A person's health is affected by a lifestyle that includes what one consumes. Modernization has played a role in changing people's nutritional practices, but culture has a more significant impact on what a certain group consumes. Nutrition is one of the aspects of culture. Culture is a general way of life, including nutrition, dressing, religion, among others. These aspects are intertwined; thus, nutrition is determined by other factors such as religion and people's beliefs. Many cultures practice healthy nutritional practices, while others have high-risk nutritional practices. The nutritional practices are interrelated with people's beliefs and historical perspectives. The paper examines various cultures with high-risk nutrition behaviors and factors such as beliefs and historical perspectives that determine nutritional practices. It discusses the role of health caregivers in controlling and treating people with high-risk nutritional practices culture.
Among the high-risk nutritional practices cultures is American Children’s culture. American children take energy-dense foods. According to Corvalan et al. (2017), Over 42 million Latin-American kids have obesity. This is a threat as it has led to diseases like diabetes, heart-related diseases, and cancer. The practice has been influenced by a change of socio-economic status, increased employment among women, and transportation availability. The cultural beliefs associated with this practice is the view that packed foods are more nutritious than home-prepared foods. The packed foods that are mostly energy-dense are associated with high socio-economic class among Americans. Family and education have also played a role in this risky behavior. Parents no longer have time to prepare food due to job commitments and education schedules. The media, through advertisements, have also influenced the nutritional behavior. Today's generation is fixed on social media. The side effects of continued consumption of junk foods are not part of the advertisements. People are chasing careers, wealth, and prestige, ignoring health, which is of greater importance.
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Another group that has high-risk nutritional practice is American Adults. Excessive intake of alcohol has been battling the Americans' health. Excess food intake and over smoking characterizes adult Americans' lifestyle. Some historical perspectives and beliefs influence these practices. Most of the drug abusers hold the belief that drugs reduce stress. Cultural beliefs are associated with drinking. Most conservative cultures, such as African-American culture does not permit excessive use of alcohol. For this reason, White Americans drink alcohol more compared to other Americans. Society, marketing, and social media platforms influence this risky nutritional behavior. Movies, televisions, and advertisements compel the youths to take drugs (Sudhinaraset, Wigglesworth & Takeuchi, 2016). The lifestyle and culture of relying on social media and the belief that the movies can be lived influence alcohol consumption. Excessive food intake, alcohol consumption, and smoking lead to liver cirrhosis, obesity, and other diseases.
Somalis in America also practice high-risk nutritional practices. They consume foods with excess sweeteners and too sugary. Deep frying is their common way of preparing foods; thus, they consume excess calories, which has the effect of excessive weight gain. Excessive consumption of red meat and carbohydrates characterizes the Somalis diet. According to Sunni et al. (2018), the Somalis diet lack carbohydrate control, which is essential for controlling diabetes. Excessive consumption has led to health risks such as type 1 diabetes among the Somalis. Cultural beliefs and historical perspectives influence practices. Religion plays a big role in determining foods consumed by the Somalis. The "Haram" guides the foods the Somali people should not consume while "Halal" provides a list of forbidden foods. The excessive consumption of fries and sweetened foods is a result of Islam's belief that people should be plum, and being plum is healthy.
High-risk nutritional practices are one of the leading causes of health problems. The health care providers' primary role is to ensure a healthy population. Providing health care is not all about treating diseases but also eliminating the chances of contracting diseases. The health caregivers can, therefore, help in curbing diseases associated with the high-risk nutritional behaviors and treating those who are affected in several ways.
Firstly, American children can be saved from high-risk eating practices by offering dietary advice to both the children and parents. Overweight and obesity are the 5th top causative agents of deaths among children globally (Pandita et al., 2016). For this reason, preventing obesity is better than treating it. The health caregivers should monitor the Body Mass Index of children and advice their parents on nutrition measures that they should take to avoid obesity. The health caregiver can as well prescribe the correct diet for the children to avoid eating energy-dense foods. Education should be offered to the public on the importance of eating healthy foods and the consequences of high-risk nutritional practices on the health of children and the whole populace at large. False beliefs such as junk food are classy and should be changed through the health caregiver giving an explanation and health benefits of taking natural foods instead of processed foods.
The health caregivers have a role in controlling unhealthy practices such as excessive alcohol consumption, excessive intake of food, and smoking among adults. The culture can be changed by offering information on the dangers of taking alcohol, smoking, and excessive food intake. The health care givers' role is to offer guidance and counseling to those who get involved in these practices. There are alternative ways of dealing with stress other than smoking and drinking alcohol. Alcohol provides a temporal solution to a permanent situation. Taking alcohol alienates one from reality for a shorter period. When it is out of the body, the stress is back. Nature walk and exposure to sun rays can provide a better solution to stress. The health caregiver should also be aware of the people's culture that may support unhealthy nutritional practices and address them accordingly. Information is of great importance in fighting these practices because most of those who engage in it are misinformed.
The health caregiver may face a challenge in advising people to refrain from practices that are religion-determined. However, the Somalis can change the practices with clear guidance and information without fighting the religion. The health caregiver should advise the Somalis on how excessive intake of sugar and carbohydrates affect their culture. Clinical data on the number of people who have been affected by their high-risk nutritional practices should be given and published to create awareness. Community outreach should serve as a tool to fight these practices. The health caregiver should also prescribe the balanced diet, showing the health benefits of each food item to the populace.
In conclusion, nutrition is correlated with beliefs and historical perspectives. Different cultures identify with different eating practices, which may promote health or deteriorate it. High-risk nutritional practices have resulted in illnesses and deaths to those who practice them due to misinformation and a misleading culture. The American children are in danger of becoming obese; adults are battling diseases such as cancer due to unhealthy nutritional practices. Religion is also a determiner of nutritional practices. Misleading beliefs expose people to health risks. The health care giver's role is not only to treat the diseases caused by these practices but also to fight the root cause. The historical perspectives and beliefs can be changed through health information.
References
Corvalan, C., Garmendia, M. L., Jones-Smith, J., Lutter, C. K., Miranda, J. J., Pedraza, L. S., Popkin, B. M., Ramirez, M., Salvo, D.,and Stein,A.D. (2017). Nutrition status of children in Latin America. Obesity Reviews , 18, 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12571 .
Pandita, A., Sharma, D., Pandita, D., Pawar, S., Tariq, M., & Kaul., A. (2016). Childhood obesity: prevention is better than cure. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity: targets and therapy, 9 , 83-89. https://doi.org/10.2147/DMSO.S90783
Sudhinaraset, M., Wigglesworth, C., & Takeuchi, D. T. (2016). Social and Cultural Contexts of Alcohol Use: Influences in a Socio-Ecological Framework. Alcohol research: current reviews. 38 (1), 35-45.
Sunni, M., Brunzell, C., Kyllo, J., Purcell, C., Plager, P., & Moran, A. (2018). A picture-based carbohydrate counting resource for Somalis. The Journal of international media research, 46(1), 219-224. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060517718732 .
