Hunger, Stress, And Other Roadblocks To Healthy Eating

Poor diets and rising obesity rates among Americans persist despite increased public awareness of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. This report presents a consumer demand model to illustrate how both long-term health objectives and immediate visceral influences—long intervals between meals and eating away from home—can drive individuals’ food choices. The model predicts that cognitive dietary information will have less influence on food choices in the face of immediate visceral factors. [Excerpted from report]

According to this study, both long-term health objectives and immediate visceral influences (long intervals between meals, eating away from home, and time pressures) are drivers of individuals’ food choices.

When people extend the time between meals or consume more of their food away from home, they are more likely to consume more calories, including more from fats, alcohol, and added sugars on each occasion. The location where someone makes food choices significantly affects what and how much is consumed. Consequently, when people work more hours in a week, they are more influenced by the interval between meals and will choose a meal that is significantly higher in calories and lower in nutritional quality.