This paper will describe how unhealthy eating habits can increase the risk of chronic
diseases that can be avoidable. My group public health goal is to improve healthier eating habits
in New York City. Maintaining a healthy diet is an important factor of our health and wellbeing.
It also provides our bodies with energy, regulates our body weight, boost our immune system,
more importantly wards off serious illnesses. Some of the major diseases that contributes to poor
nutrition is diabetes, obesity, in addition to high cholesterol. One of the goals of the New York
City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Take Care New York 2016 Preliminary Plan,
under the healthy Children & Youth topic, explains that “strategies
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(TCNY 2016).
New Yorkers increasingly eat a diet that is high in saturated fat and refined sugars. While this
may keep you full in the short term, it doesn’t provide the nutrients your body needs to stay
healthy. Most vitamins and minerals are found in whole foods such as frites, vegetables and lean
meats. Neglecting to include these foods in your diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Poor
dietary habits are also linked to health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, strokes,
and some forms of cancer. With more than half of Americans classified as overweight or obese.
(The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health).
A healthy diet can help protect against non-communicable diseases. Limiting the intake of
sugar and carbohydrates have additional health benefits in maintaining blood glucose levels at a
healthy number reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Reducing the amount of saturated fats in
your diet can also help prevent weight gain an high cholesterol. Diet evolves over time, being
influenced by many factors and complex interactions. Income, food prices which will affect
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If the artery forms a blood clot, this can cause a heart attack or
stroke. The forth risk factor is high cholesterol. High cholesterol can be affected by what you eat in
combination to how quickly your body makes LDL (bad) cholesterol and disposes of it. High
levels of cholesterol in the body can cause a buildup in your arteries which can lead to heart
disease. Maintaining a low cholesterol diet is recommended to reduce your risk of high
cholesterol. The fifth and final risk factor I want to mention is eating disorders. Eating disorders, such as
anorexia, bulimia and binge eating are disorders that is caused by preoccupation with body
weight and body shape. Anorexia is when your food intake is inadequate, leading to low body
weight. Binge eating is frequent episodes of consuming large amounts of food only to self-
induce purging to remove it out of you to prevent weight gain, which is similar to bulimia.
One of my interventions on a secondary group level perspective would be to focus on funding
for educational workshops. These workshops will offer skill on intensive lifestyle changes and
counseling programs. They will also offer free screening for diabetes as well as
In “Bad Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables”, Mark Bittman suggests that the people of America should stop eating unhealthy foods so often. In the article, Bittman tells his audience that people have “heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all in large part caused by the standard American Diet” (page 35). He also states that eating healthy can result to a better health care system saving millions of lives. The big issue is Americans eating unhealthy every day, but proposing a plan to help stop it from happening.
LDL or bad cholesterol comes from food that is a high source of cholesterol and/or saturated fats. Plaque forms when bad or LDL cholesterol builds up in your bloodstream and attaches to the arterial wall, as more LDL builds up the plaque becomes larger, this can become a major problem for your cardiovascular system. Because plaque is a substance that has rough edges, it reduces the elastic nature of the artery which means your heart will have to work double-time to pump the necessary blood to all your limbs, that will mean your limbs won’t get the amount of oxygen that they require to function properly. Plaque can also narrow the area blood has to pass through, this means your heart has to work overtime and overall capacity of your cardiovascular system is lowered. When the LDL cholesterol embeds itself in the wall of the artery it than damages the artery then blood pressure expands it which causes an aneurysm. When an aneurysm is too weak there is a high possibility of it bursting, when that happens it leaves the cells in and around that area without oxygen. If that artery is connected to a major vital organ the person will most likely die. When the blood flow is slowed it shows a greater risk for blood clots and although blood clots are natural and important to healing broken blood vessels, if blood clots gather inside the blood vessel this proves to be a serious health risk. The clots have the possibility to get stuck and completely cut off the blood flow to cells, leaving them without oxygen and causing them to die. If a clot gets inside a blood vessel connected to a major organ this could cause the person to die. The heart is fed by the coronary artery, if plaque or a blood clot blocks off blood flow to the heart, the heart ...
Hypercholesterolemia is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. Cholesterol is a waxy fat-like substance and is a major class of lipid, so it gets into the blood by lipoproteins [1]. A high level of lipoproteins is unhealthy. A high level can result in an elevated risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease [2]. The high levels of lipoproteins are often influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors such as obesity or dieting habits [2]. High cholesterol can be caused by mutations in the following genes: APOB, LDLR, LDLRAP1, and PCSK9 [3]. Mutations in the LDLR gene are responsible for causing familial hypercholesterolemia, which is the most commonly seen form of inherited high cholesterol [3]. The LDLR gene contains instructions for making LDL receptors or low-density lipoprotein receptors. LDL receptors play critical roles in regulating levels of cholesterol in the blood by removing low-density lipoproteins from the bloodstream. Mutations in the LDLR gene can make the amount of LDL receptors produced less than normal or affect their job of removing the low-density lipoproteins in the blood [4]. People who have these mutations will have higher levels of cholesterol. There are many ways that the environment can affect the levels of cholesterol in the blood. Reducing the amount of dietary fat you consume lowers the total amount of cholesterol in the blood [5]. Sucrose and fructose can raise the amount of LDL in the blood. Reducing fatty foods will however lower the amount of LDL [5]. Having a healthy body and maintaining physical exercise plays a key role in keeping your cholesterol at a healthy level. If you are overweight or obese you can lower your cholesterol levels by simply losing ...
