Do you need to change your behaviour around food?
Written by Millie Rose
Introduction to behavior change and food
Healthy eating isn’t just about knowing what‘s good for you, it’s also about changing the habits and behaviour that shape your food choices. The way we think, the people around us, and even the environment we live in all play a big role in what ends up on our plates. In this blog, we’ll explore:
- The psychology behind food choices
- How habits form and how to break unhelpful habits
- The role of social influences in eating
- Different types of motivation
- Nudges and practical tips for lasting behaviour change
Psychology of Food Choices
Psychology looks at why we choose the foods we do. It’s powerful because small changes in how we think or what we’re surrounded by can shift our eating patterns. One important idea here is cognitive bias. This means automatic errors in thinking that affect how we see food and the choices we make, often without realising it (Da Silva, Gupta and Monzani, 2023). Simply, our brain sometimes tricks us into making food choices that don’t always match our long-term goals. Cognitive biases often show up in emotional eating (my blog on intuitive vs mindful eating may be helpful). This is when we eat to try and change how we feel rather than because we’re hungry.
- For example, you might grab a snack because you’re stressed, sad or bored, believing it will make you feel better in the moment
Emotional eating is guided by feelings rather than hunger cues, and it can have a big impact on our food decisions (Betancourt-Núñez et al., 2022). It can also reduce appetite at first, but then lead to hunger and overeating later in the day (Betancourt-Núñez et al., 2022).
30% have increased appetite when experiencing a negative emotion
48% have decreased appetite when facing a negative emotion
22% appetite doesn’t change when facing a negative emotion
(Betancourt-Núñez et al., 2022)
Habit Formation and Breaking Bad Eating Habits
Food habits can form at any time, from childhood into adulthood. There are many factors to forming habits, such as work pattern, taste and texture preferences, culture, budgets and surrounding environment (Fisberg, Giogia and Maximino, 2023).
There are two types of behaviour:
Habitual: a repeated behaviour cued by the environment/external stimuli (Brown, 2024), they are automatic or unconscious
Non-habitual: a behaviour followed after consideration, they are deliberate and conscious (Wood, Quinn and Kashy, 2002)
Habitual problems can be problematic. But why?
- They are automatic, this means you may eat without thinking, for example, grazing while watching a show
- The environment triggers eating, without hunger being present, e.g. you walk past a bakery and get hit by the smell of fresh bread and croissants, which makes you want one
- When a behaviour is unconscious, you’re less likely to reflect, causing repeated behaviour
4 things we can do:
- Interrupt the environment, for example, moving snacks or deciding snacks before starting a show and putting them into a bowl so you are aware of the amount you are eating. Or cross to the other side of the road, so you don’t have to walk past the bakery.
- Try mindful eating (see blog), this will help you to identify if you are actually hungry
- Find an alternative, for example, if you are considering having a snack but you are not hungry, you could opt for a hot drink instead, such as herbal tea. Or notice that you are just bored and find something else to do such as reading, walking around the block or phoning a friend
- Over time, these unhealthy habitual behaviours will change into healthier habitual behaviours. This can be hard, take time and often needs specialist support from a health professional.
The Role of Social Influences in Eating
Family, friends and your social circle can impact your food choices as we often mirror what people around us are doing. This may happen with portion sizes, time of eating and food choice.
Follow these 3 tips to navigate social influences and peer pressure:
- Trust yourself
o Eat intuitively, using your hunger cues to know your portion sizes
o If you are going out for food, you are making non-habitual decisions, so take a moment to think which dish will make you feel your best - Surround yourself with positive and supportive people
o If your goal is to make healthier decisions, to improve your health, it is important to be around people who respect and support this
o Communicate with the people you’re with, for example, I am trying to eat more whole foods because they make me feel more energised and full helping me hit my weight goals - Maintain motivation
o Find a way to remind yourself why you are changing your behaviour surrounding food, for example, reflecting in a journal
Motivation: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
Intrinsic motivation = doing a behaviour because you want to, perhaps because you enjoy it or you want to reap the benefits of the action, for example, increasing your exercise from 1 x week to 3 x week because you want to feel fitter and stronger
Extrinsic motivation = doing a behaviour for external rewards or to avoid judgement, for example, following a diet for praise from family or friends (Morris et al., 2022)
What drives sustainable behaviour change?
