Introduction
Obesity is one of the most crucial issues that affect many people worldwide. Since a considerable variety of food has become available, people encounter this problem frequently. Obesity is one of the most concerning public health issues (Dereppe et al., 2018). Eating healthily and exercising might be complicated, especially at home. Households (HHs) are a particular group that might be subject to obesity because of a specific lifestyle (French et al., 2011). In the existing conditions of comfort and absence of physical activity, overweight might attack people rapidly. Indeed, prevention is a public health intervention that helps to preclude obesity through a specific dietary shift. It is vital to examine the household obesity intervention and identify key behavioral elements to underline the efficiency of prevention being an effective method of health prevention.
Researchers on Obesity
Being overweight is an issue faced by a variety of people, depending on their lifestyle, income, occupation, educational level, and other factors. The availability and diversity of food in markets make people choose the most comfortable option; for example, many prefer ready-to-eat production. Many families have no time to purchase organic products and cook, as the modern world’s pace is rapid. Therefore, the preference for unhealthy products and fast food might increase. At home, households often miss control over their eating. It manifests in overeating while watching TV, large portions, sugar overuse, and lack of physical activity.
Moreover, there are exact reasons influencing household obesity. For instance, the level of education impacts the utilization of fast food, and income and living standards influence food choices (Yu et al., 2018). It is suggested that people with lower incomes and educational levels prefer to overeat (Ogden et al., 2018). Surprisingly, in low- and middle-income countries, obesity coexists with malnutrition (Irache et al., 2021). There might be several reasons for this; for example, ready-to-eat food is usually cheaper than healthy products. Lifestyle is one of the most crucial points in this question. It is known that children absorb and reflect their parents’ behavior; therefore, they inherit parental eating behavior. Children are influenced by their parents’ passive activities, such as watching TV. Accordingly, obesity becomes an urgent problem in families with such a lifestyle. Reversely, when parent encourages their children to play and visit extra-curricular sports activities, the issue of overeating and being overweight is not actual for the family. Overall, parents’ lifestyle is vital to shaping eating habits in children.
In addition, the level of stress and anxiety influences overeating and substance abuse. With the emergence of COVID-19 and following the lockdown, people felt unsafe even at home. Lockdown made many people fall into depression and undermined confidence in their ability to live normally. Many people noticed that they gained weight during the lockdown; it is not surprising as online deliveries emerged and there was no need to leave the house. Changing environment in society disguised urgent mental problems, and, recently, the issue of household obesity possessed a large scale.
Theory of Planned Behavior and Obesity
Prevention might become one of the most effective health promotion interventions, suggesting excluding the disease before it starts. Moreover, prevention combined with behavior modification is the strategy to exclude many conditions, including obesity (Yu et al., 2018). Behavior modification changes one’s perception of daily activities to get the desired result. For example, the theory of planned behavior is used in health promotion to lose or gain weight, depending on the need. The idea of planned behavior is used in smoking cessation and helps people change their attitudes toward tobacco (Maharani et al., 2021). This theory determines the chain between a person’s prejudices and attitudes. Specific guidelines and prescriptions in human consciousness directly affect their behavior. In sum, four critical elements in the planned behavior approach include action, object, context, and time.
Action determines the model of behavior executed by a person; for example, overeating is the particular action that leads to being overweight. Then, it is necessary to determine what object the behavior affects; in the case of the relevant research, a person is an object. Context plays a significant role in identifying the conditions under which specific behavior occurs. For instance, the requirements of households can vary – the level of education and income determines the behavior model. In addition, it is critical to analyze the period to set the limit for installing behavioral patterns. Furthermore, social norms influence an individual’s behavior; it is connected to other people’s expected results and expectations.
In obesity prevention and treatment, psychologists often use the theory of planned behavior. Patients are expected to change their usual behavior with food and exercise. For many people, diet and sports are associated with exhausting conditions and hunger. For this reason, many individuals avoid sports and healthy eating. Indeed, the task of the theory of planned behavior is to implement positive settings in a person’s consciousness and show them the most effective and comfortable ways to change their life.
A recent study determined several vital steps to promote obesity prevention with the help of the planned behavior theory. Throughout several sessions with the doctor, patients learned about good and bad eating habits and understood the needs of the human organism (Khayeri et al., 2019). Then, patients created positive attitudes towards sports and diet to stop being afraid of hunger and overtraining. Moreover, it is essential to note that the doctor guided the experiment and participants; the appropriacy of diet and exercises was controlled by specialists (Khayeri et al., 2019). The theory of the planned behavior accomplished by healthy eating habits helped many participants to change their attitude toward their eating habits and lose weight. Therefore, it is possible to observe the positive effect of this behavioral theory; indeed, a discussion of strengths, weaknesses, and limitations is vital.
Particular benefits of this approach positively impact an individual’s attitude and behavior. Moreover, it is feasible to substitute harmful habits with healthy ones with the help of this strategy. Indeed, the theory of planned behavior worked perfectly under medical guidance and observation conditions. It is questionable whether this strategy is effective in household obesity prevention, as there will be no accurate and precise medical and scientific guidance. It is possible to suggest that inconsistency of self-observation and lack of self-control are drawbacks of this theory. The individual should possess the vast self-awareness and will to make the theory work in non-scientific conditions. Some limitations, including the level of income and availability, are considered for this approach. It is critical to suggest that people from various countries cannot have equal economic terms to replace their habits with new ones painlessly.
