Why You Eat What You Eat?
Many people would like to eat a healthier diet.
Changing our eating habits can be difficult because of lack of knowledge and cooking skills. Food choices are influenced by our perceptions of ourselves, our beliefs about health, our identities, and our emotions (stress, anxiety, boredom, sadness).
Genes play a significant role in what you eat. Also, food choices and dietary behaviors are influenced by:
Desire to feel good
Taste of food (sweet, bitter, salty and sour) includes the smell and texture of the food.
Habits learned from our childhoods and upbringings
Fear of being fat
Body weight and appearance
Availability of fruits and vegetables
Easy access to fast food is tasty, tempting, comforting, addictive, and cheap
Cost (food prices, lack of time to purchase, prepare and cook food).
Marketing of fast food, discounts on unhealthy foods and beverages
It is well known that an unhealthy diet increases the risk of chronic diseases and obesity. Poor diet is one of the leading risk factors for disease and death globally.
A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and lean meats is good for your health.
You should reduce your intake of red meat, alcohol, processed foods, trans fats, and sodium.
You should eliminate sweet beverages, deep-fried food, and industrial foods from your diet.
Avoid ultra-processed foods.
Examples of ultra processed foods include carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, packaged snacks, mass produced packaged breads and buns, sweetened breakfast cereals, instant soup, protein bars, energy bars, chocolates, candies, ice cream, cookies, pastries, cakes, mixes, margarines, dressings for salads, frozen pies, pasta and pizza; chicken and fish nuggets and sticks; flavored yogurts, ham, sausages, burgers, hot dogs; powdered and packaged instant soup, noodles and desserts.
Reference
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Gakidou E, Afshin A, Abajobir AA, et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and meta-bolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2017; 390:1345–1422.
Monteiro, C. A., Cannon, G., Levy, R. B., Moubarac, J. C., Louzada, M. L., Rauber, F., ... & Jaime, P. C. (2019). Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public health nutrition, 22(5), 936-941.
Santos M, Assunção R. Food Choice, Nutrition, and Public Health. Foods. 2025 Apr 2;14(7):1243. doi: 10.3390/foods14071243. PMID: 40238469; PMCID: PMC11988923.
Zorbas, C., Palermo, C., Chung, A., Iguacel, I., Peeters, A., Bennett, R., & Backholer, K. (2018). Factors perceived to influence healthy eating: a systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis of the literature. Nutrition reviews, 76(12), 861-874.
