Deprivation and suffering-do these words describe the thoughts that people harbor when we educate them about healthy diet and exercise? There's a very good chance the answer is yes more often than not. That doesn't bode well for success. Advising individuals to consider a change in the foods they consume and to increase their activity level has deeply personal implications. Yet, with the national focus on improving population health, these are the cornerstone strategies for developing a healthy population culture.
Personal choices about lifestyle, food, activity level, and habits are key determinants of health. But how do we motivate people to change embedded patterns of behavior and personal beliefs that may have childhood or even cultural roots? They're the blockades in the tough road ahead that we must successfully navigate to achieve desired population health outcomes.
The popular media doesn't make our job any easier. It's actually part of the problem. You can't thumb through a typical magazine or newspaper without seeing ads for weight loss products that promise dramatic results without dietary changes or exercise. How easy it is to believe that simply taking a pill will somehow neutralize all detrimental lifestyle choices.
The big commercial food industry, including the fast food chains, isn't an innocent bystander either. The abundance of cleverly packaged convenience foods labeled "healthy" is often anything but. Low fat doesn't always equal low calorie. Many popular processed foods sport a lengthy list of chemical food additives, too much salt, and added sugars. These "foods" also may lack the beneficial micronutrients and antioxidants that real food provides. Unfortunately, a lot of people have forgotten (or never learned) what a diet containing real food looks like. Here's a hint: Garden-fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and legumes form the foundation (with appropriate modifications, of course, for food-allergy sufferers).
The work we need to do as nurses is multifaceted. It includes discovering more effective approaches to health education that motivate healthy lifestyle choices in children and adults; making low cost, healthy foods available to low-income communities; and influencing the food industry to remove harmful additives and improve the nutritional value of processed foods. Yes, we have a heavy lift, but what other choice do we have? The scales are definitely tipped in the wrong direction!
Until next time,
Linda Laskowski-Jones, MS, RN, ACNS-BC, CEN, FAWM
Editor-in-Chief, Nursing2015 Vice President, Emergency & Trauma Services Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington, Del.