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Paula is a busy 46- year old, with a full-time, fast
paced, demanding office job. She often complains that she simply does not have time to eat well, although she knows she should. Paula is
exhausted and hungry at the end of the day and would rather order-in or pick something up on the way home from work to save the hassle of
cooking at home for her partner, Joe, and herself.
Does Paula sound like somebody you know?
Let's take a closer look at Paula's typical weekday food choices:
8:00 a.m. |
Paula races out the door to work; she grabs herself a
chocolate covered granola bar for breakfast. |
8:45 a.m. |
Paula 'needs' coffee to start every working day. On the
way to the office, Paula stops at the local 'drive-thru' for a hot
cup and a muffin. She finds it hard to pass up a two-for-one deal. |
10:30 a.m. |
Paula's coworkers run out to grab specialty coffee, and offer to bring one back for Paula. They also bring back pastry -
and one for Paula too in order to ease their guilt about eating pastries. |
12:30 p.m. |
Paula goes out for fresh air and a quick bite. Her lunch is usually a submarine sandwich that comes in a deal with a cookie
or chips and a pop - all for the same low price of just the sandwich! |
4:00 p.m. |
Paula isn't actually hungry for a snack to tide her over until dinner but sometimes the vending machine downstairs filled
with chocolate bars, potato chips, fruit drinks and pop is just too tempting. |
6:00 p.m. |
Paula arrives home. She is too tired to cook and welcomes the pizza dinner that Joe has picked up on his way home. |
9:00 p.m. |
Paula unwinds by watching TV. All the food commercials make her feel hungry, so she enjoys a microwave popcorn snack before
bed. |
Why is it hard for Paula to make healthy food choices?
"If healthy food is not available or accessible, then it's
more difficult to eat well."
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Making wise food choices is not as simple as it might seem. Many things, including our personal preferences, our cultural background,
our level of income and whether we live in cities or rural areas, affect our food choices.
A key factor, however, in making healthy food choices is the physical environment in which we live, work and play. In Paula's case,
making healthy food choices is hard because there are barriers in her environment. Things that work against Paula (and all of us) include:
Lack of access to healthy foods
We know from research that if healthy food is not available or accessible,
then it's more difficult to eat well. Paula cannot choose a healthier snack
when it is not available for purchase. When healthier food choices are available
at the vending machine or at the cafeteria, we can improve the quality of what
we eat.
Food is everywhere
Food is more available everywhere we go - gas stations, vending machines, department stores. Because food is more available, we are
continually encouraged to eat. It's no wonder that Paula and millions of other busy Canadians often succumb to the availability of low cost,
time-saving, fast food options, and choose to eat out rather than to cook at home.
Food marketing and advertising are everywhere
Everywhere we go there are advertisements for pop, candy, snacks and fast foods.
In 2004, $11.3 billion US was spent on advertising those foods as compared to
only $9.6 million spent to promote other healthy eating campaigns, like the
"5-A-Day" vegetables and fruit. Although this is US data, we are heavily influenced
by exposure to American advertising through cable/satellite television as well
as print media1.
Portion sizes are too big
Many of the food and beverages we buy in restaurants come in huge portions! Food and beverage portion
sizes have increased drastically, and have, in some cases tripled, over the past 15 to 20 years. Research shows that when portion sizes
are large, people tend to eat more food, without feeling any fuller and the more food we are confronted with, the more likely we will eat
it. It can be hard to listen to our 'hunger' and 'full' signals with all these tempting offers of "all-you-can-eat", "two for one" and "up
sizing" around us.
In addition, social influences in Paula's life are also an important consideration in her food choices. Her family, friends and co-workers
all play an important role in her attitude and behaviour.
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The weigh it is...
The environmental barriers to healthy eating have great implications for our national crisis of expanding waistlines.
We have seen a rapid increase in the weight of Canadian adults and children
over the past 15 years. According to Statistics
Canada, almost 25% of Canadian adults are at a weight that negatively
impacts their health. Health experts believe that the physical environment
plays a critical role in our nation's expanding waistline crisis2.
People struggle to eat well in environments that encourage food choices
that are high in energy and low in nutrients - as these are often the
easy choices.
We can't expect to change our physical environment overnight, however, if Canadians become more aware of the critical role the
environment plays in impacting our food choices, it will be an important first step. We can then make more informed choices when faced
with the everyday million messages about food availability, wherever we go.
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How Paula can make wise food choices…wherever she goes
Just like many Canadians, Paula wants to make wiser food choices. To do so, she needs to create an environment that supports healthy
eating where she lives, works and plays.
At home
Paula can start by stocking up her cupboards and fridge with healthy food choices. So when Paula needs "grab and go" meals or
snack solutions, they will be right at her finger tips.
Eating out
Paula can make wise food choices when eating out.
- One trick is to know what is in the foods she is eating. She can get to know healthy
cooking methods and ask lots of questions about what is in the menu items.
- Another trick is to remember that larger portion
sizes encourage people to eat more food, without feeling any fuller. In
most cases we are served more food and beverage than our body truly needs.
Perhaps Paula can take a portion of her lunch or dinner back to the office
or home and store it in the fridge for another day.
It also might be helpful for Paula to start off her meal by drinking some water. Drinking water might help Paula figure out if she is
truly hungry or just in need of satisfying thirst.
At the office
- Access to vending machines, stocked with healthy food options can satisfy hunger and
give us energy when we need it. Paula can make recommendations to her supervisor to look into making some changes to the vending machines
at her office.
- She can also create a "good food box" at her desk and fill it with healthier choices, like dried fruit mix with nuts, rice crackers with
peanut butter, canned or fresh fruit.
Paula is now wiser about her food choices
Paula is still a busy 46-year-old, with a full-time, fast paced, demanding office job. Her life is still hectic, but, she is now more
aware of how the environment plays a role in the choices she makes about healthy eating. She recognizes that her choices influence others
around her. She has made changes in her home and suggestions at her work and she's making efforts to make wise food choices, wherever she
goes.
Does Paula sound like someone you'd like to be?
1 K. D. Raine. Overweight
and Obesity in Canada: A population health perspective. Canadian Population
Health Initiative, Canadian Institute for Health Information. August, 2004,pp.
26.
2 S. K. Kumanyika, Minisymposium on obesity: overview and some strategic
considerations," Annual Review of Public Health 22 (2001): pp. 293-308.
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This article was prepared by Farah Bandali and Heidi Reisch, members, Dietitians of Canada, the Canadian Health Network 
