Nutrition and Wellness - Assignment Example

Nutrition and Wellness One of the strongest trends that our society is embracing today aside from the seasonal fashion movements would be the trend in nutrition and wellness. With all the news and written articles about new illnesses that does not easily reveal its symptoms but do take us all like a thief in the night to show the severity of a condition, all of us are now knowledgeable of the importance of health and the need for prevention. Thus, people started getting into a more active lifestyle, walked through stairs instead of waiting on elevators, put off driving and started to tread the streets, and also deny oneself with the demands of one’s palate. We all know that there are a lot of factors to a healthy lifestyle and one of which would be choosing to eat healthy. It is a fact that all of us, no matter what kind of lifestyle we have, it is common to always find time to eat at least three meals a day as compared to allotting time for exercise. That is why food choice creates one of the greatest impacts towards achieving a healthy body. How people choose or buy food is influenced by a lot of factors such as the leanings per age, gender, the friends and family one surrounds themselves with, cultural background, and the food establishments around you. Food, indeed, is not only to nourish the body but means so much more in our society today. It is used to celebrate success or good news, comfort ourselves through stressful times, and/or an expression of boredom, creativity, and adventurousness when it comes to cuisine. With all these said about why we buy and eat food, being able to get yourself a decent meal would always have to start with one’s ability to buy food. Here, the cost of food and one’s financial liberty as a factor for choosing which food to eat is raised (Factors That Influence Food Choices, n.d.). As shown in “The Dollar Menu” video, we can see what goes into the minds of people in the buying process. For those people who spend at least more than half a day outside the house, they would prefer getting food from fast food chains instead of buying from the grocery, prepare ingredients and spices, and cook. Convenience is one of the factors that leads a lot of families to feed themselves with unhealthy fast-food choices (Watch Video | The Dollar Menu, n.d.). Aside from that, the family in the video, after feeling guilty about feeding their kids and themselves with unhealthy food tried to visit the grocery to purchase healthier foods that are easy to cook. However, they noticed the big price difference as burgers that are ready to eat cost them only a dollar or two as compared to vegetables that are almost the same price to one whole burger and yet still needs a lot more ingredients for them to make a decent dish they would all enjoy. Indeed, we are the food we buy. We all are hardwired to choosing foods that are presented as more mouth-watery, delicious, and at the same time cheaper. This is just a matter or practicality where unhealthy food easily fit the description. However, it is important to look at the long-term effects of choosing unhealthy over the healthy. The reason why unhealthy foods are a lot cheaper is that they are full of calories from commodity crops, lacking nutrients that our body needs (Watch Video | The Dollar Menu, n.d.). Healthier food choices, though are more expensive will give you better nutrition that will gain you a strong foundation to fight diseases and a better prevention of the degradation of our bodies due to environmental factors and age. Thus, though we instantly feel the pain caused by choosing healthy foods in our financials, there is much more loss and more expensive to treat obesity, hypertension, blood blockage, and other illnesses caused by a long haul of eating the wrong foods. Living a healthy lifestyle is a choice one has to stick up to every meal of the day, expecting greater return in the future. An interesting point is also brought up by the article “Grocery Gap” is that a lot of people started choosing to live a healthier lifestyle. What is stopping them from doing so is the lack of access to the right food we all deserve. This is imminent in low-income communities and rural areas (Treuhaft, Sarah, n.d). We would notice the many difference between high-end grocery stores as compared to the low-end ones. The former would always have an area for healthy options while the latter would only provide low quality meat, vegetables, chips, soda, and etc. This for me is because these groceries operating in a poorer neighborhood would not see the need to provide healthier food choices that are usually more expensive since their market is skewed to the low-income buyers which would not only be bad for the business owner but also for the buyers. Also, there is a huge percentage of these grocery owners operating in low-income communities to also not have the capability secure and maintain equipments to store easily spoiled food, which are usually the healthier options because of lack of funds so they go for preserved goods and ready to eat items. Indeed, as committing to a healthy lifestyle is already hard, lacking the access to healthy food is always an effective excuse to put off nutrition and wellness. So, lack of access to healthier options would most likely affect those people who have just started to living a healthy lifestyle as compared to those people who have already been doing so because the latter has already formed a habit of doing so, which is a force that would stop them from succumbing back to unhealthy options. Lack of access to healthy food choices is an economic and social inequality. Since the value of people’s health is equal in both low and high income areas, there have been many strategies being practiced to obliterate “food deserts”, areas in which quality food is out of reach. Some of which would be attracting grocery stores and supermarkets; developing farmers’ market, public markets, farm stands, community-supported agriculture programs, and mobile vendors; growing food locally through backyard or community gardens; and improving transportation to grocery stores and farmers’ markets (Treuhaft, Sarah, n.d). Attracting grocery stores and supermarkets in these areas such as by establishing one’s own agriculture program in the community would make investors or businessmen be more interested in building bigger and a more complete grocery store as it would be more feasible financially and resource-wise. This is because transporting fresh goods would be less taxing and costly knowing that there are a lot of community gardens in the area that could provide the goods instantly. Also, one would not have to risk on spoiling fresh fruits and vegetables which means lost income if they choose to provide more because restocking is now convenient. When it comes to operating a bigger store, the government is not just giving these communities a chance to eat healthier but at the same time open to more job opportunities for the residents and a problem-free experience for the grocery owner to secure the needed manpower. When it comes to cost of healthier food options, these programs also help in lowering it simply because transportation is not a problem and the source of goods is already grown in the vicinity which would cut operation cost and prevent owners from putting the burden on the price of goods they sell. After all these, I checked if there are “grocery/food deserts” around the area I live in and I can say that I am lucky enough to be surrounded with a lot of groceries from low to high end ones that provide the whole community with healthy food options, where living a healthy lifestyle is now a matter of practice by each person. The cost of food is not much of a problem as well since our community is surrounded with rich agriculture that makes the supply and demand of healthy food from grocery stores to each family’s home as convenient and easy as possible. Aside from complete grocery stores, there are a lot of parks that serve as a great venue to walk around in especially for the older population, while running tracks for the younger ones to get a good cardio exercise. As access to living a more active lifestyle is in reach around the community, obesity is something that could be more effectively prevented and at the same time hypertension as these parks are a good place to relax and clear the mind from all anxiety and a great opportunity to meet and interact with other people. Indeed, living a healthy lifestyle is easier and more possible if one takes on the right perspective of which. Sure, one would have to sacrifice a lot of the so called life’s pleasures such as the simple joys of a burger or extra fat in that rib eye steak. However, being able to see the lifestyle on a long term view, one would realize that it is the only way a happy life could be achieved. We all know that with a healthier body comes a healthier mind and soul. With this study, I have harbored that no gain is achieved without any hard work. Thus, I have learned to enjoy the goodness of what I eat, though isn’t as literally good as what you would with a burger and at the same time enjoy the pain brought about by exercise because I know this is good for me and my body embraces it as I become more active, refreshed, and feel the power to do more each day. Bibliography: "Watch Video | The Dollar Menu: Additional Video | POV | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . "GAFF | Get America Fit Foundation | Childrens Health Statistics." GAFF | Get America Fit Foundation | Non-profit to Stop Americas Obesity Epidemic. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Read More