Free Food Safety, Contamination Essay Sample

Hunger is the strongest urge that has ever stood the test of time since it needs to be a satisfied day after day out. Food also acts as a basic need and one of the best ways of attaining social bonding. In most families and societies, mealtimes are times when most if not all the members come together to dish. Food is the fuel for the body. As much as we all take in food in order to sustain our lives, it has been noted with a lot of concern that our relationship to what we eat nowadays has become a challenging and complicated puzzle (Brownell, 14). A number of nutritional literatures bear extensive captions such as; “avoid these foods to live longer”; “food tips to longer lives”; and “most recommended food for the children, pregnant mothers, and elderlies, diabetic” among others.
In the recent past, a number of researches have been done on innumerable nutrition and dietary issue. To my surprise, most of the findings reveal a lot about the current teenage group. It is quite interesting when I hear that the risk of developing some of the lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, stroke, diabetes and other cardiac diseases is now being shared between the old and the young. Notwithstanding, even a number of complaints have been launched by the army commandants of many states that they stand a chance of losing in recruitment of youths in the army, simply because they are too obese to pass the fitness tests (Bedno, 188).What could be the reason for a hike in the risk factor for developing the lifestyle diseases amongst the teenagers and youths at large? What can we do, as the youths-at-risk to manage our diet and achieving a healthy and sustainable dietary behavior in the long run? The above questions would form my basis of the argument on the issue of management of our dietary behaviors in the attempt of promoting a healthy youth generation, free from any nutritional disorder.
1. Factors behind poor eating habits amongst the teens
In order to understand this broad and complicated area of concern, the main question to bear in mind is: what’s the reason behind most of these food choices amongst the youths, some of which could be detrimental to both emotional and physical wellbeing? The answer to this question is what I ought to seek establish.
However it is quite a hint that the answer is right within our surrounding, and that’s why we are being informed that we are living in an environment that can be termed as “toxic”. The environment we are in feeds us with a lot of toxins in the name of foods and that’s why from time to time you’ll get convincing information on a number of food articles, which this product ‘is free of substance x or substance y’. Through our phones, televisions, PCs and other media, we come across a number of ads promoting a given product while hailing a number of praises on its value nutritionally. However, we’ll learn that all these are cheap propaganda to lure as into buying of these products. Sometimes, they go to an extent of perpetuating fatness as a sense of fullness and health while viewing thinness as a sign of dissatisfaction. To some extent, they manage to achieve their goal of luring us into the stores for their products while giving us an abstractive thought of regarding their products as ‘safe for consumption’. Therefore, media around us has succeeded in brainwashing us towards consumption of unhealthy food.
Just the other day, while traveling for a vacation with my family members, I had a better ordeal that I feel like sharing. Along the way, we stopped to pick some foodstuff and snacks. While in the shop, I filled my trolley a lot of sugary, fatty and high-calorie snacks. At the counter, I met a guy who told me, “put life on your trolley, and avoid picking a number of time-bombs that would explode your future.” I went out while in deep thought of what the guy told me. Upon asking my dad, I realized that the guy was just telling me how I stood a danger of living a wasted life because of taking in a lot of high calories, fatty and sugary foods and snacks. A lot of studies have been done to establish the risks associated with such kinds of food (Obesity in America, 21). Due to the intake of a lot of this high calorie, sugary and fatty food, a number of youths have crossed the line into the risk area.
Stress is another factor that has led to the development of poor habits among the teenagers and the youths. A number of youths are becoming mindless of their eating behaviors due to stress that’s often caused by a number of issues; academic pressure, family problems, friends and struggle with esteem among other factors. In US, the stress level among the youth is epidemic amongst the youth, leading them into a stress-eating habit as a way of forgetting the issue. Personally speaking, I eat a lot of food when in a stressed situation, for example while studying in preparation for my end semester exams. It’s quite clear that eating of fast food is perceived to have a contribution in diverting the stressing issue. But once a philosopher said that if you are living a stress-free life, evaluate your life because there is something wrong. Does that now mean that every stressing situation should lead us to the stores for something to munch and counter stress? Otherwise, this would and have led us to obesity. Research show that a large population in America, whenever they experience the stress at any level, they would respond by overeating unhealthy foods (Albers, X).
The societal input has also led to the development of the poor eating habit among the youths and the teens. Society in this context could cut across the family we have, the peer around us and our role models. A number of the youth will agree with me that we have been raised in a generation where snacks have become a compulsory meal of the day. Often, even if am in the middle of my assignments, it would ring in my mind that it’s four o’clock, and therefore I should take some snacks. I didn’t develop this habit on my own, but it was instilled in me by my parents who would always give me a pack of snack at every four o’clock. Therefore, I have grown into the habit that at four its snack time, even if it’s just some hours after my late lunch. This has led to a number of overweight cases amongst the youths. Moreover, our peer also plays a role in the development of our eating habits (Albers, XI). How many times do you eat on your way home just because your friend wanted to eat? Of course, it’s on several occasions. It happens when you are just eating to give your friends company in their mealtime. Lastly, our role models can also help the poor eating habit grow in us. Since you want to be like him/her, you have no choice rather than copying all he/she is doing. Maybe she is that type of role model who can storm a store after every one hour for a snack. Therefore, you get deceived that that’s the way for you to copy him successfully/her. At the end of the day, there you grow fatter and obese.
2. Managing your diet through conscious eating
As much as old habits take a longer time to die off, but it is possible to achieve a mindful or conscious eating after several stages. Being a journey, you may have to go through a number of tough challenges along the way. However, when you are zealous of attaining a healthier and conscious eating habits, nothing will stand in your way. Successfully you will manage to keep away some of the diseases such as stroke, high blood pressure, and hypertension among others. In addition, healthy eating will help you feel more energetic and healthier. With time, these healthier habits shall become part of you. Therefore, in order to achieve a healthy eating, you should be guided by a four-stage strategy geared towards behavior change; 1. Contemplation; 2.Preparation; 3.The action and; 4.Maintenance (Changing your Habits, 2).

