National University
Cognitive Elements Assignment
Past and Current Cognitive Thinking
My chosen behavior consists decrease saturated fat intake. I think that this behavior would benefit me profoundly as cardiovascular disease is a common disease that runs in my family. If the consumption of saturated fat is replaced with more vegetables and fish then I can change my current risk of CVD to lower numbers of risk (American Heart Association [AHA], 2016). I have thought about changing this behavior in the past. I am victim of the “New Year’s Resolution” curse. Each year, I plan to change my diet, but unfortunately either I do not start the change, or the change only lasts a few weeks or a few months. This past year, my husband and I made major changes to our diets and even hired a personal trainer and nutritionist.. After a few months, these behaviors became too difficult to maintain with work, school, and family. It was also very expensive.
Currently, I believe that the American diets consist of many meat-based products with larger amounts of portions that need to be modified for better health. I have been accustomed to this particular way of life and need to find a balance where copious amounts of meat don’t fit my normal routine. I did not give CVD any thought until I was informed of the risk factors concerning meat consumption and its direct link with it until recently. For instance, after the age of 60, women surpass men in prevalence of CVD (AHA, 2016). In addition, as an African-American, I am at a higher risk of CVD than other races and ethnicities (AHA, 2016). I hope to bring more change to my diet in this behavior health assignment because it is a future I may have if adjustments are not made.
Expectations, Beliefs, Knowledge and Values
One of my expectations while implementing this behavior would be overcoming obstacles. It would be similar to changing a habit of eating pork often to reducing consumption of saturated fat significantly. Other expectations include me slowly, but progressively fulfilling the change hopefully permanently.
I believe that saturated fats are bad fats, however, I also believe that they taste really, really good. Usually fried foods and other good tasting food includes saturated fat. I tend to enjoy these types of foods. I also believe that I am at risk for CVD since it runs in my family, and therefore, I need to make changes to my diet.
I know that CVD is a serious disease, and than I am at risk for it. Not only is my lifestyle a factor, but also heredity, age, and biological sex (Glanz et al., 2015). I cannot change the latter, but I am able to modify the former. This is what I know about my behaviors and lifestyle.
I value my health, and a value my family. I want to be healthy and able to do the things that I like to do such as hike, travel, and play with my children. I also really love my family. I have an amazing husband, and two beautiful daughters. They are my life, and I do not want to leave them too early by having a heart attack or other problems associated with heart disease.
Challenging Current Cognitions
My current cognition on how I eat is not usually mindful. I eat mindlessly because of various reasons such as availability and distractions such as television and the Internet (especially Facebook and blogs). I need to challenge my mind to be more aware of the items I put in my mouth and by being consciously aware I can pick and choose how much I eat and what I eat.
Restructuring Cognitions
My thoughts are very negative when I think about making changes and adjusting. I can begin and start a new diet however. Unfortunately, sticking with the behavior for a long period of time is the difficult part. I can say that even though I am unlikely to maintain a constant (daily) behavior change, I can try to implement the behavior a couple of times a week, or even for a least one meal per day. I can restructure my thoughts on this behavior by implementing a permanent change in the household meal plans. Getting everyone on board for the reason of my behavior change will not only get everyone else involved, it will be imbedded in my mind the more that I mention it. In addition, I can put a limit on the number of times we eat at restaurants or take out during the week. Currently, we are eating out at least 5 times a week. I can reduce this to 3 at first, and then 2. I believe that I can start rethinking or restructuring how I view eating out. Right now I view it as a necessary part of my week in order to keep things moving in my house. I also see eating as something that is less important to other things like school and work. I can start thinking about eating as being important, and I can plan time for it as I plan time for other things. I can also start thinking about food and eating out as something that costs money. I can save our family a lot of money by making food at home. This will give us more money to do the things that we love.
Confidence and Conclusion
My confidence in this behavior change is going to be 50% chance of change as I begin the journey to implement this behavior. I think that the best way for me to implement this behavior change would be to begin at home where most of my meals are consumed. In order for me to be successful in this change I would have to make sure that I am cooking and preparing meals that are friendly to this transformation. I think it will be tough to maintain the same diet without certain meats and that I will be encountering various obstacles. I will have times where I will relapse to my old habits however, finding the motivation and understanding to remain constant in this behavior change.
Reference
American Heart Association. (2016). Saturated Fats. Retrieved from
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/Healthy
Eating/Nutrition/Saturated-Fats_UCM_301110_Article.jsp#.WHbVbGQrJsM
Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K., & Viswanath, K. (Eds.). (2015).
Health behavior: Theory, research,
and practice (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons