Influences on food choices: What makes you eat what you eat?

Strand 1: Nutrition 1.2 Distinguish between unhealthy and healthy ways to manage weight. 1.7 Assess personal barriers to eating healthfully and being physically active, and develop practical solutions to remove these barriers. 1.9 Predict the health benefits of eating healthfully and being physically active; and the potential health consequences of not doing so.

Hunger: The body’s physical response to the need for food. It is the natural drive that protects you from starvation It is the feeling you are born with Symptoms include: Hunger pains Weakness, dizziness, & nausea Loss of concentration

Appetite: is the desire, rather than the need, to eat on the pleasure derived from eating certain foods What do I want to eat? Factors that influence your appetite include: Taste Texture Smell Your physical health The weather Your culture or religion

What happens when you decide to eat? 1. When hunger & appetite work together you generally have a nice balance 2. Problems arise when you let your appetite dictate what, when, and how much you are going to eat. Relying on appetite to determine your diet also allows people to eat when they are not hungry

What happens when you decide to eat continued? 3. Problems also arise when people let emotional factors dictate what and how much they eat Often depressed people eat a certain type of food to make them feel better or they may not eat at all.

What happens when you decide to eat continued? 4. Some people eat at specific times of the day because of schedules. The problem then is they may eat when they are not hungry

Major health problems related to diet or poor nutrition Short Term Conditions: 1. Fatigue 2. Bad Moods 3. Depression

Major Health Problems Related to Diet or Poor Nutrition Long Term Conditions: 1. Obesity 2. Heart disease 3. Stroke 4. Adult-onset diabetes mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active 5. High Blood Pressure (Hypertension); also called “the silent killer”

Major Health Problems Related to Diet or Poor Nutrition Long term conditions continued: 6. Cirrhosis of the Liver 7. Tooth Decay 8. Cancer (some types more than other) 9. Birth of low birth weight babies with poor mental & physical development 10. Dietary deficiency diseases

Environmental Factors: eating behaviors are influenced by them. These are factors we deal with every day 1. Household structure 2. Income level 3. Health beliefs 4. Nutritional knowledge 5. Your occupation or your parents

Environmental Factors continued: 6. Location of residence 7. Level of education 8. Physiological make-up 9. Cultural background 10. Religious beliefs

Your Personality can also influence your food choices: More adventuresome people may try new things More low-key, conservative people may stick to the same types of food they have been eating their whole life