A healthy diet protects us against a number of chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. From early childhood, we receive an abundance of information about how we should eat to be healthy and reduce our risk of disease. And most people have a broad understanding of what healthy eating looks like.
But this knowledge doesn’t always result in healthier eating. In our new research, we set out to learn more about why people eat the way they do – and what prevents them from eating better. Lack of time was a major barrier to cooking and eating healthier foods.
We spoke with 17 adults in a regional centre of Victoria. We chose a regional location because less research has been done with people living outside of metropolitan areas and because rates of obesity and other diet-related health issues are higher in such areas in Australia. Participants included a mix of people, including some who said they were over their “most healthy weight” and some who had previously dieted to lose weight.
But all participants were either: We selected these groups to target ages and life-stages in which shifts in eating behaviours may occur. Previous research has found younger women tend to be particularly concerned about appearance rather than healthy eating, while women with children often shift their focus to providing for their family. Men tend to be less interested in what they eat.
We asked participants about how they decided what food to eat, when, and how much, and .
