“I Prefer Eating Less Than Eating Healthy”: Drivers of Food Choice in a Sample of Muslim Adolescents
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Health and Weight Management
1.2. Food Practices
1.3. Adolescence and Autonomy
1.4. Research Aims
2. Methods
2.1. Study Design
- (1)
- What do you See happening here?
- (2)
- What is really Happening here?
- (3)
- How does this relate to Our lives/health?
- (4)
- Why does this situation, concern, problem, or strength exist?
- (5)
- How could this image Educate the community or policy makers etc.…
- (6)
- What can we Do about it?
2.2. Data Synthesis and Analysis
Transparency Declaration
2.3. Patient and Public Involvement
3. Results
3.1. Study Population
3.2. Summary of Photographs
3.3. Focus Group Themes
3.4. THEME 1: Food Preference and Other Determinants of Food Choice
3.4.1. Availability, Convenience, and Cost
3.4.2. School Food
3.4.3. Taste and Desire (e.g., Takeaways, Treats, and Eating Out)
3.4.4. Influencers (e.g., Social Media, Friends, and Parents)
3.5. THEME 2: Concept, Understanding and Importance of Health
3.5.1. Strong Polarisation of Healthy vs. Non-Healthy Options
3.5.2. Parents and School as Knowledge Providers
3.5.3. Health Decision Making
3.6. THEME 3: Developing Autonomy, Skills and Independence
3.6.1. Cooking and Preparing Independently (e.g., Breakfast and Snacks)
3.6.2. Helping in Food Practices (e.g., Meal Planning, Shopping, and Vegetable Preparation)
3.6.3. Personal Experiences of Developing Food Autonomy
3.7. THEME 4: Role of Community, Friends, and Family in Food Practices
3.7.1. Celebrations and Special Occasions
3.7.2. Cultural and Traditional Foods
3.7.3. Gifting and Sharing of Food
4. Discussion
4.1. Strengths
4.2. Limitations
4.3. Future Research
5. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | N (%) |
---|---|
Gender Male Female | 3(14%) 18 (86%) |
Ethnicity Asian or Asian British–Pakistani Asian or Asian British–Bangladeshi Black or Black British–African Arab Other Asian/Asian British Any other ethnic group (incl. Caucasian)/prefer not to say/unknown | 6 (28%) 3 (14%) 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 1 (5%) 7 (33%) |
Religion Islam Unknown | 17 (81%) 4 (19%) |
Self-reported health status Poor Average Good Very good Prefer not to say/unknown | 1 (4%) 5 (24%) 5 (24%) 5 (24%) 5 (24%) |
Highest level of parental education They did not go to school Secondary school/college University Prefer not to say/unknown/unanswered | 1 (4%) 3 (12%) 1 (4%) 16 (80%) |
English Indices of Multiple Deprivation (2019) (by postcode data) 0–10% most deprived 11–20% Prefer not to say/unanswered | 10 (48%) 2 (10%) 9 (42%) |
Theme | Sub-Theme | Example Quotes |
---|---|---|
THEME 1: Food preference and other determinants of food choice | Availability, convenience, and cost | “when I order food and it’s just for me, it does get expensive because on Uber you get the service fee and the delivery fee…for me that is expensive. Then sometimes I do like clear my basket and find something in the kitchen to eat”. (Session 2, group D, female) “I do [eat out of date chocolate] cuz it’s the only shop near me”(Session 1, group B, female) “I go to McDonald’s actually more than I realise because it’s literally a five-minute walk from my house.” (Session 1, group B, female) |
School food | “The food in Year 7 was sick fam [sic]. Used to make lasagnes and everything, and now it’s like…” (Session 1, large group, male). “Because they say it’s Halal, but it’s not, because basically, in order for it to be Halal, they need to just...so they say like a little prayer, which they do there… But when you stun it, it still feels pain, even if it’s for a slight moment, and that’s…that’s not Halal” (Session 1, large group, male) “Yeah, so I feel like they should cater to us as well. Actually, we don’t have much option.” (Session 1, large group, female). “Most people have school [meals], but no one really likes it, we’d only really get the paninis” (Session 2, group D, female) “The line’s fun. We just like standing in the line. That’s why we end up getting the food. We pay for the food, but then we don’t end up actually eating it.” (Session 2, group F, female) “We’re used to not eating in school…” (Session 1, large group, female) “for school meals that I make, I have a lot of choice. I make them myself.” (Session 1, group A, female) “I feel like they have to ask us, like if we actually like the food because most people, I’d say, they don’t like the food, but then, they don’t really care because they keep making the exact same thing like every single day. So, if they asked like, oh um, …give us a choice…” (Session 1, large group, male) | |
