Healthy Diet and Psychology

Healthy Diet and Psychology

Doctors stress the importance of following a healthy diet, complete with fruit and vegetables, and whole grain produce, while added sugar and trans and saturated fats are to be avoided. However, while knowing this, there are tremendous differences between people in following doctors’ advice. Psychology may be the answer behind why people are so different in adherence to healthy diets.

For example, Lawrence et al. (2011) looked at women of different educational background to determine whether educational attainment and other psychosocial factors influenced healthy diet adherence in a large group of women. The scientists found that social support influenced healthy eating, as well as access to resources, such as financial resources. Self-efficacy was also important in determining adherence to healthy diet. Self-efficacy is defined by famous psychologist Albert Bandura as the belief in one’s capacity to control one’s life outcomes. Furthermore, what matters is one’s thoughts about one’s abilities, and not one’s actual skills. The matter seems to correspond to the quotation that “whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you’re right” (Unknown).

Changing one’s habits from unhealthy to healthy may be a long journey. Image: Elena

Thus, Lawrence et al. (2011) found that social support for healthy eating influenced the quality of diet of women of both low and high educational attainment. The researchers say that behaviour specific self-efficacy may also be responsible to dietary or other health behaviour adherence. In other words, the belief that one is able to stick with one’s fruit and vegetable consumption, in addition to receiving social support for healthy eating, was more likely to result in success in eating healthy. Giving food, its preparation and consumption a high level of importance also usually leads to healthier diets. An interesting variable is belief that healthy eating has long term benefits.

Also, despite physicians advice and wellness and fitness magazines articles, not everyone believes that eating healthy has benefits. Interventions designed to teach preparation skills, as well as underscore the importance and benefits of choosing a healthy diet are believed to be helpful in improving dietary quality.