Introduction
Inspiring patients to adhere to medical advice can be a complex task. The current paper examined the goals provided for three patients: a 62-year-old man seeking weight loss, a 77-year-old wanting to maintain her weight and an 11-year-old boy with food aversions. It is argued that by constructing patient-centered SMART goals, medical providers will quickly assess the results, and the changes will be organic to the person requiring the intervention.
Background
Client A’s goals are to stop eating fatty foods, eat a bowl of vegetables at dinner, and eat more fiber. The first goal is not specific to his lifestyle, as his selected diet is a version of keto, which implies large quantities of fat. Furthermore, the first and last goals cannot be objectively measured as the term “fatty foods” does not directly explain, and eating more fiber cannot be traced without the person having a diary with nutritional information. The objectives are not achievable as the client has had a history of working with a dietitian and has basic nutritional knowledge. Yet, these factors did not improve his well-being. A timeline of a month can, indeed, be attributed to the aims.
Client B is a 77-year-old woman whose goals include daily exercise, eating more calcium-rich foods, and having more calories at lunch. The objectives cannot be objectively measured besides the daily exercise. The goals would be achievable, yet due to their non-measurable formulation, the person in question will struggle to make changes. They are, however, in line with long-term advantages as they correlate with the patient’s preferences and desires. Under the aforementioned circumstances, a one-month timeline could be applied under the aforementioned circumstances.
Last but not least, Client C is an 11-year-old boy with a limited palette of foods and aversions to textures. His goals include writing down meals at lunch, trying more products, and eating breakfast. The objectives above do not fully align with the boy’s life as he has yet to be consecutive and organized in his nutrition, especially when writing down lunches. The measurable goal is writing down meals and eating breakfasts. The objectives are not achievable due to the effort required for the 11-year-old. Nonetheless, they are relevant to his long-term health. A one-month timeline can, technically, be employed for the aims.
Revised Goals
The SMART goal theory implies five characteristics. An objective is to be specific to one’s life, measurable, achievable, realistic, and have an associated timeline (White et al., 2020). For Client A, it is essential to consider that saturated and trans fats have been linked to high cholesterol (Schoeneck & Iggman, 2021).
Hence, the first goal would be to reduce saturated fat to 10g per day by incorporating lean meats and substituting unhealthy products with healthy fats to minimize the elevated cholesterol within the next month. An updated version of the second aim would be to have half of the dinner plate full of fresh, steamed, or air-fried vegetables every evening for the following 30 days. Consumption of vegetables has been linked to decreased weight (Wan et al., 2023).
Last but not least, specific products will be recommended to increase fiber. Namely, the goal is to incorporate three high-fiber products every day, either as a snack or in a meal, for the following month to reduce cholesterol absorption. The individual is to obtain a list of products high in fiber, such as split peas, beans, whole-wheat spaghetti, chia seeds, and green peas (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Three are to be prioritized for implementation into nutritional intake.
For client B, the goal of exercising daily can be formulated more specifically. Brisk walking is recommended to improve bone health (NIH, 2023b). Hence, the aim is to go on 30-minute daily walks daily to improve fitness and well-being for the next month. To increase calcium intake, the goal would be to incorporate five sources of calcium for the table with the highest calcium-containing ingredients, including soy and cow milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu, and salmon (NIH, 2023a). For more calories, for the women in question not to have to count them, it is recommended that a snack incorporating nuts and seeds is included after every lunch for the following month, as nuts provide a high energy content.
Client’s C goal to write down every lunch can be simplified. Every day for the next month, he is to take a picture of his lunch at school to determine his food intake and behaviors. The second goal can be formulated as selecting five products that the client has never tried before every week and doing a taste test to generate a more diverse nutritional pattern while giving him the option to choose the products. Incorporating a daily breakfast is an attainable goal. To simplify and make it more quantifiable, the individual is to have fortified cereal of his choice every morning for the next month to increase his energy while having a convenient way to consume calories.
Conclusion
Smart goals can change the habits and behaviors of the three patients mentioned previously. Despite the differences in needs, namely, a decrease in fats and calories, the need for more energy, and the desire to diversify nutritional intake, formulating objectives is an essential first step in achieving them. The aforementioned set aims were constructed with the individuals’ lifestyles and possibilities in mind to ensure that the rules can easily be employed and followed.
References
Mayo Clinic. (2021). How much fiber is found in common foods? Web.
NIH. (2023a). Office of dietary supplements – Calcium. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Web.
NIH. (2023b). Exercise for your bone health. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Web.
Schoeneck, M., & Iggman, D. (2021). The effects of foods on LDL cholesterol levels: A systematic review of the accumulated evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 31(5), 1325–1338. Web.
Wan, Y., Tobias, D. K., Dennis, K. K., Guasch-Ferré, M., Sun, Q., Rimm, E. B., Hu, F. B., Ludwig, D. S., Devinsky, O., & Willett, W. C. (2023). Association between changes in carbohydrate intake and long-term weight changes: Prospective cohort study. BMJ. Web.
White, N. D., Bautista, V., Lenz, T., & Cosimano, A. (2020). Using the SMART- est goals in Lifestyle Medicine Prescription. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 14(3), 271–273. Web.