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Project 1: Prescription
Being healthy is one of the most important goals among people all over the World. But,
not everyone knows exactly what factors must be included in order to achieve the holistic stage
of our Well Being. For example, out of the almost 318 or so million of people just in The United
States; The U. S census reported that in 2013 13.4 percent or 42. Million people were not
covered with health insurance. (Smith, Madelia). Which marks a deficit of people who lack of a
quality healthy living style. Many factor contribute to this statistics, such as socioeconomic,
educational, and ethnic levels that create a barrier to access a decent health coverage status. It is
crucial to have access to health insurance in order to achieve our healthy life style.
Health assessments are essential to find out current health conditions of individuals. In
order to understand my current health condition, I decided to take the Self Assessment in chapter
one from my Health Book. Before uncovering the reveling and shocking numbers of my results,
I would like to describe how is my current health. I am a very energetic and positive minded
Latina with a height of 53 weighing 200.1 pounds to be exact. I have struggled with my weight
since I was a little girl but never paid too much attention until health problems started to arise at
the age of 16. I got pregnant with my first baby during my high school years; I would eat as
much as I could in school because I barely had food at home. When my first son was born, I
could no longer afford to eat all my meals at school because I had to save them for when I got
home. My eating habits started to deteriorate my health, to a point where I lost the appetite. I do
not want to write my life story today, so I will jump straight to my current health. I used to take a
30-minute walk every other day at a local park, until my partner told I that I was not losing any
weight. So, I stopped walking thinking he was right. Since the passing of my grandmother five

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years ago, I have had to deal with depression. I feel empty and sometimes down, that I just want
to sleep. But, when I see my kids, I hit back reality and boost my self up by taking them out to
enjoy life. Due to my busy schedule, I skip meals without any intention; and when I have time to
eat, I eat the world at once, which is not ok. For the most part, I am very active at work and at
home. I like to clean and move things around home, like the sofas, and the kids room. I feel it is
a way to relieve stress from work. Another issue is my asthmas that even thought is controlled in
limits my ability to join a gym since I get shortness of breath easily. One of my desires besides
having a better job is to have time to take walks; I enjoy every minute spent outdoors. So far,
eating problems, health and psychological issues are preventing me from reaching my full
potential.
Finding solutions to difficulties is not always easy but certainly possible. After adding the
points for each category in the Health Assessment, I found out that my Physical health is at a
major risk with a score of 13 out of 20, which tells me that in order to bring that 13 up, I must
come up with a plan to exercise actively at least three times per week. My spiritual health is also
with a score of 15, which is pretty low. These results tell me that I am aware of my health, but I
am not working hard enough to overcome these barriers. According to Donatelle: it is not
possible to achieve a holistic health if any of the six wellness dimensions is not working at the
level of the others. (p 6). That is, if I am sad all the time; this will affect my emotional, social,
and intellectual heath. Leaving my well being unstable to function properly in society. It is
important to maintain a balance of our health to reduce the risk of unwanted illnesses such as
strokes, depression, and overweight, which by the way it costs the U.S. health system about 21
percent of the current medical spending according to the Brookings Institution. ( p 4).this means
that obesity has become a problem which is taking everyone accounted for. Healthy choices like

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eating fruits, vegetables, limiting the amount of serving of soda, alcohol and sweetened drinks
will help us reduce obesity related illnesses. Besides being physically healthy is it important to
note that our social, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and environmental health must go hand by
hand in order to maintain a balance among the mind, body, and spirit. Each of the interrelated
dimensions consist in maintain a mutual support and self-confidence of the actions we take to
promote a healthy model. Many factors influence our health such as the social and environmental
which play a very important key; feeling loved, likeable, are some of the feelings that improve
our health. The socioeconomic health also influences our over all health, we see how most of us
struggle financially to accomplish our goals. A vivid example is my financial situation as a
college students, just like Donatelle mentions that: in a recent survey, 39 percent that college
students report that finances had been very difficult to handle in the past year.(P 9). Not
being financially stable brings a bigger burden to those of us who wish to succeed in life,
shortening our life expectancy, due to the stressful economic disadvantages that we go through.
The difficulties of not being able to afford medical care, housing conditions, clothes, food, and
stability definitely create a cycle of burdens that can lead to stress, depression, high blood
pressure, etc.
Goals to improve our health are necessary to maintain a balance among our body, mind, and
spirit. Taking this class was definitely the best decision I have taken so far this last month. The
readings have helped me understand how wellness works. Therefore, I have decided to work on
three major goals for the next six months. The first one is to go back to my walking routine by
setting a time in the morning before taking the kids to school. Setting my phone with an alarm at
5:30 a.m. will give me time to walk to the park, that is just a block away from home. My clothes
are ready stacked on the side of my bed to change as soon as I wake up. Another goal is to stop

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drinking soda; I will try my best to avoid it by only drinking one per week. I used to drink about
three per week during dinner, which kept me awake with all the sugar each can has. My major
problem is eating sweet bread, I am still thinking real hard on this one. I intend to start by cutting
my portions from four to two servings per week. It is not going to be an easy task since I do not
have support from my partner, but I hoped to achieve these goals but setting my mind to a
positive mood to improve my way of life. As a result, I have concluded that my health is at risk if
I do not start making significant changes to my life style.

Works Cited:
Donatelle, Rebecca J. Health, The BasicsPearson. Fourth Custom Edition for Pasadena City
College. P 6-4-9 Print.
Smith, C Jessica, and Medalia, Carla. Health Insurance Coverage In the United States: 2013
Current Population Reports. Sep 2014. Web. July 2015.
http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/
p

60-250.pdf