Contexts That Affect Eating
This section looks out how Eating Well means different things for different people, depending on their context. We break context into five headings: Mind, Body, Restrictions, Resources and Tastes.
Who you are leads you to eat in certain ways. If you understand some of the basics of what makes you choose to eat the way you do, it helps you to shape what eating well looks like for you. If you want to Eat Well, considering these things helps you have a better grasp of how to shift things in the right direction.
Five Food Contexts
The five food contexts describe factors that will affect what you can or will it and how you will go about eating.
- 1. Mind
- 2. Body
- 3. Restrictions
- 4. Resources
- 5. Tastes and Preferences
It's all about choice.On any given day or week you may eat well or badly but the key thing to remember is that every day you get to choose again. Where you can make your habitual choices better makes nourishing yourself well easier.
Eating well principles are generally quite simple. How we apply the principles is for us to choose. How different people eat can look very different. How the same person eats can also look different at different times, depending on what is going on in their lives.
There is no one size fits all model.
As we discuss some of the contexts that influence individual situations that affect food choices and how this impacts eating well, it is good to think carefully about what impacts your food and cooking choices. It then helps you to make the best use of all the practical tools.
Key Takeaways
Let's summarise some of the key take ways:
- Eating regular meals that include a wide range of foods help you to be more successful in student life in a range of ways. Skipping meals comes at a nutritional cost and can lead to extra financial costs.
- Eating lots of plants helps to keep your gut healthy and helps you to stay both physically and mentally healthy.
- Likes, dislikes, health conditions, physical activity, money, time, allergies, ability and knowledge of food all impact what you choose to cook, eat and how much you enjoy it.
- Tapping into the reasons that draw you to eat like hunger, boredom and stress along with the ability to recognise whether the reason has been satisfied is an important part of eating well. Tuning into your food and savouring it also allows you to eat better.
- Eating Well is a blend of eating a good mix of food and nutrients and the feelings that eating and food evoke.