Simaly Rojas

How Does Lifestyle Affect

Our Eating Habits?
By: Simaly Rojas, Student
Norwalk Community College
Introduction
The motivations, needs and wants of people as a
society are ever changing. It becomes

In the paper Time Pressures on Employed

increasingly competitive and harder to keep pace

Parents Affect Families Diets, Research done

as the way of living, or lifestyle, manifests with

by Dr. Carol Devine, Professor at Cornell

coping with peoples social, physiological and

University College of Human Ecology, presents

economic environment. Each day, people

information on how the working conditions of

struggle to keep families afloat as workloads

low income families affect the food choices

increase, bills and debt skyrocket and wages

made by the family as a whole. Dr. Devine

crawl to keep up. Family time and values, as

notes, Long hours and irregular schedules mean

well as health, are impacted as families are not

more time away from family, less time for

finding the time to sit down and share dinner

household work, difficulty in maintaining a

like it was done years ago, diminishing

regular meal pattern and less opportunity to

nutritional value in the process.

participate in family meals. Depending on the

income level of a person or average household

Expert Opinions

income of families, many resort to ordering

How does lifestyle affect our eating habits?

takeout food when possible or even skipping

Because of the pressure to be all that you can be

meals. Dr. Devine includes some ideas and tips

or to provide for your family in these high

for what employers and individuals can do to

standard times, many people dont realize how

balance, or cope as Dr. Devine puts it, with the

the lack of time and pressures applied from

pressures of lifestyle, family time and health.

employers and education affect the growth of

our future. With family values becoming a

Furthermore, in Eliza Cook and Rachel

bigger discussion topic, more experts are

Danifons Article, Do family Meals really make

analyzing people and the effects their lifestyle is

a Difference?, they refer to Hummons and

having on the growth of their family values and

Fieses 2011 research and point out that family

even their health.

meals has been linked to 35% less likely to

engage in disordered eating, 24% more likely to

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Simaly Rojas

eat healthier foods and 12% less likely to be

company, acknowledges that

overweight. The income level also seems to

Lifestyles have changed and Americans want

play an important role on the frequency of

to eat big and on the run. In the 1970s,

mealtimes. Cook and Duniform state that Less

consumers demanded more for their money

frequent family meals generally associates with

leading companies to create family sized food

lower socioeconomic status, maternal

portions at a more affordable cost to the

employment, single parenthood and poor quality

producer and consumer. Because of what came

family relationships. In this same article,

to be known as Portion-distortion, obesity has

information found by Kelly Musick and Ann

increased due to overeating. Nestle states

Meier in their recent research titled, Assessing

Overeating becomes even easier when food is

Causality and Persistence in Associations

everywhere. Lower income families tend to fall

between Family Dinners and Adolescent Well-

under the obesity rate charts due to the lack of

Being, links lower levels of depressive

time preventing (healthier) family meals, or

symptoms to family dinners. Family meal

meals heavy on sodium and fats made to be

analysis has suggested that there is great benefit

portable. David L. Katz, from Yale University,

to a childs mental health, decreased substance

admits that Companies are in a difficult

abuse and delinquency and even a more

position. Ultimately they sell food and staying in

balanced weight and diet. It is possible that

business means selling the food people want.

factors that may lead to these benefits incudes

(Quoted in Nestle)

opportunity for communication, the progressive

development of family cohesion, relating to one
another and empathy during dinner. Musick
Lifestyles have changed and
Americans want to eat big and on the
run.

and Meier have found that children with higher

frequency of family dinner meals Yield the
most positive benefits for children overall and
are less likely to become overweight.
On the other and, many people point fingers to
the food industry when it comes to the issue of
unhealthy weight gain and habits such as
obesity. The economic status and way of living
greatly contribute to the rise of this epidemic. In
the article, The Blame Game and Obesity in
America, a representative from Nestle, the