Contemplation.

In the contemplation stage, the first action is that of thinking of the change plan to adopt. For example, it could be taking the four o’clock snack or reducing intake of fatty, sugary and high-calorie foods. You’ll have to evaluate the pros/benefits of the action against its cons. When the benefits of the action overweigh the cons, then it’s worth adopting. However, it is not advised to do a complete withdrawal. The process should be gradual. The contemplation stage is the foundation stage and more critical since the entire process shall be based on the decision you made vis-a-vis what you wanted to achieve. Therefore take your time to contemplate.

Preparation

After taking your time to contemplate the pros vs. the cons of the actions you are to take, you need to prepare before proceeding to the action stage. From your list of the pros against the cons, come up with a workable plan that will successfully help you achieve your goals for the action. It is at this time you try to identify some of the factors that would hinder you from success in your intervention. Such factors could be time, the cost of the action, support, attitude and lack of motivation. Therefore, try as much as possible to identify and evaluate possible solutions to the problems that would come your way. Therefore, you should be motivated by a number of things such as reasons and benefits of staying healthy such as longer life, improved productivity, etc.

Action

This is the implementation stage of the whole thing you have been planning for. Therefore, stay put to your targeted habits such as reducing intake of sugary food as much as possible or scrapping off the mid-morning and evening snacks. In order to overcome your challenges, it is always good to reward yourself after every target achieved. However, be cautious since rewarding can also take you to another problem. It’s always good to track your activities by use of a log or a diet journal. By using such tools, you’ll be able to spot areas that need improvement. In the tool, it’s also good to record what you felt while doing the activity. Moreover, it’s also advisable to seek help from a close friend or a family member as this stage is normally demanding and quite challenging.

Maintenance

Congratulations to you have successfully made it to the last stage. Now that healthy eating has become your habit, do you know that you are supposed to stay there possibly for the rest of your life? If you know, what are you going to do in order to keep up the routine? Such questions should always lead you to sticking to the activity. First, it’s advised to mix your routine with new activities that would help. For example, bring in new healthier foods, rewards, and recipes, visit many physical activity specialists on how to keep fit. In order to tackle any unforeseen setback, you are therefore advised to plan ahead. For example find alternatives for staying fit even when the weather is bad (probably it’s raining outside). Additionally, think of possible ways of eating healthy even if you have traveled. Lastly, revisit your goals and challenges them by seeing how to expand them. Such small changes in you already achieved goals can lead to even healthier eating habits.
In conclusion, when you are mindful or conscious of your diet it simply means that you are fully on the track to a healthier life without any judgment. Such consciousness will help will help your greatly in achieving a raised productivity, as well as the lengthy life of better quality. As much as many challenges will stand in your way, what matters is what you are after and, therefore, work round the clock to achieve it and enjoy its end results. Conscious eating habits will help you substantially to break free from the normal eating routine by gauging your feelings, thoughts and other pressures that could lead to unhealthy eating habits (Fabens, 38).

Works Cited

Albers, Susan. Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating & Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with Food. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2012. Print.
Bedno, Sheryl A., M.C.U.S.A., et al. "Association of Weight at Enlistment with Enrollment in the Army Weight Control Program and Subsequent Attrition in the Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength Study." Military medicine 175.3 (2010): 188-93.ProQuest. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
Brownell, Kelly D, and Katherine B. Horgen. Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America's Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 2004. Print.
Changing Your Habits: Steps to Better Health. Bethesda, Md.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2008. Internet resource.
Fabens, Isabella. Obesity Trends and Nutrition Laws in Latin America. Washington: The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 2013.ProQuest. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
Obesity in America: A National Crisis. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 2011. Internet resource.