Introduction
As of today, obesity is a serious disease that struck many people around the world. According to ObestyinAmerica.org “Obesity – an excessive amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass or a body weight that is 30 percent over the ideal weight for a specified height; BMI (body mass index) of 30 or greater”. Obesity is a chronic disease that affects many people and often requires long-term treatment to promote and sustain weight loss. People with obesity or overweight are most susceptible to type II diabetes. Also, such people are more prone to heart diseases. It leads to sad statistics as such people often suffer from congestive heart failure, heart attack, sudden cardiac death, angina, and heart rhythm disturbances. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing high blood pressure. Overweight and obesity are caused by high blood pressure. High blood pressure, also called hypertension, can lead to heart attack, kidney failure or stroke.
Micro Level: the Personality, Emotions, Beliefs, Behaviors, Goals Interests, Mental Health, Strengths and Weaknesses
Tracy lives with her husband and two children (16 months and 2.5 years) and works at home. Most of her time is spent looking after the children and working, she has a family history of diabetes and she is worried about having diabetes. She knows how this condition may affect her husband and children. As a homemaker she is fully engaged in food preparation and drawing up the menu, and she admits that at the moment she tends to buy more convenience foods, as well as the family menu lacks fresh fruit and vegetables, and most of the food is roasted. Tracie’s measurements are: waist circumference 100 cm; weight 99 kg; blood pressure (BP) 145/88 mmHg; height 169 cm; BMI of 34.66 kg/m2 (Obesity). Tracy’s idea of the situation with her health is next: putting on weight after pregnancy is a usual situation in women’s life, especially as it comes from genetics, but it was not just because of it. I think there would be many benefits of trying to lose weight at the moment. At the moment it is hard both to care after two little children and to do addition physical activity due to fatigue. I know that weight is an important factor in healthy life and in developing of diabetes, but I do not feel enough strenght in myself to change something at the moment. In addition, there are genetic influences, such as genetic predisposition or stress caused by leaving the work (Williams & Fruhbeck, 2009).
Tracy has a stress when she realizes her weight and difficulty in choosing the size of clothing. Tracie’s decision to lose weight will have a positive impact on her self-esteem, she will be more active. The reduction of her body mass will lower her BP and will bring the level of glucose in the blood back to normal, which is a guarantee of diabetes risk reduction.
When exploring the issue of weight loss it is t necessary to ask yourself a number of questions first: why would Tracy actually want to lose weight? Is it a desire to prove something to oneself or to friends, change jobs or wardrobe, to draw attention? After all, specific goals or losing weight in kg or clothing sizes is just a goal, by the way, achievable. What will motivate a peson for further activity after reaching that point, what will motivate him/her for further activity? (Williams & Fruhbeck, 2009)
Just having a desire is not ehough. In this case, Tracy sees a need to reduce weight, but takes no action. The most long-term motivation is health. Especially in the case of Tracy, when she has a genetic predisposition and relatives with diabetes. Initially, health is given to a peson from birth and Tracy does not value it.
A healthy body gives us a sense of joy, allows us to enjoy life, to see, to hear, to move, and that is priceless. It is important to remember that any serious disease develops gradually (Obesity.org, 2011). Loosing weight is not as easy as loosing money. In order to lose weight one has to change the habits that have lead to obesity (Obesity.org, 2011).
As mentioned above, Tracy understands the need to reduce weight, but a certain trait of character like postponing hinders her to take an action. She needs to stop thinking about it and start acting. Tracy also reacts to all sorts of restrictions and limitations very painfully. Therefore, from a psychological point of view ban is a kind of punishment, which also provokes stress. A person should be rewarded for a correct action. Practice shows that if the person sets installation like "Now I do physical exercise or go to the gym, and then I let myself eat something", thus, it subsequently reduces the desire to reward oneself with something sweet and unhealthy after a workout.
Mezzo Level: Family, Peer Groups, Social Groups, Sports Groups, or Any Other Small Groups in Which They are Involved
Tracy all the time stays at home. Her main clothest environment is her husband and children. Previously, Tracy went to work, but after the birth of a child she was forced start working at home. Before the birth of the child she gained weight. The problem of the weight excess is caused not only by the birth of a child. During the last three years she gained so much weight that now it is characterized as obesity. Due to this fact she felt anxiety and depression, which caused the body to seek protection. Tracy eats chocolate, cakes, candies as a way to enhance the mood and feel sorry for herself. She needs to be able to see a difference between a moral hunger and physiological hunger.
