Lifestyle Change Process

This article discusses the process of making lifestyle changes to achieve a healthy diet and avoid chronic diseases. The author outlines the steps involved, including setting goals and priorities, focusing on specific dietary changes each week, and incorporating exercise and sleep. The article also addresses potential obstacles and risks associated with making these changes.

Running head: LIFESTYLE CHANGE PROCESS 1
Lifestyle Change Process
Name
Institution

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Lifestyle Change Process
One of the behaviors that I could consider health inhibiting is the intake of an unbalanced
diet. I generally do not eat balanced meals and a variety of foods. Eating a balanced diet is the
behavior I choose to work on and bring change in me. I decide to make changes on this behavior
because I am fully aware that unhealthy diet, especially for an extended period, can be a risk
factor for chronic diseases, for instance, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity (Ohlhorst et
al., 2013). It is the most compelling reason why I want to change this behavior, as I do not want
to risk getting such chronic diseases. Another reason is that, if I miss consuming the right
amounts of mineral, vitamins, and proteins that my body requires, my body mass will decrease
predisposing my body to other severe conditions.
The lifestyle process I will take to achieve my desired lifestyle will take various steps. I
understand that this behavior cannot be performed on a single day; therefore, I will set my goals
and priorities first, considering the right time frame. On week one, I will focus on eating a salad
every day by making it convenient and accessible. When I am busy during the day, I will try
eating smart salad shakeups. On the week, two I will focus on preparing a healthy plant-based
recipe at home.
On week three, my focus will be on adding fermented foods on my diet. I will either
make these fermented foods at home or purchase them. On week four, I will focus on improving
my body hydration levels by increasing water and fluids intake. In the morning, I will start with a
glass of water and continue drinking water consistently throughout the day. The proceeding
weeks my focus will be processed foods for whole foods, eating green vegetables, replacing
unhealthy fats oils in my diet with those that are healthier and reduce the intake of sodium. I will

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also focus on cutting out refined sugar in my diet and increasing fiber intake to avoid food
constipation (Mozaffarian, Rosenberg & Uauy, 2018).
One primary goal will be to improve my nutritional and health outcomes. The other
secondary targets will be maintaining my physical fitness by exercising a minimum of 20-30
minutes of at least thrice within a week as recommended by Andersson & Bryngelsson (2007)
and having enough sleep. If I do not make this lifestyle changes, I am likely to develop chronic
diseases as I had mentioned in the first paragraph. The obstacles that am likely to experience
when making a lifestyle change include lack of specifics, problems of time management, eating
disorders, and feelings of failure as well as weigh acceptance.
The personal risks involved when making nutritional change are not that much, but one
of the dangers is sudden change body weight (Spencer, Korosi, Layé, Shukitt & Barrientos,
2017). Others will include time management and financial constraints. The results I foresee are
that I can view myself in the next 12 weeks from now having achieved a healthy diet that is
nutritionally fit for my body. All I can say is that I genuinely value my life at this point life. I
want to be physical, mentally and emotionally fit which is why I believe that what goes in is
what goes out. Am motivated and willing to make a nutritional change through dietary intake.

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References
Andersson, A., & Bryngelsson, S. (2007). Towards a healthy diet: from nutrition
recommendations to dietary advice. Scandinavian Journal of Food and Nutrition, 51(1),
31-40.
Mozaffarian, D., Rosenberg, I., & Uauy, R. (2018). History of modern nutrition science—
implications for current research, dietary guidelines, and food policy. BMJ, k2392. doi:
10.1136/bmj.k2392
Ohlhorst, S., Russell, R., Bier, D., Klurfeld, D., Li, Z., & Mein, J. (2013). Nutrition research to
affect food and a healthy lifespan. Advances in Nutrition, 4(5), 579-584.
Spencer, S., Korosi, A., Layé, S., Shukitt-Hale, B., & Barrientos, R. (2017). Food for thought:
how nutrition impacts cognition and emotion. Npj Science of Food, 1(1).