Personal Reflection: Dimensions of Health and Wellness
“There is more to eating than the simple act of trying to stay away from hunger”. This simple unpopular opinion sums up my realization upon the completion of this unit. Just like most people, I have always visualized foods from the lenses of hunger. After going through the lesson; however, my perceptions of hunger have been expanded to include multiple nutrition aspects with healthy eating becoming a significant concern. By going through the lectures, my idea of hunger alleviation has been diluted and instead replaced with the concept of a healthy diet for healthy living.
Healthy foods have a specific nutritive value, while unhealthy foods mainly serve to increase the concentration of unhealthy fats and calories in the body. Unfortunately, however, the food market is more flooded with unhealthy foods as opposed to healthy foods. In the past decade, there has been a significant blooming of unhealthy food joints that serve readymade snacks in the form of junk food such as potato chips, burgers, potato crisps and high-calorie drinks. While these snacks are appealing to eat owing to their appealing packages and sweet nature, their increased intake is more detrimental than useful. Consumption of such foods, mainly leads to excessive fat and caloric intake that instead expose the consumer to diseases such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
A realization of the impact of excessive junk food intake made me to question my food choices. As a regular in the local junk food joints, I feel threatened by the fact that I have been continuously feeding my body with “slow poison” in the name of food. Further research on the topic led me to the realization that a healthy diet ought to meet specific Recommended Dietary allowances (RDA) for particular nutrients. I was, however, surprised when I first fed my food choices to a chronometer only to realize that my caloric intake is way above RDA expectations while my nutrient intake is struggling to meet a half the expectations. Since then, the question of nutritive value always comes to mind before putting any type of food in my mouth.
In my previous consumption habits, I was convinced that eating readymade junk food is cheap because one does not necessarily need to prepare the meal since it is served ready for consumption. This distorted view was supported by the belief that healthy foods are not only expensive but also require a lot before they can be deemed ready for consumption. As I read through the topic; however, I realized that both healthy and healthy eating requires one to spend money: only the periods of spending matter. For a healthy diet, money is spent before consumption, while unhealthy eating requires massive expenditures after consumption. A healthy eater, for example, might spend some extra coins to buy specific food choices. In contrast, an unhealthy eater might spend up to millions of dollars offsetting the results of unhealthy eating such as obesity and diabetes.
Thinking of the contrast in spending for both healthy and unhealthy eating, there is no doubt that healthy food choices are far much cheaper compared to unhealthy foods. While healthy foods (cereals, vegetables, unprocessed foods and fruits) may appear expensive at the point of purchase, their consumption does not involve taking health risks that could potentially harm the consumer. This implies that the seemingly excessive spending is paid off with reasonable nutrient content in the body of the consumer. On the contrary, consumption of processed foods is by itself a risk as it leads to excessive storage of bad fats and an increased nutrient deficiency that are common causes of nutrition-related disorders. In the long run, the money saved in buying the seemingly cheap meals ends up being consumed in reverting the effects of the “cheap meals”.
In addition to helping me understand the significance of making the appropriate food choices, the course has also given me significant insights into the maintenance of a healthy body. While the selection of food is the first step towards healthy eating, lifestyle decisions significantly affect the ability to maintain a healthy body. A health food maintains a balance between carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins. When one consumes the correct proportions of these foods but does not keep the body active to utilize these foods, however, he/she directs the body to convert the excess foods into a form of storage (mostly fat) that can also cause obesity. The body`s mechanism of food digestion is aimed at energy production (in the form of ATP), but a low utilization of the energy directs the body to convert the foods into a form that can be used to derive the energy when it is needed in future. This realization has been crucial in helping me to change my daily routines to include workouts and daily walks. Besides, it has also increased my motivation to leave the house even when I have nothing to do outside as I now understand the impact that a thirty-minute walk- a day can have on my health.
Finally, one of my most important discoveries is the fact that there are multiple shortcuts to cutting costs in healthy eating. While healthy foods might appear expensive, there are always means of reducing the costs to survive in a low budget. Examples of such strategies include the use of substitute brands sold at lower prices and taking advantage of discounts to stock for the future. Besides, the understanding also changed my approach towards shopping. In a bid to ensure that I maintain healthy budgets even in hard times, I decided to stick to one specific store to benefit from discounts and loyalty points. In my local area, for example, most supermarkets have loyalty points programs where increased purchases lead to increased accumulation of loyalty points that can be redeemed in exchange for products. By taking advantage of the system, I will be assured of benefiting from the program when my budget is insufficient to cater for my desired products. For cases where the ingredients seem expensive, cooking large servings will come to my rescue in cost-cutting as I can always warm the leftovers for subsequent meals.
The course has been significant in not only increasing my knowledge of healthy eating but also changing my perceptions towards healthy living. Before the course, I was highly worried about the cost of meals. After doing the cost-benefit analysis of the different types of eating habits, however, I have concluded that “health is wealth”. For this reason, I have developed a significant yearning to use all the available resources to maximize on healthy living. This ranges from choosing healthy meals to burning the excessive calories in my body. The course has made me understand that one of the most significant investments that one can make is investing in their own health.