Short-Term Goals For A Healthy Diet

The health behaviour that I wished to change was poor diet. My goals included avoiding of sugar added drinks by consuming more water, making a diet chart with vegetables and fruits, removal of fatty foods by increasing protein intake. Foods of poor diet include those with low or nil nutritional values (Boyland & Halford, 2013). Prolonged consumption of food with low nutritional value can lead to serious consequences on the health and mind.  Good nutrition is an integral part of leading a healthy life. Healthy diet with high nutritional value combined with physical activity can allow leading to reach a healthy weight and reduce risks from chronic diseases and also allow overall promotion of health. I wished to change my health behaviour towards healthy diet for reducing risks from diseases and leading a proactive life (Rosen, Lim, Felt, Carrier, Cheever, Lara-Ruiz, Mendoza, 2014).

In order to change health behaviour and attain a healthy life, there are 3 short-term goals that need to be achieved. According to LaCaille, Dauner, Krambeer and Pedersen (2011), unhealthy diet which includes eating junk food with sugar drinks such as cold drink have become a part of my lifestyle. The short term goals will be achieved by mentally curbing desire to intake unhealthy foods. I will counsel myself mentally towards attaining the short term goal. Substituting water for cold drinks will allow quenching thirst, similarly eating more fruits and vegetable will provide a feeling of fullness and satisfy the desire towards consuming junk foods. Transforming From Poor Diet To Healthy Diet: Goals And Challenges Discussion Paper  Increased proteins will also give a sense of fullness curbing my desire to eat unhealthily (Michaelidou & Hassan, 2008). Short term goals will allow achieving long term goals over long time period. Therefore, short term goals includes;

· Substituting drinking sugary drinks cold drinks by drinking more water.

· Setting by a diet chart that includes more of vegetables and fruits.

· Increasing protein intake by removing all fatty foods.

Long-term goals to achieving this change

Similar to defining of short term goals, it becomes integral to incorporate long term goals, which will be pursued once short term plans are achieved. Downs, Loewenstein and Wisdom (2009) stated that long-term goals include overcoming the habit of pursuing a poor diet and incorporating diet that includes high nutritional values. Pursuing long term goal will allow improving diet as craving for junk food items will gradually disappear. It will help in improving poor diet by substituting junk food items with high value food items.  The long term goal will need to be continuously broken down into smaller objectives, which will allow bring about a transformation in the heath behaviour (Bisogni, Jastran, Seligson & Thompson, 2012).

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Long-Term Goals To Achieving A Healthy Diet

Each aspect of change has some positive factors as well as certain negative aspects that have to be taken into consideration (Cecchini & Warin, 2016). While changing of health behaviour to include a healthy diet can be seen as having pros only, however while considering the past dietary framework it can be seen to be having several negative aspects as well. Louis, Chan and Greenbaum (2009) states some of the pros of changing health habits into having nutritional diet and changing fast foods or sugary drinks is highlighted in the table below. Some of the cons of changing diet might is included in table below (Chan & Woo, 2010).

Lowering obesity, lowering risks from diabetes, cancers, heart ailments as junk food has been seen to increase metabolic disorder with other similar ailments.

High mental depression from inability to consume foods rich in fats or sugary drinks. Foods with high fatty acids or sugary substances are known to decrease release of oxidants and also takes longer time to digests. Decreased levels of oxygen in blood streams reduces energy levels and mental alertness.

Energy levels, lower tendency of bloating or feeling acidic. Food high in nutritional value that contain less of fatty acids and junk will boost energy levels by releasing more anti-oxidants in the blood.  Inability to cope with changes resulting in loss of motivation towards other roles. Switching to healthy habits might be challenging and requires mental motivation. Increased rate of functionality, ability to carry out exercises. High nutritional value foods is known to enhance brain as well as physical functions. Stress. Food high in fats and sugars is known to induce stress in blood streams by releasing free radicals. Impact of changing the behaviour on your health

Any changes in health behaviour brought about will have tremendous impacts on health, especially in relation to transforming from junk food (Denny, Loth, Eisenberg & Neumark-Sztainer, 2013). Junk foods have been known to have various negative associated health impacts. Increased intake of junk food and sugary drinks causes obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and many more health impacts. Michie, Abraham, Whittington, McAteer and Gupta (2009) states changing behaviour to eat more healthy alternatives will lead to leading a normal life. Eating healthy will increase movement, rate of activities, reduce rates of stress, reduce acid influx, reduce rates of cholesterol, improve digestion and so on. Moreover, there are other long term health benefits associated with eating healthy foods (Sargeant, Valli, Ferrier & MacLeod, 2008).

