WK1 A1

National University

Behavioral Health Assignment

Introduction

The chosen health behavior consists of reducing saturated fat consumption in hopes to decrease risk of heart disease. According to Centers for Disease Control (2011), there are about 71 million Americans (33.5%) that have high bad cholesterol also known as low-density lipoproteins. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is known as the “bad” cholesterol because it can cause a build up from plaque in the arterial walls. Having high blood pressure as well can contribute to an increased risk of heart disease. Although there are no physical symptoms to determine if a person has high cholesterol, testing is the only way to check it (CDC, 2011). According to The National Cholesterol Education program, getting checked every five years allows a person to find abnormalities in their cholesterol for necessary prevention and treatment (CDC, 2011).

Baseline and Experience

According to American Heart Association (2016), no more than 120 saturated fat calories should be consumed in a 2,000-calorie diet. My current baseline on saturated fat intake averages to about 224 saturated fat calories, which is well over the recommended target value provided by American Heart Association. My normal breakfast includes a plain or raisin bagel with full-fat cream cheese and a cup of coffee. Occasionally, my husband will make bacon and eggs for our daughters and I will put this on my bagel. For lunch, I usually go out to eat with my coworkers. On site there is a Pei Wei, Subway, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Quidoba, and Einstein Bagel. We usually take turns choosing a place to eat. In the afternoon, I usually munch on trail mix or a bag of potato chips and a soda or coffee (afternoon caffeine!). For dinner, I usually make some sort of meat (chicken, pork, or beef), with a starch (baked potato), and a vegetable. Many times, however, my husband and I are running late, and the kids have sport practice so we will grab take-out on the way home.

Previously, I have attempted to reduce my saturated fat, but the number calories has remained constant (between 200 and 250) during the past few years. My eating habits have been the same as above with the exception of earlier this year when my husband and I tried to change our diet and hired a personal trainer. It was too difficult to keep this going and within a month we had reverted back to our old behavior.

Going forward, I would like to reduce my consumption of saturated fat from 224 calories (current baseline) to 150 calories within the next 3 months. My experience in reducing saturated fat intake has failed to the point where I need to make adjustments to my diet because of overconsumption. Although fat intake has not been successful for me to reducing my consumption amount, I have learned about ways to reduce added saturated fat in meals. This consists of cutting off the skin of poultry and shedding any and all fat.

Conclusion

I am a bit reluctant in changing this behavior because I find it tough to determine how much fat is added to a meal that isn’t cooked on my own. In terms of implementing this change at home, I am confident that I can utilize more fish products as our source of protein instead of the usual beef, pork, and chicken. My confidence is increased because I am in charge of the shopping for meals, as well as most of the meal preparation. I have time on Sunday afternoons to prepare ahead of time for my lunches and snacks while at work.

I am less confident, however, in making this change and sticking to my behavior change plan when I am eating at restaurants, delis, or bars. Many meals during the week are consumed outside of my home, particularly when I meet friends for Happy Hour after work. I try to meet with friends at least twice a week, and we have a few glasses of wine as well as appetizers. Unfortunately, the appetizers on special are usually high in saturated fat such as spinach and artichoke dip, nachos, sliders, and French fries. I do not want to give up the time I spend with friends, so I will have to find ways to make this change and still be able to meet with them.

These meals that are consumed out of the home will have to result in choosing less saturated fat options in restaurants, if available. Less saturated fat options could be determined by how the meal is prepared as well as what toppings are included and if additional fat can be removed from the protein (e.g., cooked in butter, fried, etc.). This has become a bit easier since restaurants have begun to provide lighter (lower calorie) menu options as well as accessible nutrition information for the meals that they offer. I am confident that I can read nutrition labels and choose options lower in saturated fats.

In addition, reducing overall saturated fat consumption from eating beef, pork, and chicken three meals a day to only one meal a day, and increasing vegetable and fish intake while avoiding pork will help decrease any risk of cardiovascular disease.  Overall, this reduction and other changes mentioned above will help me to decrease my average saturated fat intake from 224 calories to 150 saturated fat calories.

References

American Heart Association. (2016). Saturated Fats. Retrieved from

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/Healthy

Eating/Nutrition/Saturated-Fats_UCM_301110_Article.jsp#.WHbVbGQrJsM

Centers for Disease Control. Vital signs: prevalence, treatment, and control of high levels of low-

density lipoprotein cholesterol. United States, 1999–2002 and 2005–2008. MMWR.

2011; 60(4): 109–14.

Centers for Disease Control. (2011). Cholesterol Fact Sheet. [PDF document]. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets

/docs/fs_cholesterol.pdf