Taste and desire (e.g., takeaways, treats, and eating out) | “I feel like it’s my favourite food. I literally live off noodles.” (Session 2, group F, female) population “We have to restrict on a lot of things… When we go out, we have to find a Halal place. That’s why we don’t have a big option. (Yeah). We just have the same few places that we go.” (Session 2, group F, female). “My mum will pick what I eat. I just feel like it’s easier because you don’t actually have to think about it. Like you can eat whatever’s there.” (Session 1, large group, female). “Usually the food that’s more tastier, sometimes that’s the more unhealthy choice…” (Session 1, group C, female) “if like a takeaway said oh, they are giving free delivery today then I’ll just take that chance” (Session 2, group D, female) | |
Influencers (e.g., social media, friends, and parents) | “I personally…I like trying new things…but my family…they like to stick to the same thing…” (Session 1, group C, female). “I feel like…to me, when I cook something say I’ve seen a video on TikTok and like, I feel like I’m craving it…” (Session 2, group F, female) | |
THEME 2: Concept, understanding, and importance of health | Strong polarisation of healthy vs. non-healthy options | “This is a fruit salad…it’s healthy…I don’t recommend having this all the time...it will make you more skinny”, (Session 1, group A, female) “So like you haven’t ate all day. So then if you’ve balanced your diet out then it’ll help you for the next day” (Session 1, group A, female) |
Parents and school as knowledge providers | “The Eatwell Plate that you do like in primary school…I feel like it’s gotten into our head. We know what healthy is, but we still don’t eat it.” (Session 2, group F, female) “Like my mum, she always says to me, ‘Eat the chicken, not the like, too much of the rice. Eat more of the chicken. Cos, like, you want more protein than carbs.’ Like just stuff like that.” (Session 2, group F, female). “Yeah, you know, like when you look at something, you can just tell that’s really unhealthy but I’m still gonna eat it” (Session 2, group F, female). | |
Health decision making | “I’m probably just the most unhealthiest person on the planet. Yeah, I’m just like ordering McDonald’s or I just can’t survive another day.” (Session 2, group F, female) “I want to actually try eating healthy, but it’s just so much effort cooking all the like…” (Session 2, group F, female) “I prefer like… I prefer eating less than eating healthy” (Session 2, group F, female) “When I eat at home it’s more healthy, but when I eat out, it’s just takeaways. [I] Prefer takeaways.” (Session 2, group F, female) | |
THEME 3: Developing autonomy, skills, and independence | Cooking and preparing independently (e.g., breakfast and snacks) | “After school that’s when I have what my mum gives me…and then in between that I just kind of choose what I’m gonna have” (Session 2, group D, female). “I just have breakfast on the weekends.” (Session 1, group C, female) “I can make anything in the world, I just, I just experiment. I just did it myself, I’m a self-learner” (Session 2, group E, male) “I just don’t know how to cook, I mean, I could learn but I choose not to” (Session 2, group E, female). “I can’t cook, wish I could. My mum doesn’t want me to. She just says, “Focus on your studies and go upstairs.” So I can never…the most I can do is just like cut like vegetables and that’s it. Most I can do it right now is just washing the dishes…she says it’s faster by herself. I’m just holding her back.” (Session 1, group C, female) |
Helping in food practices (e.g., meal planning, shopping, and vegetable preparation) | “Yeah, I don’t cook, I don’t cook that much. But I do help my sister out …Like she gives me like little instructions. Like I don’t know how to actually do it….’you chop up this and then I’ll do this’” (Session 2, group F, female) “we have to wait [and all eat together in the evenings]”(Session 1, group B, female) “if I don’t like the food that my parents make, I would cook my own food” (Session 2, group E, female) “I get my own meals, I don’t order for anyone else…I don’t like what my mum cooks all the time” (Session 2, group D, female) | |
