Decode The Weighing Scale: Unravelling the Challenges of Weight Loss and Healthy Habits

Nutritionist, educator & Founder DietWisdom

Reading time- 6 mins

Introduction

Nowadays, maintaining a healthy lifestyle has become challenging for many people and losing weight is more stringent than ever in the present world.

Although in the world of aspirations, nobody wants to deal with health-related issues, rather people want to approach longevity and bio-hacking in order to live longer than expected.

Digital art by Ra Inc.

But the question arises, Are we actually moving successfully towards increasing our average age or evolving with toxic and life-threatening diseases altogether?

As part of the service provider in the fitness industry, I came across many people who approach me only to lose weight or control their hyperglycaemia conditions or they must be at the last stages of their kidney functioning. The approach of people astonished me many times that they are not concerned about improving their health. Rather they are just stuck with some lifestyle disorder diseases and now their medical practitioners' advice or prescriptions are no longer helping them and their medical practitioner has advised them for more advanced treatment which may be some surgical procedure or some advanced therapy. So, before going for that advanced treatment, they wanted to give dietary therapy a try in cases like kidney diseases, where the dietary approach plays a vital role. So far we are dealing with endless struggles in terms of health. Let’s inscribe a few points firstly, about the problems we are facing and how in the simplest ways we can end this struggle.

Problems

The problem does not necessarily stem from inherent flaws in our personality, thought process or a lack of discipline. Rather it often originates from the kind of environment we inhabit or we are exposed to, a landscape heavily influenced by the prevalence of extreme commercialisation and the endless availability of packaged foods in the market can contribute to various challenges related to maintaining a sustainable diet. So problems are categorised at the different levels that is Individual, social and environmental.

Problems at Individual levels

  1. Affordability and Accessibility : Limited access to fresh vegetation due to extremities present in terms of geographical constraints and limited financial resources impacts individual food choices.
  2. Time and Cooking Skill constraints: Lack of time due to urbanisation and coping with family financial needs pose challenges to individuals in the preparation of fresh meals. So people prefer available packaged and processed food sold with the labels no or zero trans fat /sugar/additives.
  3. Lack of Nutritional knowledge: Though we are surrounded by plenty of information about every aspect of diet, they say 'excess of everything is bad.' Individuals often fail not due to a lack of available information, but rather because of the overwhelming nature of nutrition data, misleading claims, and the challenge of discerning credible sources from sensationalized content.
  4. Marketing influences The marketing strategies for promoting processed and ultra-processed foods with covered labels by commercial companies affect the dietary choices of individuals.
  5. Acceptance of family members: The younger members of the family always prefer convenient processed foods due to their tastes and preferences; hence the food choices of family members and grocery shopping affect the food environment at home.
  6. Psychological barriers The perception that sustainable eating is time-consuming or inconvenient may act as a barrier. Individuals might resist changes that they perceive as adding complexity or requiring more effort in meal planning and preparation. Emotional eating for coping with stress and boredom may also override the desire to make healthier food choices.
  7. Tastes and preferences Individuals usually prefer convenient and processed foods available in the grocery stores; because of the belief that home-cooked meals lack flavour and taste.

Problems at Social Levels

  1. Social pressures
  2. Cultural influences
  3. Community accessibility

Problems at Environmental Levels

  1. Transportation due to demand
  2. Loss of biodiversity
  3. Food production practices for meeting the excessive demands.
  4. Creating ecological imbalances
  5. Climatic conditions

To overcome these challenges and maintain a sustainable diet, one needs to prioritize health and environmental sustainability by adopting conscious lifestyle choices.

  1. Educate Yourself and Read Labels: Read labels before buying products and connect with the body by understanding its needs and requirements from time to time.
  2. Meal planning: Planning meals ahead of time helps in leading a sustainable diet. Specially plan the Snack meals or in-between meals.
  3. Choose whole foods: Always opt. for unprocessed foods like fresh fruits, and whole grains locally produced which usually do not have labels.
  4. Support Local and sustainable products Always purchase from local farmers or prefer fresh and local produce to reduce carbon footprints and ensure nutritious options.
  5. Mindful eating: Eat according to the physical activity and hunger cues. The days individuals are more active should prefer eating more and vice versa. This helps in preventing overeating and building healthier relationships with food.
  6. Home cooked meals Proper meal planning makes meal preparations easy. Also cooking at home allows better control of the use of ingredients in terms of quantity and quality. One can indulge in new recipes by using fresh and whole foods.
  7. Stay hydrated Drinking plenty of water throughout the day, not only helps in controlling the appetite but also maintains electrolyte balance.
  8. Cooking according to the consumption Always prefer to cook fresh meals according to the requirement. It saves time and reduces waste.
  9. Physical activity Incorporating regular physical activity leads to hormonal balance and supports the overall health of an individual.
  10. Advocate for Change Always engage in promoting sustainable food options in the community.
Conclusion

Skipping specific food groups from the diet or following blindly the patterns of diet without considering your genetic makeup and socio-demographic factors does not serve any benefit to the individual in the long run. Rather this kind of impractical diet leads to social solitude and an imbalanced ecosystem. Food is something that we give the least importance or attention but our day-to-day choices make a big impact on our health. With the help of research in the field of nutrition, now we know that our body changes and rejuvenates every cell in three months,(research)so one can cure him or herself at the initial stages. Our approach is not to look for shortcuts for the health for just managing our disease or reducing weight by getting into to correct BMI brackets, but rather opt. for a sustainable approach in terms of food, which not only provides nourishment to the body but leads us to live healthy and sustainable lives.