Write a 250-word paragraph post, without spelling or grammar errors and respond to 2 classmates with thoughtful and meaningful responses.  Maximum points will be awarded for students who provide detailed responses that “discuss” the topic.

This Nutrition Discussion Forum #1 posting is part of Unit 1 assignments.  Make sure you have read chapter 1 before completing this activity. You must 1st post your initial post before viewing other posts or points will be lost.

1. Give a brief description of the top 3 reasons you choose the foods you eat, based on 1.1 Food Choices. I have attached the 1.1 food choices. 
2. Provide your description as to why these are the 3 most important factors for you.
3. Provide details from your textbook with in-text page number citations (if no pages numbers, use page section and heading) from your textbook as to why this approach is supported.
4. 250-word (minimum) original post

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Chapter 1: An Overview of Nutrition: 1.1 Food Choices
Book Title: Understanding Nutrition
Printed By: Kusum Lamichhane (amazon.cute14@gmail.com)
© 2019 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

1.1 Food Choices

Learn It

Describe how various factors influence personal food choices.

People decide what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, and even whether to eat in highly
personal ways. A variety of food choices can support good health, and an understanding of
human nutrition can help a person make healthy selections more often.

Preferences

As you might expect, the number one reason most people choose certain foods is taste—
they like the flavor. Two widely shared preferences are for the sweetness of sugar and the
savoriness of salt. High-fat foods also appear to be a universally common preference.

Other preferences might be for the hot peppers common in Mexican cooking or the
curry spices of Indian cuisine. Research suggests that genetics may influence taste
perceptions and therefore food likes and dislikes. Similarly, the hormones of pregnancy
seem to influence food cravings and aversions (see Chapter 15).

Habit

People sometimes select foods out of habit. They eat cereal every morning, for example,
simply because they have always eaten cereal for breakfast. Eating a familiar food and not
having to make any decisions can be comforting. Similarly, people may find certain foods
and beverages most appropriate at certain times of day—orange juice in the morning, for
example.

Ethnic Heritage and Regional Cuisines

Among the strongest influences on food choices are ethnic heritage and regional cuisines.
People tend to prefer the foods they grew up eating, but they may also be willing to try new
foods, especially when traveling. Every country, and in fact every region of a country, has its
own typical foods and ways of combining them into meals. These cuisines reflect a unique
combination of local ingredients and cooking styles. Chowder in New England is made with
clams, but in the Florida Keys conch is the featured ingredient. The Pacific Northwest is as
famous for its marionberry pie as Georgia is for its peach cobbler. Philly has its
cheesesteaks and New Orleans has its oyster po’boys. The “American diet” includes many
ethnic foods and regional styles, all adding variety to the diet.

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Enjoying traditional ethnic foods (foods associated with particular cultural groups.) provides
an opportunity to celebrate a person’s cultural heritage (Photo 1-1). People offering ethnic
foods share a part of their culture with others, and those accepting the foods learn about
another’s way of life. Developing cultural competence (having an awareness and
acceptance of cultures and the ability to interact effectively with people of diverse cultures.)
honors individual preferences and is particularly important for professionals who help others
plan healthy diets.

Photo 1-1

An enjoyable way to learn about a culture is to taste the ethnic foods.

A photo shows two couples of western origin in a
restaurant, eating Asian food using chopsticks.

Kzenon/ Shutterstock.com

Social Interactions

Meals are often social events, and sharing food is part of hospitality. Social customs invite
people to accept food or drink offered by a host or shared by a group—regardless of hunger
signals. Such social interactions can be a challenge for people trying to limit their food
intake; Chapter 9 describes how people tend to eat more food when socializing with others.
People also tend to eat the kinds of foods eaten by those in their social circles, thus helping
to explain why obesity seems to spread in social networks and weight loss is easier with a
partner.

Marketing

Another major influence on food choices is marketing. The food industry competes for our
food dollars, persuading consumers to eat more—more food, more often. These marketing
efforts pay off well, generating more than $900 billion in sales each year. In addition to
building brand loyalty, food companies attract busy consumers with their promises of
convenience.

Availability, Convenience, and Economy

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People often eat foods that are accessible, quick and easy to prepare, and within their
financial means. Consumers who value convenience frequently eat out, bring home ready-
to-eat meals, or have food delivered. Even when they venture into the kitchen, they want to
prepare a meal in 15 to 20 minutes, using less than a half dozen ingredients—and those
ingredients are often semiprepared foods, such as canned soups and frozen foods.
Whether decisions based on convenience meet a person’s nutrition needs depends on the
choices made. Eating a banana or a candy bar may be equally convenient, but the fruit
provides more vitamins and minerals and less sugar and fat.

Given the abundance of convenient food options, fewer adults are learning the cooking
skills needed to prepare meals at home, which has its downside. People who are competent
in their cooking skills and frequently eat their meals at home tend to make healthier food
choices. Not surprisingly, when eating out, consumers often choose low-cost fast-food
outlets over more expensive fine-dining restaurants. Foods eaten away from home,
especially fast-food meals, tend to be high in nutrients that Americans overconsume
(saturated fat and sodium) and low in nutrients that Americans underconsume (calcium,
fiber, and iron)—all of which can contribute to a variety of health problems.

Unfortunately, healthful diets that include plenty of fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts tend to
cost a little more (about $1.50 per person per day more) than less healthful diets that feature
meats, refined grains, and processed foods; also, milk is more expensive than soda.
Strategies to help consumers improve diet quality include reducing the price of fruits and
vegetables, taxing processed foods, placing healthy options in strategic locations, and
limiting discounts on less-healthy foods.

