Good Personal Statement On Obesity Prevention And Management

As a nutritionist, I find it ironic that problems on my personal life arise from issues on weight. My husband, even before we got married mentioned to me that he will start losing weight, but years later, we are still caught up in the same problem. Our main argument revolves around his weight; we are not able to have a baby because of the issue. It is sad to see because not only is his family life affected, but even his social and personal lives are being altered. To make things harder for us, his mother is even encouraging his unhealthy lifestyle. His mother believes that he will be happier and more satisfied with the kind of lifestyle he is living, without the knowledge that he is even pushing his son towards the destruction of his own family’s destruction.
I thought with my knowledge and expertise on nutrition I can save him from his unhealthy lifestyle, but time and time again, I was proven wrong. Although my attempt to rescue my husband’s life proved futile, it inspired me to introduce my undergraduate project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, my current residence. The target age group of the project is children with the ages between 6 to 12 years old suffering from obesity. The project will attempt to understand to role of the primary caregivers, most especially the mothers, in their development of lifestyle and food management. Because of the findings of the project, I discovered that most nutritional problems occur during the child’s primitive years, influenced by their mothers’ lack of awareness regarding the encouragement of the unhealthy lifestyle. The reinforcement of unhealthy eating is also a reason in the occurrence of obesity. The same scenario can be observed in my husband due to his mother’s encouraging nature regarding unhealthy eating; he lost control over his food intake that affected even his personality.
Sadly, cases of obesity are increasingly recorded in my country. I believe that in the next few years obesity cases will continue to increase drastically because of the wrong intake of food.Some people in Saudi Arabia are turning into surgical processes of weight reduction such as liposuction, quantization, stapling the stomach and rerouting food. Due to the continuous shift in lifestyle, I made it both my professional and personal goal to aid in changing the mindset of the people in Saudi Arabia especially towards obesity. I spent majority of life in Saudi Arabia, and I can attest to the changes that are happening in the country. I also believe that the youth of the country can help in spreading education and awareness on significant health issues. On my part, I would like to enroll myself in one of world’s renowned university- Arizona State University (ASU).
I want to help my country once I completed my degree. I want to pursue disseminating information on child obesity. In the future, once I fulfilled my Obesity Prevention and Management Degree I want to spearhead my own organization that advocates in combating obesity starting from the school setting. Some schools in Saudi Arabia entered contracts with food providers that leave children with no choice but to purchase unhealthy foods sold in their school cafeterias. My organization will address this problem. One method I can use is using a survey to ask both the parents and children about their perspective on healthy foods, another is introducing proper meal plans in schools to aid in promoting a healthy lifestyle in their students.
I see that enrolling myself in the Obesity Prevention and Management in Arizona State University as a stepping stone towards achieving my goals. The degree will help me understand not only the social, cultural, environmental, health and psychological implications of obesity but allow me to see its practical application in various contexts. I know this program will change both my life and my husband’s. I also believe that it will help my country in the future.