After I shifted to New York for my masters program, I realized I got heavily dependent on junk and unhealthy food owing to the fact that I did not know how to cook as well as did not have much time to invest in the process of cooking. Not only was I guilty for these unhealthy food habits that were bad for my body but I also starting gaining weight.
Post some user research and interviews with students and others, I figured that's not just me. This is the story of a majority of people. Most people want to have good and healthy eating habits but either lack time and knowledge for the same or presume this habit to be out of their pockets.
By time and knowledge I mean that people either tend to confuse healthy or minimal eating with dieting or do not have the expertise in the same and take this to be a time consuming activity.
I interviewed a bunch of people form different cultures and age groups on their eating habits and routine. Following is a subset of questions I put across to them,
What does your regular day routine look like?
What motivates you to go for run/walk/gym?
Tell me about your cooking/eating habits during the week.
Can you describe the process of how you decide what to cook everyday? And what in your opinion is healthy?
Below are the facts I gathered from my research around the topic,
Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day.
About 90% of Americans eat more sodium than is recommended for a healthy diet. They eat less than the recommended amounts of vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, dairy products, and oils. Typical American diets exceed the recommended intake levels or limits in four categories: calories from solid fats and added sugars; refined grains; sodium; and saturated fat.
Recent reports project that by 2030, half of all adults (115 million adults) in the United States will be obese.
Based on the response I received from the interviews and my research I deduced the following,
Lack of knowledge: Response: When I asked most people what they mean by healthy, they said more veggies, salads, fruits or food items high in protein example eggs, chicken, meat, fish etc.
Problem: Most of them just look up for healthy food recipes and try them out, without having the proper knowledge of what is healthy for their body and what is not.
Response: Most people complained that they feel hungry after sometime post meals and to counter that they end up eating junk food.
Problem: People lack knowledge about portions of food and the right diet according to their body.
Response: Do not feel motivated enough and hence tend to miss out on regular exercise.
Problem: People do not know the importance of exercise and why it is required to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Response: Most of people get frustrated either cooking the same meal daily or spending too much time and effort on searching recipes along with buying a lot of supplies for the same.
Problem: People are not aware of what they're missing out on. They primarily need guidance on what to eat and maybe laid out plans and instructions on what's good for them in some cases.
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