Positive And Negative Aspects Of Changing Health Behavior

Changing health behaviour will not only affect health but also will impact lifestyle (Aalbers, Qin, Baars, de Lange, Kessels & Rikkert, 2016). Transiting from junk food to healthy behaviour will affect lifestyle. Lifestyle changes include being more active, being able to participate in sports or other physiological activities, living a less sedentary lifestyle and feeling more energetic. Kim, Suh & Eves (2010) states that effect of junk food is tremendous on health and cognitive functions. It might lead to some impairment of normal cognitive and physiological functioning as well as well-being. Therefore, it is more likely that eating healthier food will have several positive effects on the physical and mental health (Story, Kaphingst, Robinson-O’Brien & Glanz, 2008).

While deciding on a health transformation, it becomes critical to track weekly progress. A brief record of 7 weeks regarding progress of behavioural change has been depicted to reveal obstacles, benefits encountered (Kristeller & Wolever, 2010).

Was impossible to switch from junk food however, I could easily transform from sugary drinks developing a schedule for eating healthy developing mental motivation for undertaking change behaviour I was back on eating junk food as I did not experience much weight loss over the past few weeks. I was back to eating healthy such as increased intake of fruits and vegetables, with water as a substitute for drinks. Highly effective as I had been able to transform my behaviour completely to transform into healthy options.bBenefits from the transition were able to gain from healthy diet plan Highly effective as I had been able to transform my behaviour completely to transform into healthy options. Benefits from the transition were able to gain from healthy diet plan and overcome sedentary lifestyle.

Transiting from non-healthy into healthy options includes tremendous changes. It not only includes change in diet rather change in lifestyle. Piana, Battistini, Urbani, Romani, Fatone, Pazzagli, Laghezza, Mazzeschi and De Feo (2013) states that such lifestyle changes cannot easily be accommodated rather requires careful planning and strategizing dietary plans into daily lifestyles. The most important change journey I feel is in the mind, as a person needs to prepare oneself mentally for taking up any personal change procedure. Eating unhealthy foods or drinking sugary drinks have been found to have addictive properties. The most important barrier that one has to overcome is present in the mind and does not have much physical relevance.

Reflecting on the change journey can provide tremendous insights into learning and skill development that has happened in the past. Reflecting from my past it can be said that in the past, I experienced tremendous inclination to consume junk food such as burgers, pizzas, pastas, fries along with other items and cold drink especially Coca-Cola and Pepsi. McDonald’s KFC, Coca-Cola and PespiCo are my favourite brands and I feel they are best in the industry that has knowledge of taste buds. Consuming such foods along with other fatty food increased my weight tremendously. Within a small span of 1 year, I had gained approximately 25 kilos. As I led a sedentary lifestyle and did not have much participation in sports, this added to my woes. In spite of trying I was unable to lose weight and become active.  One of my friends advised me to transform my eating habits which would help me transform my lifestyle completely (Singh, 2014). While I decided that I will shift from consuming water from consumption of sugary drinks, I also decided on consuming less fatty foods and more of proteins. I wanted to include a dietary chart that had more of fruits and vegetables to cut down on my weight and become healthy again. While I decided and set my goals, it was not easily possible to achieve the same. I faced several barriers such as emotional distress, sometimes I did not feel like eating salads or fruits at all, demotivation from undertaking low fat and sugary diet. Therefore, I decided that that I needed to achieve my goals by breaking them down into smaller parts and easily attainable goals.

