The main barriers which I faced while maintaining the diet plan include generation of frequent hunger, craving for spicy food of restaurants, devoting more time in preparation of food and inability to maintain timely consumption of small meal at any specific day. According to Ferrer, Gutiérrez Maldonado and Pla (2013), craving for food is caused by regions of brain that are responsible for reward, memory and pleasure. A disruption in the equilibrium of the hormonal secretion like leptin and serotonin generates food craving. Boswell and Kober (2016) argued that the secretion of endorphins mainly modulates generation for sudden craving for food. Endorphins are mainly released from in the blood secretion after some had consumed certain amount of meal. This might be the reason why my craving for food increases after I had taken my small meal. Ferrer, Gutiérrez Maldonado and Pla (2013) highlighted that emotions are also involved in the generation of food cravings especially if the person eat for comfort. For me eating food was a passion as I am foodie a love of consume at my heart’s content. My passion for food increased might be the reason why there is increase in the craving for food. Suppose while I am taking my dinner with my family, I noticed that my craving for food is increasing drastically when I found that my other family members are digging to some delicious food which are on my favourite list like say desserts or red meat.
In order to explain craving for food, Yokum and Stice (2013) provided a completely different perspective. Yokum and Stice (2013) stated that craving for food is mainly has a relation between nutrients. Yokum and Stice (2013) opined that body craves for certain food because it lacks certain nutrients. I am not sure whether my craving was for deficiency in nutritional content in my diet plan. Yokum and Stice (2013) stated that craving can be selective and non-selective. In my case carving was selective especially for the food like chips, deserts, cold drinks, red meat, burgers and some other restaurant favourites. This sudden craving for food created a huge barrier in following my healthy diet plan.
Another significant obstacle in my path was I developed certain health issues for which my healthcare physicians prescribed me with corticosteroid. Upon intake of corticosteroid my hunger for the food increased in between the meals this increased by craving further. According to Berthon, MacDonald-Wicks and Wood (2014), cortico-sterioids like the gluco-corticoids (GCs) alter the release of several hormones along with the modification of the function of the adipokines. This modification of the function of the adipokines increases the intake of food via generation of hunger along with increase in insulin sensitivity which increases overall gain in weight. GCs also have anabolic effect under increase level of stress which increases appetite along with generation of indomitable hunger that elicits craving of food.
The main facilitator behind my change of overall experience in observance of healthy diet plan is self-motivation. Whenever my mind took-over my resolution of maintenance of healthy diet, I self-motivated myself and stick to the healthy diet plan. In relation to the impulse process towards the eating behaviour, van Koningsbruggen, Veling, Stroebe and Aarts (2014) are of the opinion that palatable food like the sweets contains traits that automatically triggers the sudden impulse to consume that particular food even when that individual have serious intentions or goals to refrain from consuming such food. Koningsbruggen, Veling, Stroebe and Aarts (2014) mainly compared two interventions in reducing the overall portion size of palatable food, which are selected by the individuals by themselves. These two interventions include stop-signal training which is mainly withholding the response upon presentation of tempting foods and another intervention include intention to diet. The analysis of the results highlighted that both the interventions were successful in reducing the amount of fluid intake. Koningsbruggen, Veling, Stroebe and Aarts (2014) are of the opinion that the success of the two interventions mainly depends on self-motivation.
Another facilitator to change my overall experience includes observance of the cyclic weight. The cyclic diet which changes per week helped me to break my monotony of consuming same old diet and this helped me stick to the diet plan. Jakubowicz et al. (2013) are of the opinion that cyclic diet with high calories breakfast intake vs. low calorie dinner helps in the effective weight-loss management among obese individual. Jakubowicz et al. (2013) conducted a randomised control trial over over-weight obese women with poor basal metabolic rate. The analysis of the results highlighted the use of cyclic diet for one month was helpful in reducing the waist circumference. This reduction in the waist length promoted weight-loss which helped to influence self-esteem of the individual and thus promotion self-motivation and enthusiasm to obey the diet plan. Alternatively it can be said that when I found that my weight is getting reduced upon observance of healthy diet after 3rd week of the diet plan, I gained positive energy along with a ray of hope that this diet chart is working with my BMR index and is helping me to shed few kilos from my body. This ray of hope further helped me to stay self-motivate and stick to the diet even if I found it hard to make healthy recipes.