Her husband plays here a huge role. Tracy worries too much that her husband will leave her if she does not lose weight. As a rule, loving husbands are usually loyal to their wives. If the wife is afraid that her husband leaves her because of her pounds, Tracy should look for the causes in their relationship. In this case, family support and above all the support of her husband play an important role in her life (Williams & Fruhbeck, 2009). After all, a man must understand the consequences his treatment has on her. When a woman is constantly caring for children, husband, house, and with all this routine work, she needs more support and attention from her husband. The husband needs totalk to his wife and to give her free time to take care of herself, while husband should do some household chores or invite a nanny to care for the child from time to time. In this situation, the main thing is let the woman feel that she is loved and give her an opportunity to care about her health. Here, Tracy realizes that her condition affects her husband and in the future will affect the children. After all, a woman's health is the health of the family.
If the husband does not believe in her success in losing weight, Tracy should remember that her health is with her for the rest of life. Tracy must find strength not only to refuse to have a bad meal and engage in physical activity, but also to explain her position to loved ones. If healthy food and physical activity become her way of life, a loving husband takes it with respect. Hence, the results will be her arguments for it. Tracy should begin to deal with her health even without her husband’s support.
Depression is also characterized by the fact that she has nothing to do. Therefore, constant thoughts about food increase appetite (Williams &Fruhbeck, 2009). This state is called over-eating caused by boredom. Constant and repetitive duties around the houseend up with a desire to sit on the couch and drink tea with candy. Tracy needs to find something interesting to do like a book, a walk in the fresh air, crafts or any other fascinating hobby.
Macro Level: Elements of Diversity that May Have Played a Part in The Problem They Face in Life
There are a lot of reasons why obesity became that widespread in the world. According to studies made in this field, factors that lead to the obesity and overweight are a reduced number of physiological activities in addition to extensive popularization of electric devices that contribute to the dissemination of a sedentary lifestyle, especially among children; high-calorie foods packaged in a convenient form became widespread; abundance of food, and its low cost; the number of restaurants that offer fast food has markedly increased (Young and Nestle, 2002). Another factor that greatly influences the prevalence of obesity and overweightness among the population is the size of the food serving.
Recently there was a study on the food portions size conducted. It has been observed that these portions have significantly increased. This comparison was made in accordance with the FDS and USDA standards (Young & Nestle, 2002).
Also, portions that manufacturers produced ten or more years ago and today were compared. Now double gulps and supersized meals are highly widespread. They use bigger portions as the main selling position. Large portions are widely introduced into people’s lives not only by producers of packaged food, but also often advertised and styling by all types of restaurants. Such advertisements are often seen on placemats and other attributes that are usually used during eating process. In addition, larger equipment for food, such as dinner plates, pizza pans, muffin tins cups and containers for fry, is produced (Block, Scribner & DeSalvo, 2004). In addition, increasing the size of equipment for food increases the portion sizes of drinks.
From the point of view of management, almost everyone thinks that the same large packages to entice interest to the new products (Young & Nestle, 2002). In addition, there is an importance to produce larger portions in order to save money (Young & Nestle, 2002). Currently, visitors are willing to get more food for their money; therefore, they always choose restaurants based on the amount of servings that they do offer. Customers have a sense that they receive a discount by paying less and getting a larger portion. In the end, visitors pay money to eat abnormally huge portions of food and drinks, which leads to obesity.
Tracy always has a feeling that the unhealthy food accompanies her wherever she is. Sweets and unhealthy food are located everywhere: supermarkets have an abundancy of them, such products are always available at gas stations and even post offices offer them to their visitors. In addition, Tracy said that the store is only a 15-minute walk from her home, but she had never walked there.
Vehicles are broadly used and many families have several cars. Even in the supermarkets you can take machine cart to drive around a supermarket instead of walking (Block, Scribner & DeSalvo, 2004).
Conclusion
After analyzing the situation in the whole world and in the United States, it is evident that the problem of overweight and obesity has become a huge lack of modern life, progress in technology and the development of a fast food chain. According to the statistics, obesity and overweightness has a great impact on the occurrence, development and exacerbation of serious diseases, as well as affect life expectancy and its quality. Regarding the identity of the person, overweightness negatively affects self-esteem, the character and relationship with the community. In addition, it is an obstacle on the way to achieve personal and career goals. A person in a good shape is able to be more active. Tracy will be able to do a lot more for her family when she becomes healthy and with normal body weight.
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