In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explains how he found that what makes exceptional people so exceptional is has less to do with some unique, personal, and individual characteristic that they are born with and much more to do with where they are from as well as the social, cultural, and economic influences that they experienced in life. Although Gladwell’s focus was on people’s psychology, his findings are also true of people’s food choices, dietary practices and eating habits. A comparison of the dietary choices and behaviors of a friend and myself is illustrative of this point.
Our childhood eating behaviors and choices remained quite different as young adults, but it is interesting to note that they actually switched. That is to say, my eating habits became better while my friends got worse. The most likely reason for this with me was my increase in education and knowledge about food as I got older. The most likely reason for my friend was the change of social settings. On the one hand, despite my childhood eating influences as I got older I became more interested in nutrition. As I learned more about nutrition I began and was increasingly able to change my dietary behaviors. For instance, in the beginning while I still might choose to eat at a fast food restaurant, my choice of a meal would necessarily be whatever the healthiest option was. The only issues that prevented me from eating even healthier were the traditional socio-economic and biological influences that had historically controlled my eating behaviors. To be sure when work or life was simply too busy or stressful, I would temporarily retreat back to my childhood, fast food eating ways. On the other hand, despite my friend’s healthy, home-cooked, and stable childhood diet, once he got his license and moved out of his parent’s house, the lack of the social influence of his family on his eating habits resulted in his development of extremely poor eating habits. Similar to my childhood eating habits, as a young adult, the majority of his cuisine was made up of fast food meals. Indeed, having a car, he loved the drive-thru menus of numerous fast food restaurants. However, after a term of complete reliance on fast food, he would suddenly “come to his senses” and “quit” fast food. Perhaps this change was brought on by a visited home and some criticism by his parents of his weight gain, which sometime reached nearly 20 kgs over his childhood weight; or perhaps the change was that he simply wanted to return to his health eating habits of childhood; but whatever the reason, during these times he start whatever extreme diet was popular at the time. Amazingly, he often would stay with the diet until he was able to regain his youthful physique. But soon after that, his lifestyle and the lifestyle of his friends soon led him back to the fast food life and his regaining of the weight he lost.
Interestingly, my friend and myself both now having very healthy eating behaviors. While the exact particulars of our behaviors are nonetheless different, they are by any analysis quite healthy. This is due to two turning point experiences that would forever change how we both approach our eating habits. The catalytic experience for me was finding a career in outdoor education. Through my work, my knowledge of food, nutrition, and healthy eating greatly expanded. To be sure, not only did I learn about healthy eating and health eating behaviors; I also actually learned how to prepare and cook my own nutritious and low-energy dishes. Accordingly, rather than needing to go out to eat, I could cook at home. Moreover, rather than not understanding what food were healthy to buy and eat, I learned how to read nutritional labels and ask for the freshest cuts or selections. Eventually, I became a vegetarian. While I am not perfect and sometimes revert to my old eating ways, for the most part I try to eat as healthy as possible. Similarly, the catalytic experience for my friend was his decision to go on a 40-day liquid only detox diet. After he completed the diet and lost his “fast food” weight gain, he became vegan and dedicated a part of himself to permanently taking care of his food choices. This has been supported by a group of friends that share his food vegan choice views and practices.
Interview Questions
1.) How would you describe your social-economic status as a child?
2.) Describe what you commonly ate as a child for each meal?
3.) How often did you eat at home? How often did you eat out?
4.) Did your eating habits change as a teenager/young adult? If so how?
5.) Why do think your eating habits changed?
6.) Are good habits easy to lose? A bad eating habits hard to break?
7.) What do you believe can facilitate good eating habits and/or bad eating habits?
8.) Nowadays, which do you prefer the convenience of eating out or authenticity of eating in? Why?
9.) Would you consider yourself a healthy eater now? Why?
10.) What do you feel is the largest influence on your current eating habits?
References
Bellisle, F. (2005). The determinants of food choice. Retrieved from http://www.eufic.org/article/en/expid/review-food-choice/
