Sunday, October 11, 2015

What are some characteristics and challenges of a healthy diet? What are factors that drive our food choices?









When following a healthy diet, that means you are learning to adapt to a healthy behavior pattern. Knowledge, planning, recognizing and controlling are some strong traits to follow when facing challenges to eating what is right. Experience provides you with the education on what to eat and what not to eat. You will be surprised to know that many people at the adult stage are unaware of the portion sizes and the food guidelines. There had been plenty of times when I thought it was ok to eat three starchy side dishes at one time. Wow! Was I wrong! We tend to get sidetrack and before you know it the weight will be packing on over the years. “Procedural nutrition knowledge is knowledge of how to eat a healthy diet. This type of experience potentially plays an important role in dietary behavior.”  Dickson-Spillmann M; Siegrist (2011). Planning will take away the feeling to eat anything whenever the hunger pain strikes up.  Planning also gives you the opportunity to properly portion sizes your meals to help the flow of your day goes by smoothly. Recognize foods that healthy and filled with vitamins and minerals.  Avoid foods high in saturated, refined sugars, and any food that does not hold any nutrients value. Gain control of how foods make you feel. Again, avoid foods that make the body feels sluggish and tired. Invest in eating foods that give you energy and one day it may help you run that marathon you always wanted. The temptation of wanting to eat your favorite fried chicken can be tempting never deprived yourself. Learning moderation and control can let you have the best of both worlds.


 




    
Many factors influence our food choices. Eating habits were taught at a young age, depending on your culture background it can have a negative or positive effect on our diet.  Without a doubt, southern food that is also known as soul food can cause diseases including strokes, heart disease, and diabetes if not monitor accurately. Socially and philosophical, interacting with others can work in our best interest of healthy eating. It is the same motivation as having a fitness partner to work out with. Sometimes our social environment can often lead to excessive eating. The majority of people seem to consume more foods when in a happy and comfortable environment. A social gathering is often leaked to when eating more than the moderation. “Social influences on food intake refer to the impact that one or more persons has on the eating behavior of others, either direct or indirect, either conscious or subconscious. Even when eating alone, food choice is influenced by social factors because attitudes and habits develop through the interaction with others.” (http://www.eufic.org/article/en/health-and-lifestyle/food-choice/artid/social-economic-determinants-food-choice/) Psychological can rely on emotional eating, stress being one of the main reason of overeating to help overcome feeling depressed. Loss of appetite falls under the psychological factor as well. Individual deals with stress differently, depending on how a particular situation affect a person can influence their food choices. Physical factors drive our food choices to watch what we eat, sometimes it takes appearances to be a factor.  Those who take more pride in their physical appearance might be more conscious of the consequences if consumed more quantity of the wrong type of foods.

Dickson-Spillmann M; Siegrist M; Journal of Human Nutrition & Dietetics, Feb2011; 24(1): 54-60. 7p. (Journal Article - research, tables/charts) ISSN: 0952-3871 PMID: 20880377, Database: CINAHL with Full Text Consumers' knowledge of healthy diets and its correlation with dietary behavior.






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