There are several factors that cause heart disease such as: smoking, certain fats, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, hi...
Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder that includes a behavior pattern of alternating extreme bingeing, or overeating, with self-induced vomiting, fasting or abuse of laxatives or diuretics. Eating in a short period of time and having a sense o...
children’s weight to stay under control. Step by step everyone can make a difference for a child’s life. Introducing better healthier choices in vending machines, enrolling them in an after school program and limiting the amount of time they spend inside playing video games or any type of social media entertainment can really help them out. Children are very dependent of their parents being there for them and to lead them into the right direction since they don’t know any better and just mimic what they parents do. In the end childhood obesity is not something that can just vanish; it’s a process everyone needs to be a part of to accomplish a better living children deserve.
Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Most of us have come to appreciate ourselves for who we are. While other’s struggle to achieve the perfect body. They strive to be what is depicted in fashion magazines and movies. The never ending obsession to be the perfect size zero. This inevitably can lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders can cause someone to have an unhealthy image of themselves and food is the enemy. In a national survey at the Mclean Hospital in Massachusetts it was estimated that over 9 million people suffer with eating disorders. They can struggle with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating. A study conducted by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders states that most of these diseases start before the age of twenty. Another growing problem in the United States is obesity. Over 60 million Americans suffer from this disease, this according to the American Obesity Association (gale opposing viewpoints: eating disorders 2010).
Another controllable risk factor is having high cholesterol and coronary heart disease. High cholesterol can increase risk by blocking blood flow and clogging blood vessels which also increases the risk for a heart disease. Cholesterol is a soft fat in the bloodstream and having a level off 200 is considered high. Cholesterol is needed in the body in order to form hormones, and vitamin D. High levels of it, however, could lead to the buildup of plaque on artery walls, which can clog arteries and cause a heart or brain attack.
Cardiovascular disease is developed by a build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of the blood vessels, which typically takes years to accrue (World Health Organization). The development of the fatty-acid deposits can occur due to an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and a harmful intake of alcohol. The behavioral risk factors listed above account for about 80% of cardiovascular disease, with the other 20% being cause by fixed risk factors (age, gender, race).
The population in the United States as of 2009 was 307,006,550 the younger population is projected to slightly increase and eventually plateau though the older population has been steadily increasing and projected to continue on an upward trend (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). The lack of a healthier diet is something that has been highlighted in the media for the past decade and more often than not we are seeing the effects of overindulging and the consumption of highl...
Saturated fat and cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease. Fiber and a reduced risk of cancer. Fruit, vegetables and grain products that contain fiber and a reduced risk of heart disease.
Americans are eating too much cheese, sugar, starch, and red meat. Their most popular meals are pizza, burritos, nachos, quesadilas, and pasta which sounds healthy but as they develop, they are not as healthy as they were before with all the ‘extra ingredients’ they put in. Americans are taking in way too many calories per day if that’s what they eat, which suggest that they are definitely overheating. (Filipovic) Americans are taking approximately twice the amount of salt needed, around 70 pounds of sugar per year, and 11 percent of calories from saturated fats which can cause heart disease.(Berger) Besides that, they are not eating enough fruit and vegetables to balance the meal. (Filipovic) Americans eat 632 pounds of dairy, 31.4 pounds of that is cheese. 415.4 pounds of vegetables, most of it is potatoes and corn, and 29 pounds of that is french fries. They eat 273 fruits which usually means apples o...
helps prevents the risk of blood pressure. Another is to eat food that is low on salt and high in
When one or several lipids combine with proteins this forms lipoproteins, these transport fat throughout the bloodstream. High-density lipoproteins, also known as HDL, carry fat away from body cells, therefore preventing its growth in the artery walls. Low-Density Lipoproteins, also known as LDL, contain a high amount of cholesterol and seem to help the build up of fatty materials in the artery walls. The situation that you should go for would be high HDL and low LDL levels. Your goal should be to keep your overall cholesterol at below 200, with LDL lower than 40, and your HDL should be at around 160. This will lower the risk of heart disease and other related problems with cholesterol.
Binge eating disorder, also known as BED or compulsive overeating, is a serious disorder that is characterized by a recurrent, irresistible urge to overindulge or binge on food even when you are painfully full. We reveal how and why it becomes a problem, and what you can do about it.