Prevention as a Health Promotion Intervention
Disease prevention is one of the most effective methods to avoid multiple illnesses. As obesity is an illness associated with overweight and cardiologic disasters, precluding is necessary. A prevention strategy involves a set of specific actions to avoid disease. For instance, a dietary shift is suggested to help people to control obesity. This method has numerous advantages, such as excluding severe diseases and relevant illnesses, improving quality of life, and prolonging life. Indeed, many people violate prevention and tend to ignore this health care strategy.
Dietary intervention activities aim to change people’s eating habits to make them healthier. This activity can be executed by doctors, clinical professionals, or the patient themselves. However, guiding the person on their self-shopping is crucial to get the correct result. It is vital to remember that household eating habits have been shaped for years, and the person might not know how to form new eating habits. Thus, professional aid is needed with inclusion clinic visits for the patient. Obesity usually increases the risks of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, significantly shortening a person’s life.
Furthermore, when the person eats, each eating intake provokes sugar to jump in the person’s blood with the explosion of insulin. Insulin is a substance that blocks the hormone of losing weight. Accordingly, fast food provokes bigger insulin explosions, and there is no chance for a person to lose weight (Yu et al., 2018). In addition, if body mass index (BMI) is the critical indicator of obesity, it is counted for each person individually. Households were prescribed to cut their portions and do physical exercises. In general, people with obesity suffer from low metabolic exchange, which worsens numerous processes in organisms.
Combining low energy intake and high daily physical activity is recommended to prevent obesity and relevant diseases. For obesity prevention, several steps were taken by researchers of the Take Action program. For instance, they were asked to cut their normal portions of food and replace high-calorie food with their lower-calorie versions. It is possible to purchase fat-free products that will not increase blood sugar levels. It was recommended to intake more fruits and vegetables, as these products allow the person to feel satisfied with food and take more space in the stomach than snacks and fast food. In addition, replacing sweetened drinks with pure water might help to reduce daily calorie intake significantly.
Effectiveness Enhancement
Specialists distinguish several interventions to prevent or cure obesity – primary and secondary interventions. Primary intervention assumes the individual changes their diet to prevent cardiovascular diseases and thrombotic illnesses (Yu et al., 2018). Then, secondary intervention deals with behavior and lifestyle, providing a more robust response in the organism. It is necessary to examine ways to foster the effectiveness of prevention for households concerning specific strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. Healthcare policies might underestimate prevention at national and community levels (Esdaile et al., 2022). Primarily, people are not concerned with their potential diseases, even if they risk obesity or relevant illnesses.
In many cultures, individuals got used to appealing to a medical organization when the disease occurred, neglecting prevention. Moreover, it might lack crucial components such as active self-engagement and self-control. Concerning the data on obesity prevention, the study indicated a lack of self-control in participants after the experiment (Khayeri et al., 2019). Individuals stopped continuous training, and their results showed no significant shift. It demonstrates the flaw of some prevention programs connected to the human factor; many individuals tend to give up improvement halfway through or after the desired result is received. Therefore, intervention deals with a lack of engagement and control, significantly affecting outcomes. Additively, low- and middle-income families tend to eat fast food and snacks due to low prices (Irache et al., 2021). The limitation to promoting a healthier lifestyle is the income level of families and the availability of organic products for them.
It might be feasible to enhance the effectiveness of obesity prevention in several ways. For instance, it is vital to promote the importance of prevention at governmental and community levels, as this health promotion intervention seems to be underestimated (Esdaile et al., 2022). Behavioral pattern is another critical element of this health intervention; people should change their prejudices concerning the negative perception of dietary shift and do sports to promote a positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, household obesity prevention might be complicated by family prejudices and eating habits. For instance, according to the study, 73 percent of mothers think gaining weight is suitable for their children as it is associated with healthy development (Khayeri et al., 2019, p. 474). Clinical observation and intervention might become facilitators of this method; indeed, it is difficult to provide medical check-ups for every member of society on equal terms.
Conclusion
Prevention is an effective strategy to deal with multiple illnesses before they occur. This approach has numerous advantages, including protecting from diseases and improving overall health conditions. Moreover, specialists often combine prevention with behavioral interventions such as the theory of planned behavior, which helps to change the individual’s attitude towards specific issues. It is seen that obesity prevention might be efficient with clear implications such as self-control and clinical guidance. Overall, this health promotion intervention might be efficient but requires conditions such as providence of medical observation, middle- or high-income families, and individuals’ self-awareness and control.
Reference List
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French, S. A., Gerlach, A. F., Mitchell, N. R., Hannan, P. J., and Welsh, E. M. (2011) ‘Household obesity prevention: Take Action-a group-randomized trial’, Obesity, 19(10), pp. 2082–2088.
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Yu, E., Malik, V. S., and Hu, F. B. (2018) ‘Cardiovascular disease prevention by diet modification’, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 72(8), pp. 914–926.