Substance-use disorder also popularly known as a drug use disorder is a condition in which one or more substances which leads to a clinically significant distress and impairment. Substance-use disorder leads to post-traumatic stress (PTSD) (Najavits & Hien, 2013). Linke and Ussher (2015), evidence based practice suggests that maintenance of healthy diet, good sleep, hygiene along with daily maintenance of physical exercise and reduction in smoking and drinking helps in the fast recovery of substance use disorder. So while working with a person who experiences substance use disorder I will prefer to follow healthy diet along with modification of lifestyles. While maintaining the healthy diet, I would take help from a professional dietician and will prepare diet on the basis of the basal mass index (BMI) of the body. Then I will initiate the diet with heavy breakfast and with low calories intake of dinner. In between there will small meal after every two hours. According to Brook et al. (2013), division of meal into smaller parts helps to promote healthy diet plan. Healthy diet helps in the promotion of the healthy living activity which in turn will in decreasing the addiction towards smoking and alcohol. In order to reduce the monotony of consuming I will mainly propose cyclic diet for the person with experiences substance-use disorder. Cyclic diet have helped me a lot in sticking to my healthy diet plan and thus I am hopeful that utilizing the same process with will helpful for the other individuals also. I will also motivate them in performing daily physical activity. According to Linke and Ussher (2015), physical activity is effective in reducing the side-effects of substance-use disorder and at the same time helps in reducing the addiction towards intoxicating substances. I will mainly follow the principle of self-motivation via making them aware about the side-effects of substance abuse and how it can hamper their health related quality of life. The research undertaken by Patel et al. (2016) highlighted that substance abuse helps to increase the threats of developing cardio-vascular diseases. Patel at al. (2016) also highlighted that substance abuse also increases the threats of neurological dysfunction along with the development of other mental health related complications. In my case, I was self-motivated in maintaining healthy diet even after generating immense craving for food because, I am well aware about the ill-effects of obesity. The self-awareness acted as a sense of self-motivation in sticking to the diet plan. Generation of self-awareness among the substance-abuse individuals will thus act as a medium for generating a sense of self-motivation to keep themselves away from the gran of intoxication while maintaining healthy diet plan. Veling, Stroebe and Aarts (2014) are of the opinoion that distraction coming in the form of engagement in the extra-curricular activities or community health programs helps the individuals with substance-abuse disorder to over-come their addiction and help them to indulge into healthy diet plan. In my case also, I always kept myself distracted when I generated extreme hunger or craving for any particular food, this helped me controlled my urger as highlighted by the intervention of stop signalling by Veling, Stroebe and Aarts (2014). Stop signaling helped to stay motivation and maintaining my focus towards healthy diet while creating a stop signal for attraction towards tempting food. I will distract the individuals with substance abuse via indulging them into daily free hand exercise and group based activities. These will help them to decrease their urge to smoke, drink, or become victims of other substance abuse. This intervention will help them to stay focus and this will help them to follow healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables in ease.
References
Berthon, B. S., MacDonald-Wicks, L. K., & Wood, L. G. (2014). A systematic review of the effect of oral glucocorticoids on energy intake, appetite, and body weight in humans. Nutrition Research, 34(3), 179-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutres.2013.12.006
Boswell, R. G., & Kober, H. (2016). Food cue reactivity and craving predict eating and weight gain: a meta?analytic review. obesity reviews, 17(2), 159-177. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12354
Brook, J. S., Lee, J. Y., Finch, S. J., Balka, E. B., & Brook, D. W. (2013). Physical factors, personal characteristics, and substance use: associations with obesity. Substance abuse, 34(3), 273-276. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2013.770425
Ferrer, M.F.G., Gutiérrez Maldonado, J. and Pla, J., 2013. Cue-elicited anxiety and craving for food using virtual reality scenarios. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 2013, vol. 191, p. 105-109. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2375
Jakubowicz, D., Barnea, M., Wainstein, J., & Froy, O. (2013). High caloric intake at breakfast vs. dinner differentially influences weight loss of overweight and obese women. Obesity, 21(12), 2504-2512. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.20460
Linke, S. E., & Ussher, M. (2015). Exercise-based treatments for substance use disorders: evidence, theory, and practicality. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse, 41(1), 7-15. https://doi.org/10.3109/00952990.2014.976708
Najavits, L. M., & Hien, D. (2013). Helping vulnerable populations: A comprehensive review of the treatment outcome literature on substance use disorder and PTSD. Journal of clinical psychology, 69(5), 433-479. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.21980
Patel, V., Chisholm, D., Parikh, R., Charlson, F. J., Degenhardt, L., Dua, T., … & Lund, C. (2016). Addressing the burden of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders: key messages from Disease Control Priorities. The Lancet, 387(10028), 1672-1685. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00390-6
van Koningsbruggen, G. M., Veling, H., Stroebe, W., & Aarts, H. (2014). Comparing two psychological interventions in reducing impulsive processes of eating behaviour: Effects on self?selected portion size. British Journal of Health Psychology, 19(4), 767-782. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12075
Yokum, S., & Stice, E. (2013). Cognitive regulation of food craving: effects of three cognitive reappraisal strategies on neural response to palatable foods. International journal of obesity, 37(12), 1565. Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo201339
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