Nutrition Controversies

Taste is the number one driving force when it comes to food choices (Sizer & Whitney, 2014).  Social pressure is often a factor in food choices when people are offered food and they have a hard time refusing (Sizer & Whitney, 2014).  Physical influences that lead to food choices include the availability/accessibility of food within a person’s environment and also foods that are in their area (Sizer & Whitney, 2014).  Psychological food choice influences include the emotional comfort that food can give people and eating certain foods out of habit (Sizer & Whitney, 2014). Another psychological influence that leads to food choices is hunger, pain, and tiredness (Mishra & Mishra, 2010). Hunger often times influences food choice due to impulse (Mishra & Mishra, 2010). Philosophical influences that lead to food choices includes what a person thinks is good for them to eat based off of nutrition or health benefits and what a person thinks will help control their weight (Sizer & Whitney, 2014). Culture is often behind a person’s food choices. Some people try to stick to cultural traditions and many cultural traditions involve food (Sizer & Whitney, 2014). Food can also have symbolic meaning to some people by offering their traditional or cultural food to others (Sizer & Whitney, 2014).

The Power of Our Food Choices