Staying aware, self-evaluating and active
weight loss
DISEASE
This category includes increased awareness of disease and a changed mindset regarding food choice and exercise, setting goals for health, and positive attitudes to health behaviours. Informants described changes in diet and increased physical activity. Several talked about what they had accomplished (e.g. weight loss), and gladly told how it was done. Some had also started taking medication, and expressed that they were motivated to do so and trusted their physician’s advice. Several informants described an increased awareness. For some it was pronounced (e.g. searching for a certain label for healthy food when shopping groceries), whereas others described that healthy living is something they ‘have in mind’.Overall, healthy habits were enjoyable, and made informants feel well and good about themselves. Some informants were physically active before the intervention, whereas others started after they had been included in the VIPVIZA study. Appreciating healthy habits seems to have facilitated staying aware and active:
We have changed quite a lot of things, [e.g. buying groceries with attained recipes for home delivery] and I must say that is actually great fun. There are many great dishes that I would never have thought that I would like, and I have never really appreciated vegetables but now I have managed to get vegetables to taste really good. […] Earlier, we didn’t exercise much. But now when there is more time, it is just enjoyable to go and do some training. (Man, informant 8).I went out for 45 minutes or so, and then I felt that, yeah, now I have done what I should. But maybe I could have done some more. (Woman, informant 6)It is this thing, since I have grandchildren, it’s like a carrot so to say. I want to live a long life, I want to live… Life is wonderful and I will do what I can to live a longer life. And feel well. And have the strength. (Woman, informant 5)