activities among teenagers and adults are getting decreased as time goes on because of the intrusion of new technologies such as videogames and internet games. Two or three decades before, people were interested in spending time for physical activities since they did not have many options to spend leisure time. However, at present people have many options for spending leisure times. The intrusion of mobile phones, internet, computers and videogames has opened another channel of enjoyment for the people. Since these enjoyment channels requires less physical works, modern generation interested in utilizing it. In short, junk food habits are increasing whereas physical activities are decreasing among modern generation. Both these habits are helpful in increasing overweight and obesity. In short, the intrusions of modern technologies have immense influence upon life styles and food habits of people. Even though junk foods give momentary or temporary pleasure, it may cause huge health problems in the long run. So, a person should decide whether he should have a healthy long life or an unhealthy short life span. Safe foods or nutritious food does not contain any harmful ingredients. It provides only the calorie needed for maintaining a good health. On the other hand, junk foods provide excessive calories to body and the body may utilize only a few portions of those calories for physical activities. In short, excessive calories taken through junk foods may get deposited as fat contents in our body which will later cause huge health problems. Neumark-Sztainer et al. (2012), pointed out the importance of the family system and the reciprocal influences within the home environment on health behaviors. In their opinion, “insights from the families provide leads for future research and ideas for the prevention of youth obesity”(Neumark-Sztainer et al., Healthful Eating ……p.123). Neumark-Sztainer et al.(2007) pointed out the role of mothers in practicing healthy food habits among children and adolescents. “Mothers concern for healthful eating is associated with maternal eating behavior and the home food environment. Adolescent perceptions of maternal attitudes are a stronger predictor than actual maternal attitudes of adolescent behavior. Parents should be encouraged to share their beliefs regarding the importance of healthful eating with their adolescents” (Neumark-Sztainer et al., Associations between…..p.248). It should be noted that mothers are normally controlling the activities in kitchen. They are serving meals to their children. On the dining table, they can provide enough tips to the children regarding the importance of practicing safe food habits. Children may often complain about the poor taste of kitchen made foods. On such occasions, mothers should educate their children about the importance of sacrificing little bit taste for maintaining good health. It should be noted that nobody else, except the mother may help the children in controlling their food habits. OBrien et al.(2010), pointed out the biological, social, and environmental dimensions of healthful eating, along with the interactions among them. Once these dimensions are considered as a whole, the definition of healthful eating allows the identification of a wide range of strategic interventions to implement such eating” (OBrien et al., p.21). Food habits are different among different communities. Muslims and Christians are normally practicing non-vegetarianism whereas Hindus practice vegetarianism. At the same time, Hindus eat more sweetly foods than any other communities in the world. Therefore the advantage of lack of fatty foods is spoiled by the excessive use of sweetly food among Hindus. In other words, it is difficult to implement a standardized healthy food habits or diet among different communities. Therefore, before implementing any healthy food habits among a particular culture, the existing food habits should be studied comprehensively. According to Adolphe et al (2010), there are five themes on barriers to healthful eating and to the use of vitamin/mineral supplements: knowledge, income, accessibility, health, and preferences (Adolphe et al. p.70). Lack of knowledge is the major reason for crazy food habits among teenagers. Adults and older generation may have better awareness about the problems associated with junk foods. Financially sound people mostly go for tasty foods from restaurants and star hotels. They might think that these hotels and restaurants provide only better quality food items since they are paying more. However, in reality, such hotels and restaurants provide better foods in terms taste rather than nutrition. Accessibility of food is another factor which affects the food habits of people. For example, in the absence of fast food restaurants, people may rely on normal hotels and restaurants for their food needs. However, if fast food restaurants are available nearby, people may go for fast food. Health is factor which is taken into the account by people while they select their food. Healthy people