“Sometimes They’ll Tell Me What They Want”: The Role of Family and Inter-Generational Food Preferences in the Food Decisions of Singaporean Women.
“Sometimes they’ll tell me what they want”: the Role of Family and Inter-Generational Food Preferences in the Food Decisions of Singaporean Women.
Appetite. 2013 Jun 10;
Ferzacca S, Naidoo N, Wang MC, Reddy G, Dam RM
This study examines responses to questions regarding food choices and decisions from 18 focus groups of women (n=130) age 30-55 years living in Singapore. Focusing on the responses to the questions in the interview protocol closely associated with decision making identified several themes. Food choices and eating decisions are composite phenomenon. These composite food decisions reflect flexible, open systems we refer to here as idiosyncratic regimes in which environmental, social, and intra-personal streams of influence are prioritized as individuals generate possible food decisions. Food decisions represent the imagined and actual presence of the “family” and differing inter-generational food preferences. As women attempt to create harmony from the diversity of food preferences they generate idiosyncratic regimes of food and eating reflecting “triadic streams of influence” manifest in the context of everyday contingencies of family and individual life. Recent concern in Singapore on the part of the Health Promotion Board and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore regarding the increasing prevalence of diet-related diseases and obesity among Singaporeans provided the impetus for conducting this qualitative study of food and eating among Singaporean women. HubMed – eating
The Four Undergraduate Years: Changes in Weight, Eating Attitudes, and Depression.
Appetite. 2013 Jun 10;
Girz L, Polivy J, Provencher V, Wintre MG, Pratt MW, Mark Pancer S, Birnie-Lefcovitch S, Adams GR
Weight, eating attitudes, and depression were assessed in male and female students over the four years of university attendance, and the relation of weight changes to eating attitudes and depression was explored using self-report measures (Restraint Scale, EDI, CES-D) collected at six time points during the university years. Results showed that, in general, weight increased between year one and year four of university attendance for both men and women, with men gaining an average of 4.1 kg and women gaining an average of 3.2 kg. Weight gain was associated with increased body dissatisfaction and negative eating attitudes among women, whereas weight loss was associated with decreased negative eating attitudes. Well-being and eating attitudes of men who gained weight did not differ, either initially or at year four, from those of men who remained weight stable, whereas men who lost weight reported higher negative eating attitudes both initially and at year four. Weight gain, therefore, appears to be associated with negative outcomes, including greater preoccupation with eating and weight, for women, but not for men, while weight loss improves the attitudes only of women. HubMed – eating
Obesogenic environmental influences on young adults: Evidence from college dormitory assignments.
Econ Hum Biol. 2013 May 22;
Kapinos KA, Yakusheva O, Eisenberg D
This study utilizes a natural experiment-conditionally random dormitory assignments of first-year US college students-to investigate the influence of obesogenic environmental factors in explaining changes in weight and exercise behavior during the 2009-2010 academic year. The design addresses potential selection biases resulting from the likelihood that individuals sort into built environments that match their preferences for exercise and healthy eating. We find some evidence that the food environment, specifically access to campus dining, significantly affected the weight of female students in our study. Females assigned to dormitories where the nearest campus dining hall was closed on the weekends gained about 1lb less over the course of the year than females assigned to dormitories near dining halls that were open 7 days a week. We also find some evidence that female who lived in close proximity to a grocery store gained less weight over the course of the year. Finally, females who lived closer to campus gym reported more frequent exercise over the course of the year. We do not find significant effects of the built environment on weight changes of males in our sample, but we are cautious to draw strong conclusions from this because the male weight change in our sample was quite small. HubMed – eating
Treating men with eating disorders in the NHS.
Nurs Stand. 2013 May 1-7; 27(35): 42-6
Dalgliesh J, Nutt K
Eating disorders are becoming increasingly common in men and can affect men at any age. However, research in this area remains scarce. This article explores the experiences of this group of men and considers whether they have differing care needs to those of women, and the potential implications of this for practice. These include the role of shame and stigma, risk assessment and the treatment environment. The authors highlight the importance of undertaking ongoing research in this area to provide evidence for the most effective and appropriate treatment for men with eating disorders. HubMed – eating