healthy peoople 2020

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Running head: NUTRITION AND WEIGHT STATUS

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Running head: NUTRITION AND WEIGHT STATUS

Nutrition and Weight Status

Lauren Urquiza

Chamberlain University

NR503 Population Health, Epidemiology, & Statistical Principles

January 2018

Nutrition and Weight Status

Healthy People 2020 is a foundation established by the Health and Human Services Department in 2010. It offers science-based, 10-year national objectives to “promote longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and death by creating social and physical environments that support good health, quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors among all stages of life” (Zimmerman & Snow, 2012).

The topic of interest from Healthy People 2020 that this writer chose to discuss about is nutrition and weight status. This paper will provide an overview of the topic, review epidemiologic and demographic data on mortality/morbidity and risks, present goals and objectives, discuss a program plan including activities and implementation strategies, and conclude with a summary about the importance of the topic.

Overview

Nutrition and weight status are crucial in the health, wellbeing, growth, and development for all individuals. A healthy lifestyle involves many choices, including a balanced diet and engaging in daily physical activity. “The determinants of health approach reflect the evidence from outside factors that greatly affect the health of individual” (Zimmerman & Snow, 2012). For example, the food industry, federal government, sex, genetics, disabilities, income, culture, education, lifestyle, age, and environment are considerations that shape ones food choices and physical activity (Zimmerman and Snow, 2012). These factors impact lives and must be addressed in order for changes to occur.

Mortality/morbidity and Risk

Lifestyle-related chronic diseases are one of the most leading causes of death in the world accounting for over 60% (Bell, Johnson, Desbrow, & Leveritt, 2013). Chronic diseases are preventable. In the United States, seven out of ten deaths are caused by chronic illnesses, for example obesity, malnutrition, cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, oral disease, and some cancers. Approximately half of all Americans have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many of which are associated to poor diet and lack of daily physical activity. More than two-thirds of adults and about one-third of children are obese (Dietary guidelines for americans 2015-2020, 2015).

Goals and Objectives

The goal of a healthy lifestyle is to promote wellbeing by reducing the risk of diseases. Choosing to eat healthier foods and maintaining an ideal body weight is one way. Healthier food choices and healthier weights involve increasing household discipline by modifying habits and behavior patterns. By implementing policies and strict environments within different settings in the community, such as schools, workplaces, and at home will support healthier choices (Nutrition and weight status, 2014). Some objectives provided by Healthy People 2020 include, “increasing the proportion of schools that offer nutritious meals outside of school meals, increase the amount of primary care physicians who measure body mass index as well as including counseling and education related to nutrition and weight, and increase the consumption of vegetables and decrease the amount of calories from fats and sugars in children diets” (Zimmerman & Snow, 2012).

Plan

By increasing community programs that offer motivation and support for healthy lifestyle choices, individuals will learn better-balanced eating habits and improve their overall health. Eating habits and activity habits are learned at a young age. A program plan introducing healthier foods and beverages, such as fruits and vegetables provided by schools will reduce the rate of obesity. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) for example, is a federally supported program that provides cost effective, nutritious meals to school aged children. “Community schools receive 100% American grown USDA foods including fruits and vegetables” (United States Department of Agriculture, 2016). Establishing eating habits and activity habits early in life is more effective and less challenging to intervene early on than to treat later in life.

Conclusion

Nutritional wellbeing is very important in the prevention of chronic diseases and management of a healthy lifestyle. It is essential to educate the community on how to make healthy and nutritional choices and implement changes to decrease the obesity rate. It is necessary to maintain a healthy body weight by incorporating a well balanced diet and daily physical activity in order to sustain health, wellbeing, growth, and development for all individuals.

Reference

Bell, L., Johnson, C., Desbrow, B., & Leveritt, M. (2013). General practitioners can offer effective nutrition care to patients with lifestyle-related chronic disease. Journal of Primary Health Care, 5(1), 59-69.

Dietary guidelines for americans 2015-2020. (2015). Retrieved from http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/resources/2015-2020_Dietary_Guidelines.pdf

Nutrition and weight status. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics- objectives/topic/nutrition-and-weight-status

United States Department of Agriculture. (2016). National school lunch program (NSLP). Retrieved from http://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp

Zimmerman, M., & Snow, B. (2012). An introduction to nutrition. Retrieved from http://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/an-introduction-to-nutrition.