Society is an important influence on body image, particularly for women

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In the modern world, lifestyle is one of the aspects that is firmly attributed to the environment. Most people, particularly the women tend to imitate what their colleagues in work, college or church practice. The norms of the present generation of women have affected their lifestyles, particularly the eating habits. Everyone has some knowledge of the perfect body image. However much dependence is from the societal pressures and the media. The expectations of the society flower our beliefs about the ideal body image, and in most cases, this situation causes harm. Most women allow themselves to develop a perception of the perfect physical self and the thoughts of an ideal appearance. All these illuminate the reasons why the environment is dictating on what is believable as an idealistic image. Weight prejudice and dieting sector have intensified body image, particularly the women, and it can have a severe adverse effect on self-esteem (Brehm, 2014).

In most cases, the society tells us the kind of foods to eat, exercise to do in maintaining the physical self. In essence, it is attestable that the community has a significant influence on the women body image. Women value their appearance and always make a judgment about their body images based on various aspects, which include perceptual boy image, striking body image, cognitive body image and behavioral body image. These elements define how they see, feel, think and how their bodies behave a respectively. Positive body image is famous because it will improve the self-esteem, self-acceptance, healthy outlook and behaviors (Brehm, 2014). On the other hand, some of the factors that cause dissatisfaction on women include age, personality traits, teasing and influence from family and body size.

What might a ‘healthy’ weight look like? You can use your body mass index (BMI) to see what’s your weight should be

The normal weight can be deduced by comparing one’s BMI with the following BMI estimates

Underweight: BMI <18.5

Normal weight: BMI 18.5 -24.9

Overweight: BMI 25-29.9

Obese: BMI >30

The BMI is a good measure of a healthy weight. The following formula is used

BMI= (your weight in pounds *703)/ (height) 2

BMI= (60*2*703)/ (5ft.3)2

=120*703/63*63

= 21.30

This figure indicates a healthy weight range.

 Can you tell someone’s health status by looking at him or her?

A few cases can be identified by just a look at a person; however, most of the unhealthy situations cannot be detected by looking at the victims. This because, the factors that determine the health of a person are not visible with a naked eye, but instead a medical examination needs to be done to ascertain the health status. For example, by looking at a person’s size cannot tell whether he/she is underweight, healthy, overweight or obese. This situation necessitates the use of the BMI measurement through calculation as indicated earlier in this discussion (Fabricatore, 2007).

Are some people born to be fat? Genetically, yes, but if you know that it is in your genes, to be a certain way, you can do something about it, for example, diet, exercise, and stay away from causative things, and take preventative measures.

Some people who think that they are overweight might suffer from conditions such as heart diseases, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes because most of the lifestyle conditions are attributed to the psychological preparedness. It is true that some people are born fat, and this situation is associated with the genetic pattern, which is passed down through the generations. In essence, fatness in some families is hereditary. In these cases, the victims can embrace various mechanism to reduce or curb the weight. These can include diet check, regular exercise and adopt preventive measures (Marshall& Broome, 2016).

What are the causes of America’s obesity crisis, how would you answer?

The primary causes of obesity in America include eating foods that have high fat and cholesterol content and inactivity of the victims. Most of the American people embrace poor food choices, and this leaves a question of what a balanced diet looks like. Americans, particularly the numerous families, which are too busy love convenience hence most of them go for highly processed convenience foods. These foods typically contain hidden saturated fats and high content of fructose corn syrup and this explains why it is the leading cause of obesity among the Americans (Marshall& Broome, 2016). On the other hand, inactivity contributes to the high rate of obesity in America.

The average American leads a deskbound lifestyle when compared with other nations across the globe. This is because of most of the facilitators for inactiveness, which include cellphones, cars, and fast foods are easily accessible.  It is true that as lives get hard with declining economy; most Americans push the gym time to the back burner in favor for long working hours and consequent rest thus minimizing the boy exercise and activity time.

We have been asked to give a brief community-based presentation about nutrition and healthy weight.

The leading factors about nutrition and healthy weight surround various pointers. However, the most important include self-control, laziness, inactivity, diet, and love for oneself. Laziness and poor diet choices are the leading causes of obesity in many nations including the US. It is true that less activity has caused a rise in the high cases of obesity and heavyweight; on the other hand, self-control and love for oneself form the fundamental measures to reduce instances of obesity and overweight by creating the anxiety to work out in a bid to improve the body image and consequent self-esteem.  Hence, from a community-based perspective, the health of individuals begins with themselves. In essence, the love of their bodies form the driving force and urge to work with a right body image (Brehm, 2014).

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  1. Brehm, B. (2014). Psychology of Health and Fitness. Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis
  2. Marshall, Marshall, E. S., & Broome, M. E. (2016). Practice model design, implementation and evaluation. In Transformational Leadership in Nursing, Second Edition: From Expert Clinician to Influential Leader (2) New York, US: Springer Publishing Company
  3. Fabricatore, A. N. (2007). Research: Behavior Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Obesity: Is There a Difference? Journal Of The American Dietetic Association, 10792-99. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2006.10.005
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