Behavior Modification Essay

My health goal is to change poor eating habits I have adopted since I was a child. I choose this project because I have no good diet plan. Most people do not eat fast foods but eat a lot of carbs.High carbs diet increases people's appetite and makes them eat more calories and increase weight more often. However, I have realized that this project would not be easy to free me from poor eating habits, but I would have ample time eating healthy after the end of this class. Since it is not a simple project, I have prepared myself for disappointments due to challenges. If changing one's behavior would be a simple task, then everyone would have wanted to change his behavior.
In order to come up with an effective behavioral modification plan, I realized that I had to sit and analyze my daily diet. The aim of the behavioral modification plan was to find out which of my diets I should avoid. According to the research, many people are addicted to a glass of milk before going to bed. I read some research books from online databases and found out that human beings are the only species that drink the milk of another animal. Additionally, humans drink any milk after infancy. Further research indicated that the milk sold on the streets contains hazardous toxins and hormones. Eating of carbohydrates foods like cakes and cereals is a bad eating habit. Since I come from an agricultural endowed region, cakes were my staple diets. However, cakes at home were from preservatives and additives.
When I attended Saint James High School, I began eating cakes that had a lot of fats, preservatives, and additives that were harmful. I had never taken any soda drink while at home but I developed the habit of taking it in large quantities at school. Later, I clearly understood that keeping away from consuming the drink was the only way to free myself from poor eating habits. In order not to be surprised by too much lifestyle change it would be better to drop each habit one by one. I would have been surprised if any tangible evidence occurred in me. My efforts to lose weight have proved feeble. I wished that I would lose some calories but losing weight in my body would be an achievement as well as a surprise. Dairy products, soda drinks and cakes represent 40%, 40% and 20& represent the baseline behavior on my daily eating schedule.

This chart reflects my baseline behavior in regards to bad eating habits

In order to implement this project, I started by convincing myself that I would get rid of dairy products from my diet. At first it seemed a mountain to climb since I often took yoghurt and drank a glass of milk every day. I felt tempted when I saw many of my friends eating cakes and yet I could have any. A couple of times I gave up and had some cakes and ice creams. I was successful after a month, and I moved to the next goal of getting rid of soda out of my diet. It seemed so difficult to survive without soda as it was available everywhere: campus, residence halls, and shops. I developed a strategy to carry around a water bottle and mixed it glucose. The dilution of sugar kept me yearning for the sweetness of sodas. Lastly, I attempted to stop eating cakes. I thought this would be the biggest task of all the others. It turned out that if I did not purchase the cake I would not eat it, and this became my last memories of eating cakes.
The distance between the school and the cakes shop reduced the craving for cakes.Changing my habits was not that easy to experience. I would emphasize that the only effort that bored fruits was substitution. I substituted my yoghurt and milk with almond milk. The price of almost milk and ordinary milk was equal, thus price was not such a factor. The soda I substituted with glucose diluted in water. My body could now regulate the amount of toxic products consumed in the body. The cakes that I ate I substituted them with brown bread that was fat-free and reduced preservatives. Almond milk, glucose diluted with water and brown bread represent 35%, 35% and 30% on my changed behavior by substitution on my daily eating schedule.

This chart reflects my changed behavior in regards to poor eating habits

Although this project did not bore fruits, I became an expert about myself. I learned that I was greatly influenced by the environment. Poor eating habits, is an unfortunate trait to possess as a high school undergraduate. I have imitated the behavior of my colleagues who do not eat healthily. During high school life, I ate a lot of low-quality food because it was the cheapest and most readily available. Perhaps if I had gotten advice from the then-nutritionist in high school, I would have been fortunate since my body responds well from the advice of the health care professionals.

Work cited

Miltenberger, Raymond. Behavior modification: Principles and procedures. Cengage Learning, 2011.