Human Nutrition

FOOD HABITS ❚
something hot to eat with little risk of accident.
The consequence of this has been that, in many
families, mealtimes are no longer taken together.
Instead, individual members of the family may
eat at times convenient to themselves, often
heating up different meals in the microwave. In
addition, around 30 per cent of meals eaten are
likely to be consumed away from home, in work
or school canteens, cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants
or in the car. The National Food Survey
(Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (DEFRA), 2001) showed that on average
three meals per week were eaten outside the
home (not from the home food supply), and this
represents 30 per cent of the expenditure on food.
Another source of change is the increase
in the availability of information about world
cookery. Examples of the cuisine of different
cultures are found in restaurants, supermarkets
and as cookery programmes on the television,
and the wide availability of many exotic ingredients
makes it possible for these ‘foreign’ dishes
to be included into traditional food habits. Many
books describe how to prepare these dishes.
The media are also responsible for changing
food habits. This may occur through the
following.
■ Advertising and the promotion of new food
products (although the information given
here may be biased).
■ Programmes or articles that aim to increase
people’s knowledge about food, perhaps in
the context of nutrition and health.
■ Providing role models in the form of characters
in programmes and advertising. These
contribute a subtle force towards change
in food habits by the food they eat and the
attitudes they express. Some of the messages
put forward are not necessarily conducive to
health; for example, there is believed to be a
prevailing message that only thin women
are healthy and attractive, which causes often
disastrous changes to food habits among the
female population.
Food habits may have to change when an
individual suffers from an illness requiring
dietary alteration for its management. The difficulty
of changing food habits is best seen in
such subjects, who often struggle to maintain
dietary changes, even when there are very good
health reasons for doing so.
Nutrition educators and health promoters
aim to change food habits towards a healthier
balance. This is a very complex process because
of the multi-faceted influences on food habits.
Different influences may be at work in determining
what is eaten from day to day or even
from meal to meal. A further factor is the
strength of the attitude of the subject towards
food and healthy eating. If they are ambivalent
about either of these, change may be difficult
to bring about. Finally, the subjective recognition
that change is needed to the diet is a
powerful influence in determining whether it
is undertaken.
Therefore, an educator may need to consider
the strength of the subject’s belief:
■ that food and healthy eating are important;
■ that these can influence their individual
health in a beneficial way;
■ that making changes to food and eating has
a high priority amongst factors that influence
food choice.
Studies have identified many barriers to
making changes towards healthy eating that are
more prevalent amongst those subjects who
make fewer changes. In the study by Margetts
et al. (1998), these included:
■ a perception that there is a lack of clear
messages about healthy foods;
■ a belief that the tastiest foods are the ones
that are ‘bad’;
■ confusion about what to eat;
■ difficulty of eating healthy food away from
home;
■ costs of healthy eating;
■ lack of concern about what is eaten.
In addition, changes towards healthier eating
are less likely to be found among younger,
lower income groups and those who smoke.
This emphasizes that dietary change is closely
linked to other lifestyle indicators in complex
ways.
Food choices
Within the context of a culture’s food habits,
each individual makes their own, personal food
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