may not give much importance to diet or food habits. They may think that their body is healthy enough to burn the executive calorie and hence they can take any kind of food. On the other hand, unhealthy people such as diabetes patients or high blood pressure patients may take more control while selecting their food. Preference of food is different among different people. It is not necessary that the food liked by one person may be liked by another person. “Food frequency and descriptive terms currently used do not provide meaningful or consistent nutritional guidance. There is a need for simple, unambiguous terminology” (Gill et al., p.459). On food packets there are plenty of descriptions about the ingredients of that food. However, a layman may not understand these descriptions properly. Only the educated people are aware of such terms and hence such descriptions are useless in many cases. It is important to simplify the terms printed on food packets about the ingredients so that even a layman could understand it. Working > 40 hours per week was associated with time-related barriers to healthful eating most persistently among young adult men. Associations were found among females working both part-time and > 40 hours per week with both time-related barriers and dietary intake. These findings indicate that intervention strategies, ideally those addressing time burden, are needed to promote healthful eating among young, working adults (Hannan et al., p.786). The workloads of current professionals such as the IT professionals are more than that of professionals in the past. In fact many of the professionals working in the IT field are working around 60 to 70 hours per week. Such people may not get enough time to spend too much time for taking food. They normally take fast foods even while working because of the convenience and taste offered by it. Moreover, professionals who work more than 8 hours per day will be exhausted while reaching their residence. They may not be in a mood to prepare food in kitchens after a busy workout in the office. Moreover, they may not get enough time to spend for playing or other physical activities. In short, such people are taking junk food even though they have lack of time for physical workouts. In other words, busy professionals may not get enough time to burn out the excessive calories taken through the food. Excessive calories thus, get deposited in the form of fat in the bodies of such people and cause health problems later in their lives. Keyserling, et al (2011) mentioned that “Community audits improve the description of health-promoting community resources and the context in which people make lifestyle choices”(Keyserling, et al., p.149). Along with the empowerment of people with respect to the importance of practicing good food habits, authorities should make sure that the hotels and restaurants provide healthy and nutritious food to the people. Billions of dollars being spent every year in healthcare sector by the government. A substantial portion of this expenditure can be reduced if people avoid junk foods or start practicing healthy food habits. It is difficult for the government to control the activities in family kitchens. However, it is possible for the government to control the activities in the kitchens of hotels and restaurants. For example, in third world countries, hotels and restaurants supply contaminated food items. People who take food from such hotels may damage their health knowingly or unknowingly. Only the government can make sure that hotels and restaurants supply only fresh food with the help of periodical food inspections. Neithercott (2012) has explained that how it is possible to eat healthfully and obtain a high level of nutrition on what can only be described as a shoestring budget. He has pointed out that although it is difficult to obtain a high level of nutrition on limited amount of money, it can still be obtained if one is skilled in knowing what foods to purchase and how to prepare them in order to maximize one’s benefit (p. 68). Plenty of people believe that only wealthy people can practice good food habits. In fact, practicing healthy food habits is not at all an expensive act. Even poor people can practice good food habits if some precautions are taken. People should organic foods are better than any other foods. Pure organic foods are mostly produced in the agricultural fields of poor people. It is an accepted fact that rich farmers who use cultivation as a business may use increased amounts of fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides in their agricultural fields in order to increase the yields. On the other hand, poor people always use bio-fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to save money. It should not be forgotten that crops developed with the help of chemicals and pesticides are extremely harmful to the health. Pesticides in food can cause diseases like Cancer Obesity, Alzheimers, Birth defects etc. Advancements in technology have brought huge changes in the life styles