Tracking Progress To Overcome Barriers

In the past, while undertaking changes in the diet plan, I decided to leave sugary drinks first. I felt that though I had developed an addiction to the same as I was totally unable to leave it. Post weeks of struggle I was able to replace such drinks with water; I had to carry water with me everywhere so that whenever I was thirsty, I could drink water and not cold drinks. Carrying water acted as a facilitator or consuming healthy foods provided impetus to eating more healthily. In worst cases, I used to consume Diet Coke, though it also contains added substitutes of sugar. Transforming From Poor Diet To Healthy Diet: Goals And Challenges Discussion Paper  The feeling of high when consuming Coca-Cola or eating fatty foods provided tremendous satisfaction that was not present in any other food consumed (Counihan & Van Esterik, 2012). From the feeling of depression, I counselled myself into understanding that these edibles are bad for me and are harming me tremendously.

Therefore, I need to overcome the addiction of these substances to be able to lead a normal life. My past life was filled with instances of high pressure, inability to cope with stress, extreme sweatiness, urge to urinate, and indigestion with vomiting tendencies at the morning and so on. However, adapting healthy lifestyle of healthy diet with water increase my activity level. As weeks progressed, I gradually lost out on my lethargies. I was eager to participate in sports and any other activity. My participation in my family increased significantly as I had become an active person, capable to work hard. One major barrier I faced during my transformation was in regards to shopping and preparing my food I. I tried to motivate my family members so that they also take part in the diet plan; however they refused and continued on their high fatty foods. This was often demotivating for me as often I felt that I was undertaking this endeavour for nothing. In order to stay focussed, I needed to continuously remind myself that I had a goal to achieve and under no circumstances of drive to addiction would I leave such plans. The process of self-counselling helped me immensely to achieve my goals. I would only stop if I was able to achieve my goal of becoming an individual who eats and drinks healthily. However at the end of my reflection journey, I can state that I am overall happy with my achievements and will continue with the procedure in the future.

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This change journey of mine, I will document in my diary and use it later in my life. This change behaviour on health habits and its reflection has allowed setting by step procedure, which can guide me to use the same for a person with substance use disorder. A person, who experiences substance based disorder, is more likely to experience symptoms that I experienced in my addiction towards sugary drinks. Whiteford, Degenhardt, Rehm, Baxter, Ferrari, Erskine and  Burstein (2013) states that a person with substance abuse is more likely to face various mental traumas with physical symptoms. In order that a person is able to overcome substance abuse then counselling alongside medication is most integral aspect. In case the person is willing to overcome the addiction, then SMART objectives have to be accommodated. SMART objectives include specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound frame. Small achievable goals with specific time frames I will assign the person as I had undertaken step by step process for overcoming my un-healthy eating options. Such time-bound objectives will allow the individual to overcome addiction easily in the long-term period. Moreover, at each and every step there has to be assigned some attainable objectives such as leave substance use, or adopt healthy eating and sleeping habits and so on. From my reflection learning experience, I will provide constant counselling the individual. As it is extremely crucial to stay focussed on the goal. At every point it is very easy to be able to avoid long term plans and get back to addition. However, one should be made aware to make use of self-directed goals and constant reminding.

In directing an individual, who has a substance abuse I will try to provide some inputs in regards to videos or journals that can assist the person in looking at the possible implications or health effects from long term substance abuse. I will provide necessary medications and also conduct health check-ups to monitor any progress in health that has happened. This would allow me to help the individual, who in turn will benefit. I will also try and make him strive to attain his goals, as I firmly believe that if someone is pushed towards a goal then he is less likely to attain it. When one is directed towards the goal then it becomes possible that one stays committed and focussed. I will guide the process which will allow the person to overcome his addiction by providing continuous mental guidance and planning. I will provide an evaluation and monitoring framework as against my routinely recording of weekly activity. For the same I will include a report type journal where weekly progress of an individual will be recorded and later will be compared with one another to understand progress. I will also try to include some rewards for the individual such that he stays motivated and focussed on the task and accomplishes his goals easily. My aim in assisting him will he to uplift his spirits whenever he feels demotivated or frustrated regarding not being able to attain goals. Thus, I will try with best intentions to help him, but he will also have to make efforts so that he is able to overcome his current situation. I would like to conclude that reflection has provided me tremendous opportunities to learn and able to use such learning for others as well. In the manner that I adopted, I will be able to enhance health of the individual in substance use easily.

References

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Michie, S., Abraham, C., Whittington, C., McAteer, J., & Gupta, S. (2009). Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: a meta-regression. Health Psychology, 28(6), 690. Transforming From Poor Diet To Healthy Diet: Goals And Challenges Discussion Paper