The Future of Dietary Behaviour?

I remember when I was younger, I used to come home from school, watch a little TV, then start my homework before our evening meal at around 6.00pm. It was routine: we’d sit around as a family and eat a two course meal. My mother, being very health conscious, would make a salad for us to start with — which I ate begrudgingly — then it would be followed by a main course of a home-made meal and, for the most part, I really enjoyed this.

Along with the meal, we’d chat about the day’s events: it was a time to promote family values and interact.

What’s happened?

I’m sure some families still do this, and I can certainly think of a few that do, but there are fewer that sit down daily, as a family, for a meal. At best, most families sit down once per week.

Now, foods are often prepared separately and meals are frequently quick-to-make ‘meals’ with obvious adverse health (and cost) implications. A quick Google search will reveal the rise in frequency of consumption of fast foods. Not only is family interaction suffering as a consequence (a debate for another article), but good nutrition is too.

It has been demonstrated that children learn eating behaviour from their parents; if they’re not sitting with them, how can they learn? They learn that what they’re eating is an acceptable diet.

It’s too soon to realise the long term consequences of this change in eating habits, but it is apparent that childhood and young adult obesity is on the rise.

Adults are also losing out nutritionally; they’re not eating the good foods they probably did as kids. We’re in a fast-moving world where eating is secondary.

What is the future of dietary behaviour? Where do we go from here? Education can take us so far, but people need to take responsibility for their own health. Can families return to communal meals with improved food choices, or is this merely a pipe dream? Should we be looking elsewhere like specially formulated, nutritionally-complete food powders?

Food for thought…