and food habits of the people. For example, the arrival of computers and internet help people to book their food parcels from distant hotels and get it through the home delivery services. Thus, people are becoming lazier in cooking foods in their home kitchens since readymade tasty instant foods are available everywhere. All the major food outlets in American and European countries have excellent food delivery systems and hence the public who orders the food items from these services are able to get it in time. For example, Eat24Hours.com is a New York based food delivery service which is offering food delivery 24 hours per day. This food service company takes orders, cooking preferences and dish descriptions through internet from the people and informs the customers about the expected delivery time. Moreover, instant chat facility is provided by this company so that consumers can communicate with the employees of this company instantly. When such facilities are available, nobody can blame people who rely on it. It should be noted that genetically people hate doing hard work, especially the works in kitchen. Only the circumstances force them to work in kitchens. When facilities such as Eat24Hours are available, they will go for such facilities. According to a study conducted by Robbins et al.(2012), children have the ability to retain the knowledge about healthy diets and healthy food habits for a longer period if proper awareness given to them (p.123). This finding clearly underlines the importance of providing health education even during childhood. It is said that a person may not forget the practices learned during childhood until his death. Therefore health education should be provided during childhood rather than during adulthood. To conclude, Healthy Food and Healthy Dieting are necessary to keep the physical and mental health intact. The intrusions of advanced technology such as internet and the increase in professional commitments have changed the food habits of the people immensely. Modern generation give more importance to junk foods and less importance to physical workouts. Both these habits are equally dangerous as far as the maintenance of physical and mental health is concerned. Even though junk food gives more pleasure to the eater, it causes huge health problems later in the life of the eater. Healthy food habits help people in leading a healthy life for a longer period. On the other hand, unhealthy food habits bring momentary pleasure and cause huge health problems later in the life of a person. Government has an important role in spreading healthy food habits among people. The awareness about the importance of healthy food habits should be given to the children as early as possible so that they may keep a discipline while selecting their food. Works Cited Adolphe JL. Whiting SJ, Vatanparast H, Taylor JG, "Barriers To Healthful Eating And Supplement Use In Lower-Income Adults." Canadian Journal Of Dietetic Practice & Research 71.2 (2010): 70-76. Print Becker AB, Protudjer JL, Marchessault G, Kozyrskyj AL, "Childrens Perceptions Of Healthful Eating And Physical Activity." Canadian Journal Of Dietetic Practice & Research 71.1 (2010): 19-23. Print Gill TP., King L, Watson WL, Chapman K, Kelly B, Louie JC, Hughes C, Crawford J, "Do We Provide Meaningful Guidance For Healthful Eating? An Investigation Into Consumers Interpretation Of Frequency Consumption Terms." Journal Of Nutrition Education & Behavior 44.5 (2012): 459-463. Print Hannan PJ. Escoto KH, Laska MN, Larson N, Neumark-Sztainer D, "Work Hours And Perceived Time Barriers To Healthful Eating Among Young Adults." American Journal Of Health Behavior 36.6 (2012): 786-796. Print Keyserling, Thomas C., McGuirt, Jared T., Jilcott, Stephanie B & Vu, Maihan B "Conducting Community Audits To Evaluate Community Resources For Healthful Lifestyle Behaviors: An Illustration From Rural Eastern North Carolina." Preventing Chronic Disease 8.6 (2011): A149. Print Neumark-Sztainer D, Berge JM, Arikian A, Doherty WJ,. "Healthful Eating And Physical Activity In The Home Environment: Results From Multifamily Focus Groups." Journal Of Nutrition Education And Behavior 44.2 (2012): 123-131. Print Neumark-Sztainer D.Boutelle KN, Birkeland RW, Hannan PJ, Story M, Associations Between Maternal Concern For Healthful Eating And Maternal Eating Behaviors, Home Food Availability, And Adolescent Eating Behaviors." Journal Of Nutrition Education & Behavior 39.5 (2007): 248-256. Print Neithercott, T. "Budget-Meals Maestro: Charles Mattocks, The Poor Chef, Offers His Two Cents About Healthful Eating." Diabetes Forecast 65.6 (2012): 68-71. Print OBrien HT. Hamelin AM, Lamontagne C, Ouellet D, Pouliot N, "Healthful Eating: Beyond Food, A Global Concept." Canadian Journal Of Dietetic Practice & Research 71.2 (2010): 98. Print Robbins C. Cheadle A, Cahill C, Schwartz PM, Edmiston J, Johnson S, Davis L, "Engaging Youth In Learning About Healthful Eating And Active Living." Journal Of Nutrition Education And Behavior 44.2 (2012): 160-165. Print Read More