Let’s get down to brass tacks. We all could be doing better with our nutrition. The American Heart Association® reports that only 12% of Americans eat enough fruits and only 9% eat enough vegetables. Alarming right, but which side of the percentages do you fall?
A lot of basic food knowledge we know. Eat fruits and vegetables. Don’t eat too much red meat. Fried foods in moderation. When we think about some “diet” or attempt at eating better, we think of those things. Are we doing those things? Did we do enough of those basic nutrition behaviors to have been successful? When the answer is a resounding no, then we consider it, ourselves a failure. But is that the culprit for why we just can’t do better?
As I am working on my Master of Public Health Nutrition, I am learning so much about… I know you thought that next word would be FOOD! Me too! The most significant and unexpected thing I am learning is how big a part the mental component is with adopting healthier eating habits. In fact, if I were making the list of what things present so much difficulty with adopting healthy nutrition, food would be possibly third or fourth on the list. THIRD or FOURTH!! Mind blown, even as I am saying it.
If you’ve met me, you know I am overweight. Who am I kidding? I’m obese. And here I am trying to tell YOU how to eat. Well, yes. Yes, I am. I know, I know. Alicia, heal thyself! Trust me, I’m trying and buckle up because I’m bringing you along for the ride.
Regarding our ability to choose and sustain healthier, potentially life-saving health behaviors, food is BIG but not the only thing we need to conquer. There is a term that has been on virtually every page of every textbook, so far. Determinants. [Modifiable influences on, or predictors of, food choices and diet-related behavior change. …psychosocial, self-efficacy, knowledge and skills, and emotions or feelings and some environmental.]
Without asking you to lay down on a couch and asking for $200 for a 40-minute hour, I’m going to try to help US uncover why we do what we do. Then, just maybe, we can reveal some hidden obstacles to our success. No easy task, but we can do it. Believe me, it’s not that hard, but it’s not that easy. That’s why we’re going to try to LIVE Better…together!
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