The problem of the health of society is very actual in terms of its survival. It is very important to call attention to this issue as the survival of humanity depends on it. With the development of technologies and civilization people, however, have more and more problems with their health. It is the price of development of our civilization.
Health problems are connected with worsen environment and conditions of life. One of the most important issues which influence greatly the health of people is food. Modern age can be characterized as the era of harmful products. Fast food, sweets, and chemical additives ruin the health of a person.
That is why there is a great number of people suffering from diseases caused by overweight. If things continue to develop in this way in Australia by 2025 close to 80% of people living in this country, including a third of children will suffer from overweight and have serious problems with their health (Obesity in Australia n.d).
That is why it is vital to direct all forces to the investigation of this problem and try to find a solution to it. Healthy eating obtains main priority. Obesity influences all spheres of a persons life. It deals not only with health problems.
Overweight makes the social life of people more difficult, influencing peoples communication with other members of society, making it more complicated. Persons environment also changes, making him isolated. That is why this issue is one of the most important nowadays, which should be studied and analyzed.
On the current stage, people have already recognized its significance and try to create some ways to deal with it. However, there some problems connected with it, as not all people suffering from overweight recognize their problem and want to do something to get rid of it.
The great significance of this problem can be demonstrated by some disappointing facts. First of all, it should be said that the series of Australian surveys demonstrate that in near future obesity will be prevalent among children and adults (Haby & Markwick 2008). Increase of BMI (body mass index) is a troubling sign which signalizes people about their problems. It is not just a question of their appearance.
It is very important because a great number of deaths is connected to this issue. “In 2009, the standardized death rate for obesity was 0.9 per 100,000 of population, an increase from 0.6 per 100,000 population in 2000.” (Obesity (E66) n.d., para. 2). As can be seen from the data, mortality rate raises, while several obese people raises too. However, this problem is actual not only for Australia. People all over the world suffer from the problem of overweight.
Since 1980 the worldwide rate of obese people doubled, and over 200 million men and 300 million women all over the world suffer from this problem (Obesity Trends n.d). This problem can cause such health problems as heart attack, diabetes, and even cancer (Health risks n.d). It worsens the quality of life of a person and reduces its length. That is why, under such conditions, it is impossible to ignore it. Issue of healthy eating should be of main priority.
Its application can guarantee a decrease of a number of problems connected with overweight and thereby improve the quality of life of a great number of people. Of course, the application of this issue will not guarantee immediate results.
People who suffer from overweight should keep in mind the main aspects of healthy eating for the rest of their life to deal with their problem and try to decrease their BMI. Moreover, food producers should also be informed about this problem and forced to attempt to make their production healthier, refusing to add some harmful agents into their composition.
The social determinant is one of the most important factors which has its influence on the issue of healthy eating. It is an obvious fact that obese people very often become isolated in society, suffering from inconveniences connected with their weight and size. Moreover, social stereotypes appreciate slim figures despite the tendency to increase in weight. Very often, obese people can suffer from mockeries and derisions.
Trying to decrease their weight by themselves, they can keep to a diet which can be ruined for their health. That is why healthy eating is very important for the social life of a person and society in the whole, providing important information about food and ways to watch weight.
Another important factor is the biological determinant. Overweight influences all aspects of the life of a person causing a change in work of the organism, is the reason for great changes in its state and balance. Problems with health obtain a very serious character as obesity changes the work of certain organs. That is why healthy eating is very important for biological balance of a body, supplying it with useful elements and minerals to guarantee its functioning and healthy state.
The environmental determinant is also of great importance. Changes in the state of the environment, pollution of soil, air, and water undermined quality of all products. This fact has a great influence on people and their health. In this terms, knowledge in the sphere of healthy eating can help to distinguish useful and harmful food and determine the level of food pollution.
Moreover, it can provide inferring of harmful agents who are already in the body, suggesting some products which can help to do it. With this in mind, it can be said that environmental, biological, and social determinants influence the issue of healthy eating.
Of course, there is a great number of different methods which main aim is to provide healthy eating and try to help people. The first method consists of using electronic dietary recording system (Chung 2014). With the development of mobile devices, new abilities become available. It is possible now to use mobile phones to control the diet of a person and record information about food and amount of calories he consumes.
This method is based on self-control combined with some program. Combination of these two factors shows good results. Self-control can help to develop motivation for losing weight, while dietary recording system can signalize that limit is achieved, and there is no reason in consuming some extra calories. Advantage of this method is that it is very easy to realize and implicate it as in modern age everyone has its mobile device.
Another method is not very new, and it is not based on achievements of a technological revolution. It centers around portion seizes and eating occasions. Portion sizes were one of the main reason for the increase of obesity (Bell 2012). However, nowadays, another problem is introduced. It is connected with the frequency of meals.
The main issue of this method is to inform people about the bad influence which big portions have on their organism. While eating them, people consume more calories than they need. That is why it is important to reduce the size of portions at the same time increasing the number of meals, for our body to be able to overcook and assimilate all elements. However, this number should not also be very big.
Having analyzed above-mentioned information, it is possible to say that the issue of healthy eating is very actual nowadays and it is vital to investigate it.
References
Bell, J. 2012, ‘Science-based strategies for healthy eating’ Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences, vol. 2, no. 5, pp.109-112. doi: 10.4172/2155-9600.1000e109
Chung, L. 2014, ‘New approach in nutrition education: Electronic dietary recording and self-monitoring’ Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences, vol. 4, no. 5, p. 70. Web.
Haby, M & Markwick, A. 2008, Future prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australian children and adolescents, 2005-2025. Web.
Health Obesity Trends n.d. Web.
Health risks n.d. Web.
Obesity (E66) n.d. Web.
Obesity in Australia n.d. Web.
After analysis of given data it became obvious that the issue of healthy eating is one of the most important questions of our age. Facts, which serve as evidences cannot be denied. Humanity is constantly gaining weight and this process can even be called epidemic. With this in mind, it was very informative to get to know about some peculiarities of this process.
The most interesting piece of information is connected with methods to introduce healthy eating and help people to improve their health. Healthy eating issue is very important now, as size of portions and number of meals are parts of it. Social determinants of healthy eating and problems with overweight seem to be the most striking and informative. It is possible to take them into account while facing this problem in real world.
Moreover, some health problems connected with unhealthy eating should also be remembered as they influence greatly quality of our life and its length. That is why decision to control own weight and attempt to adhere to principles of healthy eating were made. Gathering information and looking through sources, it became obvious that it is easier to prevent appearing of problems connected with unhealthy eating than to solve them.