Meanwhile, in the paper Family Meal Ideal is

Stressful, Impossible for Many families Dr.
Sarah Bowen, an associate professor of
sociology at NC State and co-author of the
paper, and colleagues state that popular social
media is advocating the importance of home
cooked meals by urging families to return to

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Simaly Rojas

their kitchens. Research has also shown that

My survey was equipped with questions geared

home cooked meals family dinners promote

toward their daily lifestyles and their current

physical health and a healthy well-being. As the

dinner customs.

study progresses, however, there have been

To determine if economic status plays an

findings that while family dinner is important

important role in the lifestyle affecting eating

for health reasons, it may be a cause of stress in

habits, I asked for approximate house-hold

some families. Taking financial status into

income. Three (21.4%) reported an average

consideration (which has been found to

household income of $0-49,999. Ten (71.43%)

determine lifestyle) it has shown that middle

reported an average of $30,000-174,999 and

class and poor families were not able to provide

only one (7.14%) reported $200,000 and up.

their kids with the best meal possible. Many

In order to determine if the earnings of a

could not afford organic food, fresh produce or

household income was linked to the frequency

find transportation to grocery stores.

of dinner with family and/or friends, I asked

about how many times, in a typical week, you sit

Methods

down with family and/or friends for dinner.

In an attempt to find the answer to my research

Five (35.71%) reported only about 1-2 times per

question, how does Lifestyle affect our Eating

week, three (21.43%) reported 2-4 times a week

Habits? I created a survey via

and only one (7.14%) reported none/No time.

SurveyMonkey.com and distributed the link to a

I also included questions about dinner times,

few known friends and onto Facebook for a

frequency of home cooked meals and ordering

variety of different people with different

takeout, is the person involved in school, work

lifestyles.

or both and if they have kids. These questions

The survey contained 10 questions total and

helped gauge their busy lifestyles and impact on

from my 14 responses yielded, seven (50%)

eating habits.

were females and seven (50%) were males.

Additionally, one (7.14%) reported being within
the ages of 18-24, six (42%) within the 25-34
age range and seven (50%) between the ages of
35-44 years old.

Results

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Discussion
References

The findings of my field research seems to

suggest that people with higher income have

Dr. Devine, Carol. Time Pressures on

Employed Parents Affect Families Diets
Cornell University College of Human
Ecology. Web. 27 September 2016
http://www.human.cornell.edu/outreach/upl
oad/CHE_DNS_Devine_Time.pdf

Cook, Eliza; Dunifon, Rachel Do Family

Meals Really Make a Difference?
Cornell University College of Human
Ecology. Department of Policy Analysis and
Management. 2012. Web. 27 September
2016
http://www.human.cornell.edu/pam/outreac
h/upload/Family-Mealtimes-2.pdf

better ability to make the time for family dinner

and home cooked meals. By corollary, my data
also suggests, what studies have also found, that
poor or low income families may lack the
resources for healthier foods and lack time due
to multiple jobs and busy schedules.

Conclusion
The results from my field research partially
confirms what experts have stated about lifestyle
and eating habits, as well as challenges them to
continue to observe and analyze this topic
further.

(Musick, K. & Meier, A. (Forthcoming). Assessing

Causality and persistence in associations between
family dinners and adolescent well-being. Journal
of Marriage and Family.)

Reviewing the information I have gathered,

financial status seems to determine peoples

Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie; Hirsh, J.M. The

Blame Game and Obesity In America.
CBSNews.com. 20 March 2006. Web. 27
September 2016.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-blamegame-and-obesity-in-america/2/

Dr. Bowen, Sarah Family Meal Ideal is

Stressful, Impossible for Many Families. 3
September 2014. Web. 27 September 2016.
http://news.ncsu.edu/2014/09/bowen-outof-the-kitchen-2014/

lifestyles and eating habits. While any family

can sit down and share dinner with loved ones,
the frequency and quality are greatly affected,
compromising health and family values.

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