Influences on eating patterns

Influence: ‘ The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself’ There are lots of different things/ people that can influence, or have an effect on what we eat from day to day. These influences can be positive if it is causing us to eating healthy foods, or it can be negative if it is causing us to choose fatty, sugary foods or to miss out on essential nutrients. Influences can be categorised into: Personal Interpersonal Society

Personal influences: These include:  A persons knowledge about healthy eating  Their beliefs and values about food  Their past experience of certain foods  A persons thoughts and feelings about their body (body image)  Their thoughts or feelings about themselves in general  Specific nutritional needs, foe example if they are an athlete or are diabetic

Using the scenario on Alisi, complete the following questions: 1.Describe at least 5 personal influences on Alisi’s food choices over the course of one day. 2.What changes could Alisi make to her daily eating habits to ensure she is following healthy eating guidelines? 3.With a partner, write your own scenario containing at least 5 examples of personal influences on your food choices over the last few days. You may want to refer back to the list of personal influences at the start of the lesson.

Interpersonal influences: (ways in which people around the teenage may contribute to how that person eats. Interpersonal is usually friends and family) These include:  Friends or family modelling certain eating habits  Parents may buys certain foods for family or may cook certain foods that the family are expected to eat  Parents may pass on beliefs around food (eg religion and culture) that their children are expected to believe in too.

Using the scenario on Alisi, complete the following question: 1.Describe at least 3 interpersonal influences on her food choices over one day

Societal influences: These include: POLITICAL & ECONOMIC INFLUENCES -Community, government laws/policies can affect jobs and family income -School policies around the food sold in the tuck shop. A lot of school cafeterias are independently owned now, so they are more driven by what sells best rather than by what is good for the students -National laws/policies that determine fast food franchises that operate in NZ; what food safety standards need to be followed; what info has to be included on food packaging labels; what food can be imported into the country -Laws/policies also guide what media can print and show on T.V.

MEDIA Advertisers plan food-advertising campaigns around what appeals to adolescents By showing young people having fun doing cool things around food is a part of their tactic Magazine and T.V ads around dieting expose young people to possibly poor diets that are inappropriate for growing and maturing teenagers Public Health promotion advertising can been affective in educating and encouraging youth to eat better ie 5+ a day campaign Using celebrities to promote diets/ latest trends

CULTURE/ RELIGION Attitudes/ beliefs and values within some cultures around food (eg meat is sacred)

IDENTIFY PERSONAL/ INTERPERSONAL/ SOCIETAL INFLUENCES Scenario 1 Simon is in a school rugby team. He is quite a skilled player, but he is aware of his small size and his team mates often remind him of this by calling him hurtful names. The sports magazines bought by one of his friends show only rugby players with large muscles and Simon believes he has to look like them to be as good as they are. He decides he needs to bulk up and starts to eat all the foods he thinks will help him put on weight (in particular, lots of inexpensive fatty food and sugary cakes and bread because those are the sorts of foods TV programmes say to eat less of in order to lose weight). At home, his mum is always complaining about how much food he is going through and that they can’t afford much, so she too buys a lot of highly processed, bulky, carbohydrate-based foods to fill him up. Because she works long hours, she also tends to buy a lot of takeaways or ready-made meals to save time or because she has no energy for preparing meals. TASK: Read the scenario below and in a group, explain the personal/Interpersonal & societal influences affecting Simons eating patterns

Explain how are Simons eating patterns affecting his physical wellbeing? (use relevant nutritional information to give detail to your answer) social mental spiritual