Question

Q1) What do you feel are the two biggest barriers for people to make more nutritiously healthy choices?

Q2) What is one strategy (for each barrier) that a person could employ to help them overcome the barrier (should have at least two total strategies: one for each of your listed barriers)?

Answer 1

There are many barriers for people to make more nutritiously healthy choices. These barriers can be broadly divided as medical, psychological and social barriers.

Medical barriers include difficulty to swallow or chew due to Stomatitis (inflammation of the mucus membrane of the mouth), Dental caries, gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) etc. Patients undergoing chemotherapy have difficulty to eat because of nausea and vomiting. They might also have metallic taste in their mouth which cause difficulty to take food. Cognitive disorders, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinsonism, Stroke, Cerebral Palsy etc. are the other conditions which cause barrier to nutritious diet.

Psychological barriers include diseases like anorexia nervosa (self starvation, lack of appetite and extreme fear of gaining weight), depression, bulimia (eating disorder characterized by bouts of over eating for short periods followed by extreme desire to lose weight which results in starvation or induced vomiting) etc.

Social barriers include lack of knowledge and misinformation about nutrition, lack of access to healthy food. It also includes busy life schedule which results in lack of eating at regular intervals and eating junk foods due to lack of time for cooking.

STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME MEDICAL BARRIERS:

1) Treatment of the underlying cause and Nursing measures to alleviate the problems of swallowing, chewing etc. Treatment depends on the type of medical or psychological condition. Patients need assistance to feed should be fed at regular intervals. Frequent mouth care is necessary. hot foods should be served as hot and cold foods should be served as cold. The food serving environment should be kept clean and neat. Some aroma to induce appetite also might be beneficial. Encourage some physical activities within the limit to improve their appetite. Small frequent diets should be provided rather than 3 heavy meals. Encourage to eat slowly and be patient to assist clients with dementia, Alzheimer's etc.

STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME SOCIAL BARRIERS:

1) Health Education : The most important strategy is to educate people regarding the importance of a well balanced healthy diet. Adults and children should be aware of the hazards of under or over nutrition. Encourage to use dietary guidelines available at health centers or hospitals. They should be encouraged to check the nutritious information available on the food labels before purchasing. They should not fall as victims of false advertisements. People should be encouraged to keep a journal of their dietary intake. Encourage them to participate in discussions and seminars that provide education on nutrition.

2) Provide Healthy Foods through Governmental or Co-operative Stores: This will help to provide healthy organic foods without excessive pesticides, at an affordable cost. Encourage organic farming and there should be collection stores in every village so that fresh foods are available locally at an affordable rate. There should be nutritious supplements available to all at free of cost, in developing countries where healthy diets are not accessible to many children and adults due to poverty. Healthy foods should be supplied through schools in developing countries. Voluntary and community organizations shall take every possible steps to improve agricultural farming, cattle rearing, poultry farming etc. to provide enough food supply in the locality and to remove poverty. People should also be educated to avoid food wastage. Wasting of food should be treated as a misbehavior. Each households should be encouraged to grow some vegetables and herbs and also encouraged to raise some cattle or hens.