Question

Topic: Applied Nutrition

Describe the factors that most influence your food choices. How can you manage these if they are leading to poor choices?

Answer 1

Factors influencing food choices:

1.Eating habits or disorders:

• Different eating behaviors occur on a spectrum that can't be divided precisely.
• Continuum in disordered eating cannot be distinguished between two parts of proper or improper eating habits.
• The practice is in between and eating habit is in verge of becoming a disorder.

2. Daily routine, availability and habits:

• Work and other engagement leads to a routine food schedule.
• Also culture and traditions, region leads to a food choice that becomes a routine.
• Certain regions have scarcity of some food, which limits the choice.

3. Consumption of high fat laden food:

• Fats are energy dense and digest very slowly, owing to the trigycerides esterified to fatty acids.
• They tend to accumulate in the body making it difficult to consume proper food later.

4. Sleep deprivation:

• Lack of sleep disrupts balances of several brain chemicals or neurotransmitters like serotonin, that impact the normal well being and health.
• Less sleep results in food craving (ghrelin) and leads to incorrect food choice.

5. Sedentary life style or amount of physical activities:

• Life style and activities leads to food cravings and food choice.
• Physical activities leads to sense of proper diet and food choice.

6. Diseases and health condition:

• Conditions like allergies, lactose/gluten intolerance, etc. restricts food choice.

7. Food type:

• The taste, texture, smell and other properties of food leads to individual food choices, which may not be healthy.

Managing proper food choice:

• Knowledge about balanced diet and introduction of healthy food in diet balancing with taste, availability and traditional habits.
• Proper sleeping habit and physical introducing physical activities in daily routine.
• Eating at a fixed time despite of other work or routine.
• Taking advice of medical practitioner or dietician, regarding medical conditions determining food habits.