Personal experiences of developing food autonomy | “I tried making wedges like, you know, the takeaway ones and it didn’t work. I…used gasoline instead of normal oil…like the oil you put in the car…They didn’t die, they didn’t die. They just got food poisoning. They didn’t die though.” (Session 2, group F, female). “I wake up. I won’t have breakfast. If it’s a school day, I’ll just have a cup of tea. Then I’ll survive all of school without food, maybe a chocolate bar or something. And then, three, four o’clock, I’ll eat and then I’ll go sleep for a bit and then wake up around eight and eat again. And I’ll probably eat again around like half 12 and then go to sleep.” (Session 2, group F, female) “after school yeah we go [to] shops and takeaways” (Session 2, group D, female) | |
THEME 4: Role of community, friends, and family in food practices | Celebrations and special occasions | “I tend to go out with family for meals… Sometimes I do go with my friends. But when you’re with family, you can travel to more places… But when you’re with just with your friends it’s preferred to go eat locally or somewhere that’s within walking distance” (Session 2, group E, female). “Everyone comes to my house, my mum’s the oldest” (Session 2, group D, female). |
Cultural and traditional foods | “…we have different foods that we eat. Like Indian...South Asian food. Yeah, we eat like, yeah, food that has a lot of like spices in it. That’s why we’re not used to that” (Session 2, group F, male) “she [mum] made rice and curry, she made roast chicken, kebabs, samosas” (Session 2, group D, female). “in like Asian like households normally we have more oily food like everyday. I personally don’t think is healthy” (Session 1, group A, female) “I feel in our culture…in my culture, we eat a lot of carbs [carbohydrates]. We literally... like we have rice or like chappatis, yeah, with like every... almost every meal. I don’t have it, but like my parents, they can literally eat rice and curry every meal every single day.” (Session 2, group F, female) If i could cook, […] I wouldn’t be making curry all the time. I like pasta” (Session 2, group E, female) | |
Gifting and sharing of food | “This is Ramadan Mubarak, ok. It tells us more about my culture and religion…so it is mostly about religion, and how we normally share food, give food, and also receive food from other people” (Session 1, group C, female). “And there’s like charity work as well. So you can help people… Or they could give like donations, you could buy food baskets and give it to the people.” (Session 1, group C, female). “It doesn’t matter because it’s more about giving than receiving. So, like my mum, she makes food for everyone. She never expects anything back. She gives it to the neighbours, my family…” (Session 1, group C, female). “I’ll be unhealthy [driving to a takeaway] but it means I can spend time with my sister” (Session 2, group F, female) “Once every two weeks, like my whole… like uncles, aunties will all go to a restaurant. Full family meal. And then it’s like fun because all the families together when there’s food, they’re all happy.” (Session 2, group F, female). “And you’ll never see an angry person when you go out to eat food, unless they’re paying. I’ve never paid, so I don’t really…”. (Session 2, group F, female). |
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Nield, L. “I Prefer Eating Less Than Eating Healthy”: Drivers of Food Choice in a Sample of Muslim Adolescents. Adolescents 2024, 4, 41-61. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents4010004
Nield L. “I Prefer Eating Less Than Eating Healthy”: Drivers of Food Choice in a Sample of Muslim Adolescents. Adolescents. 2024; 4(1):41-61. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents4010004
Chicago/Turabian StyleNield, Lucie. 2024. "“I Prefer Eating Less Than Eating Healthy”: Drivers of Food Choice in a Sample of Muslim Adolescents" Adolescents 4, no. 1: 41-61. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents4010004
APA StyleNield, L. (2024). “I Prefer Eating Less Than Eating Healthy”: Drivers of Food Choice in a Sample of Muslim Adolescents. Adolescents, 4(1), 41-61. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents4010004