Behavior Change Project My health goal was to change my eating habits. I chose this goal because I have a bad habit of not eating as well as I should. Although I usually do not eat fast food, I eat a lot of carbs. I was raised in an Italian family so macaroni and pizza are my two worst enemies. I figured that if I used this project to get rid of my bad eating habits, I would have an easier time eating healthy after this class ends. Before starting the project I realized that there will be challenges, but this project was not meant to be simple. If behavior change was simple, then anyone would be able to change behavior whenever they wanted to. In order to translate my health goals into target behaviors I realized that I had to sit
It seems that the only other choices of beverage in the dining halls are these fake iced teas and highly sugared juice drinks. Eventually I conditioned myself to carry around a water bottle and I flavored it with the Dasani Drops. The flavor kept me from craving the sweetness of sodas. Lastly, I tried to stop eating pasta. I thought that this would be the biggest challenge, however it was not. It turns out that if I did not buy the pasta, I would not eat it. And it was as easy as that. What helped was the awkward location of the pasta station in the dining hall. Changing my eating habits overall was not easy. I would say that the strategy that got me through it was substitution. I substituted my dairy products such as milk with soy or almond based products. Soy milk cost about the same as regular milk so cost was not much of a factor. The soda I substituted with the water that I flavored with the drops. The drops were beneficial because I was able to control how much of the product was added as opposed to the pre-flavored waters which are just as bad as the juice. The pasta was substituted with different grains such as pilaf or quinoa. I will admit it was kind of fun experimenting with the different grains. Unfortunately, my behavior change was not a success. Since the meal plan was not conducive to eating healthy, I tended to cook more of my own foods in order to eat healthier. It all went downhill when I did not have enough money to fund this healthy