socio ecological model
1. Introduction
Over the years, there has been an increasing emphasis placed on encouraging Singaporeans to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle. This is evident from the recent launch of an iPhone app entitled “Healthy Chef” by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) in 2011 that provides healthy cooking recipes for Singaporeans. There is also the implementation of Healthier Hawker Programme which enlists the support of the hawkers to dish out healthier food choices for Singaporeans dining out. Despite all these efforts in place, the notion of adopting healthy eating lifestyle remains insignificant, especially amongst university students.
This essay shall focus on examining the barriers to the adoption of healthy eating lifestyle amongst university students wherein the socio-ecological model governing public heath will be utilized to analyze the barriers present at the individual, interpersonal, environmental and policy level.
2. Individual level
The hectic university life for most undergraduates has been cited in many research works as the primary cause that hampers ones motivation to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle. Exposed to stress coupled with the need to race against time to meet the datelines of endless assignments, Rubina et al.(2009) were certain that these factors pose a barrier to the adoption of healthy eating behaviors. Many of the undergraduates would either skip their meals or opt for convenient food options, such as fast foods, that allow them to eat and work at the same time (Savige et al., 2007). It is not that university students do not know about the importance of healthy eating, but rather, they lack the nutrition knowledge to guide them in selecting nutritious food that their body requires (Gan et al., 2011). Consequently, their concept of eating revolves around consuming sufficient food to stave off their hunger regardless of the nutritional content in the food.
In addition, majority of university students do not see a need to
Over the years, there has been an increasing emphasis placed on encouraging Singaporeans to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle. This is evident from the recent launch of an iPhone app entitled “Healthy Chef” by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) in 2011 that provides healthy cooking recipes for Singaporeans. There is also the implementation of Healthier Hawker Programme which enlists the support of the hawkers to dish out healthier food choices for Singaporeans dining out. Despite all these efforts in place, the notion of adopting healthy eating lifestyle remains insignificant, especially amongst university students.
This essay shall focus on examining the barriers to the adoption of healthy eating lifestyle amongst university students wherein the socio-ecological model governing public heath will be utilized to analyze the barriers present at the individual, interpersonal, environmental and policy level.
2. Individual level
The hectic university life for most undergraduates has been cited in many research works as the primary cause that hampers ones motivation to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle. Exposed to stress coupled with the need to race against time to meet the datelines of endless assignments, Rubina et al.(2009) were certain that these factors pose a barrier to the adoption of healthy eating behaviors. Many of the undergraduates would either skip their meals or opt for convenient food options, such as fast foods, that allow them to eat and work at the same time (Savige et al., 2007). It is not that university students do not know about the importance of healthy eating, but rather, they lack the nutrition knowledge to guide them in selecting nutritious food that their body requires (Gan et al., 2011). Consequently, their concept of eating revolves around consuming sufficient food to stave off their hunger regardless of the nutritional content in the food.
In addition, majority of university students do not see a need to