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The Importance of Healthy Food Choices in Childhood

Learn about the functions of food, the importance of developing healthy eating habits in childhood, and the factors that affect personal food choices. Understand why good food choices are essential for growth, repair, energy, and overall wellbeing.

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The Importance of Healthy Food Choices in Childhood

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  1. What I Will Learn • To explain what food is • To state the functions of food • To discuss why it is important to develop healthy eating habits in childhood • To recognise the relationship between healthy eating and making good food choices • To identify the factors that affect personal food choices

  2. Key Words • Food • Lifestyle • Growth • Repair • Heat • Energy • Regulate • Protect • Senses • Nutrition • Malnutrition • See Activity 2.2 in the TRB

  3. What is Food? Food is any solid or liquid that provides the body with nutrients. Food is necessary: • For growth and repair of body cells • To provide heat and energy for the body • To regulate and protect the body See Starter Activity 2.1 in the TRB

  4. We Also Eat Because We … • Feel hungry • Like the flavours and smells of different foods • Like eating with others • Enjoy celebrating special events with meals

  5. Food Choices Most foods will keep us alive, but to keep the body healthy we must choose nutritious food. • Good food choicesEating a wide variety of food helps us to maintain good health. • Bad food choicesLead to bad health. Some cancers, diabetes, heart disease and dental decay are associated with an unhealthy diet. See Activity 2.3 in the TRB

  6. Factors Affecting Food Choices and Eating Habits

  7. Factors Affecting Food Choices and Eating Habits (continued) • CAN SAM Cook Healthily? • Culture • Availability • Nutritional awareness • Senses • A person’s eating habits • Marketing and advertising • Cost • Health status

  8. Factors Affecting Food Choices and Eating Habits (continued) The country we live in and the group or race of people we belong to influence what we eat. • Different countries have their own food culture, e.g. Italians eat a lot of pasta and Chinese people eat a lot of rice. • Religious beliefs influence food choices, e.g. Hindus are often vegetarians and Muslims don’t eat pork. • Immigration and travel, television and the internet, have increased our awareness of world cuisine, different cooking techniques and recipes. See Activity 2.4 in the TRB

  9. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Availability • Today, a wider variety of different foods are readily available. Improvements in technology and transportation mean many foods are available all year around, including canned and frozen food. • Some foods are more available at certain times of the year when they are in season, e.g. Brussels sprouts at Christmas. • People living in rural areas may still have limited access to all available foods.

  10. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Nutritional Awareness • People today tend to be more health-conscious. They read food labels and make healthier food choices, e.g. food that is fresh, high in fibre, and low in sugar, salt and fat. • Many foods now have nutritional information labels to make it easier for consumers to make healthier choices.

  11. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Nutritional Awareness The work of The Health Promotion Unit and Bord Bia, school subjects like Home Economics, Wellbeing and Science, and TV programmes such as RTE’s ‘Operation Transformation’have all raised awareness.

  12. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Senses Our senses help us decide whether we like or dislike certain foods. SightWhen food is well presented and looks attractive it makes us want to eat it. • SmellCells in our nose pick up the odours of food. These make our mouths water and stimulate our digestive juices.

  13. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Senses (continued) • Touch We use our hands when preparing food and our tongue when eating. They sense the food’s temperature and texture. • HearingWe use our ears to hear the sounds associated with food and determine their freshness. • Taste Taste buds help us experience different flavours. See Activity 2.5 in the TRB

  14. Factors Affecting Food Choices: A Person’s Eating Habits • Our lifestyle affects our eating patterns and food choices. Busy people often choose convenience foods or fast food takeaways. • The type of work someone does and the hours they work also influence meal times and food choices. • Other influencing factors include a person’s leisure pursuits and their moral beliefs.

  15. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Marketing and Advertising The ways in which food products are marketed and advertised have been shown to influence what we choose to buy. • Advertising campaigns on television, radio, billboards and magazinesaim to increase awareness of a product with a specific target market in mind. • Marketing strategies influence our food choices with clever supermarket layouts, e.g. luxuries at eye level, special promotions and tasting sessions.

  16. Discovery Learning Watch the following M&S advertisements on YouTube: • Discuss how these advertisements appeal to our senses and make us want to eat the food.

  17. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Cost • The price of food affects our food choices, e.g. where we shop and the range of foods we can buy. • Wealthy people can afford to regularly eat out and travel abroad, which enables them to widen their experiences of different foods. • Families on a limited budget must buy cheaper foods and fewer luxury food items. However, it is possible to eat nourishing food on a limited budget. • See Activity 2.6 in the TRB

  18. Factors Affecting Food Choices: Health Status • A person's state of health will influence what foods they eat. • Special dietary needs must be taken into consideration when choosing foods. For example: • A person with high cholesterol will choose low-fat products. • A person with coeliac disease must restrict their gluten intake. • Pregnant women, older people and people recovering from illness have to be aware of their particular health status when choosing food. See Activity 2.7 in the TRB

  19. Summary • We need to eat to stay alive, but also for growth and repair of body cells, to provide heat and energy for the body and to regulate and protect the body. • We also eat because we feel hungry, to experience the flavours and smells of different foods, and because we like eating with others and celebrating special events. • The factors that affect our food choices includeCulture, Availability, Nutritional awareness, Senses,A person’s eating habits, Marketing and advertising, Cost and Health status.

  20. Homework • Design a poster or infographic to summarise the factors that affect food choices. OR • Design a presentation on the factors that affect food choices. OR • Design a mind map as a revision tool for factors that affect food choices.

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