Positive and Negative Associations

People tend to like particular foods associated with happy occasions—such as hot dogs at
ball games or cake and ice cream at birthday parties. By the same token, people can
develop aversions to and dislike foods that they ate when they felt sick or that they were
forced to eat in negative situations. Similarly, children learn to like and dislike certain
foods when their parents use foods as rewards or punishments. Negative experiences can
have long-lasting influences on food preferences. More than 50 years after World War II,
veterans who had experienced intense combat in the Pacific dislike Asian food significantly
more than their peers who were not engaged in battle or those who fought elsewhere.

Emotions

Emotions guide food choices and eating behaviors. Some people cannot eat when they
are emotionally upset. Others may eat in response to a variety of emotional stimuli—for
example, to relieve boredom or depression or to calm anxiety. A lonely person may choose
to eat rather than to call a friend. A person who has returned home from an exciting evening
out may unwind with a late-night snack. These people may find emotional comfort, in part,
because foods can influence the brain’s chemistry and the mind’s response. Carbohydrates
and alcohol, for example, tend to calm, whereas proteins and caffeine are more likely to
stimulate. Eating in response to emotions and stress can easily lead to overeating and

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obesity, but it may be helpful at times. For example, sharing food at times of bereavement
serves both the giver’s need to provide comfort and the receiver’s need to be cared for and
to interact with others as well as to take nourishment.

Values

Food choices may reflect people’s religious beliefs, political views, or environmental
concerns. For example, some Christians forgo meat on Fridays during Lent (the period prior
to Easter), Jewish law includes an extensive set of dietary rules that govern the use of foods
derived from animals, and Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan (the
ninth month of the Islamic calendar). Some vegetarians select foods based on their support
for animal rights. A concerned consumer may boycott fruit picked by migrant workers who
have been exploited. People may buy vegetables from local farmers to save the fuel and
environmental costs of foods shipped long distances (see Photo 1-2). They may also select
foods packaged in containers that can be reused or recycled. Some consumers accept or
reject foods that have been irradiated, grown organically, or genetically modified, depending
on their approval of these processes (see Chapter and Highlight 19 for a complete
discussion).

Photo 1-2

To protect the environment, shop at local markets and reuse cloth shopping bags.
To enhance your health, keep nutrition in mind when selecting foods.

A photo shows a woman holding a cloth
bag full of fresh fruits and vegetables.

XiXinXing/ Shutterstock.com

Body Weight and Health

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Sometimes people select certain foods and supplements that they believe will improve their
body weight, health, or allergies and avoid those they believe might be detrimental. Such
decisions can be beneficial when based on nutrition science, but decisions based on fads or
carried to extremes undermine good health, as pointed out in later discussions of eating
disorders (Highlight 8) and dietary supplements commonly used by athletes (Highlight 14).

Nutrition

Finally, of course, many consumers make food choices they believe are nutritious and
healthy. Making healthy food choices 100 years ago was rather easy; the list of options was
relatively short and markets sold mostly fresh, whole foods (fresh foods such as
vegetables, grains, legumes, meats, and milk that are unprocessed or minimally processed.)
. Examples of whole foods include vegetables and legumes; fruits; seafood, meats, poultry,
eggs, nuts, and seeds; milk; and whole grains. Today, tens of thousands of food items fill the
shelves of super-grocery stores and most of those items are processed foods (foods that
have been intentionally changed by the addition of substances, or a method of cooking,
preserving, milling, or such.) . Whether a processed food is a healthy choice depends, in
part, on how extensively the food was processed. When changes are minimal, processing
can provide an abundant, safe, convenient, affordable, and nutritious product. Examples
of minimally processed foods include frozen vegetables, fruit juices, smoked salmon,
cheeses, and breads. The nutritional value diminishes, however, when changes are
extensive, creating ultra-processed foods (foods that have been made from substances
that are typically used in food preparation, but not consumed as foods by themselves (such
as oils, fats, flours, refined starches, and sugars) that undergo further processing by adding
a little, if any, minimally processed foods, salt and other preservatives, and additives such
as flavors and colors.) . Ultra-processed foods no longer resemble whole foods; they are
made from substances that are typically used in food preparation, but not consumed as
foods themselves (such as oils, fats, flours, refined starches, and sugars). These
substances undergo further processing by adding a little, if any, processed foods, salt and
other preservatives, and additives such as flavors and colors. Examples of ultra-processed
foods include soft drinks, corn chips, fruit gummies, chicken nuggets, canned cheese
spreads, and toaster pastries. Notably, these foods cannot be made in a home kitchen using
common grocery ingredients. Dominating the global market, ultra-processed foods tend to
be attractive, tasty, and cheap—as well as high in fat and sugar. Consumers who want
to make healthy food choices will select fewer ultra-processed foods and more whole foods
and minimally processed foods.

Review It

Describe how various factors influence personal food choices.

A person selects foods for a variety of reasons. Whatever those reasons may be,
food choices influence health. Individual food selections neither make nor break a
diet’s healthfulness, but the balance of foods selected over time can make an

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important difference to health. For this reason, people are wise to think
“nutrition” when making their food choices.

Chapter 1: An Overview of Nutrition: 1.1 Food Choices
Book Title: Understanding Nutrition
Printed By: Kusum Lamichhane (amazon.cute14@gmail.com)
© 2019 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

© 2021 Cengage Learning Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may by reproduced or used in any form or by any means –
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, or in any other manner – without the written permission of the copyright holder.

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