2.5 Healthy Eating Habits and Influences
Notes
Food choices are shaped by culture, family, budget, friends, advertising and taste. A positive approach focuses on adding nourishing foods and listening to your body.
- Hunger and fullness cues tell you when to start and stop eating. Eating slowly helps you notice them.
- Include foods from your family's culture and traditions as part of balanced eating.
- Plan snacks that combine nutrients, such as apple slices with peanut butter or yogurt with fruit.
- Advertising often promotes foods high in sugar or salt. Ask: who made this, and what do they want me to do?
- Food insecurity means not always having enough food. School meal programs and food banks can help.
- Bodies grow at different rates in the teen years, and no food is "good" or "bad" as a person. If worries about food or body image affect your daily life, talk to a trusted adult or a doctor.
Practice
Which snack combines more than one nutrient group?
Fruit gives carbohydrates and fiber and peanut butter gives protein and fat.
Hunger and fullness cues are signals that:
Listening to cues supports healthy eating.
A teen sees an ad where a celebrity says a sugary drink "gives you energy for the whole day." What is the best response?
Advertising has a sales purpose, so check the facts.
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