- Extrinsic motivation can start positive behaviour change by holding accountability, however intrinsic motivation is more sustainable long-term
- Shifting to intrinsic motivation will mean you find enjoyment in the positive behaviour, making it easier to sustain. E.g cooking with more colourful ingredients makes the meal more appealing to your whole family. Aiming for more colour means you will likely have more fibre in your diet which will keep you full, prevent some diseases andl help feed your ‘good’ bacteria in your gut which may improve your skin, mood etc
- Intrinsic motivation is also less reliant on environment, as you are not relying on external praise to sustain the behaviour
Using Nudges to Improve Eating Habits
Nudges are subtle prompts that may help you change your eating behaviours. Some nudges that may help you:
- Keep fruit and vegetables where they’re easily seen and accessible, for example,
chopped fruit in the fridge ready to eat or whole fruit kept out on your table where you’ll see it - Keep a can of beans or lentils next to your cooking oil (or something that you use for most dinners) so that you remember to add them. They are a good source of plant-based protein, fibre and nutrients
- Share your health targets with a friend or relative for accountability
- See a nutritionist, who can help keep you accountable, remove specific barriers that are blocking your health goals and support you to reach targets that you may be struggling to reach by yourself
Practical Tips for Lasting Behaviour Change
- Identifying problem behaviour
- e.g. grazing on food
2. Identifying the effect of the problem behaviour
- e.g. you feel full at mealtimes, causing more snacking in between meals
3. Identifying a solution to the problem behaviour
- e.g. have more filling and balanced meals including carbs, protein, some fat and fibre. Start with breakfast by swapping white bread for whole grain bread (complex carbs). Or swap coco pops for Weetabix or oats- see overnight oat recipe here)
4. Identifying the positive effect of changing your problem behaviour
- e.g. having more energy throughout the day/ feeling better in your clothes for not overeating
5. Holding yourself accountable
- e.g. goal setting and progress tracking
6. Overcoming setbacks
- Create a system of accountability and support
Conclusion: Long-term Healthy Eating
Embracing food change as a continuous process, not a quick fix, can take time to figure out. However, by making small changes over time to your behaviour and environment, you can make positive changes to your relationship with food and your diet.
References
Betancourt-Núñez, A., Torres-Castillo, N., Martínez-López, E., De Loera-Rodríguez, C.O., Durán-Barajas, E., Márquez-Sandoval, F., Bernal-Orozco, M.F., Garaulet, M. and Vizmanos, B. (2022). Emotional Eating and Dietary Patterns: Reflecting Food Choices in People with and without Abdominal Obesity. Nutrients, [online] 14(7), pp.1371–1371. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14071371.
Brown, R. (2024). Habitual Health-Related Behaviour and Responsibility. Oxford University Press eBooks, [online] pp.210–226.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192872234.003.0010.
Butcher, L.M., Batt, C., Royce, S., Barron, E., Giglia, R. and Begley, A. (2024). Analysing the behaviour change techniques in an effective food literacy program to inform future program design. Nutrition & Dietetics. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1747-0080.12908.
Celis-Morales, C., Livingstone, K.M., Marsaux, C.F., Macready, A.L., Fallaize, R., O’Donovan, C.B., Woolhead, C., Forster, H., Walsh, M.C., Navas-Carretero, S., SanCristobal, R., Tsirigoti, L., Lambrinou, C.P., Mavrogianni, C., Moschonis, G., Kolossa, S., Hallmann, J., Godlewska, M., Surwillo, A. and Traczyk, I. (2017). Effect of personalized nutrition on health-related behaviour change: evidence from the Food4Me European randomized controlled trial. International journal of epidemiology, [online] 46(2), pp.578–588. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw186.
Da Silva, S., Gupta, R. and Monzani, D. (2023). Editorial: Highlights in Psychology: Cognitive bias. Frontiers in Psychology, [online] 14(1242809). doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1242809.
Fisberg, M., Gioia, N. and Maximino, P. (2023). Transgenerational transmission of eating habits. Jornal de Pediatria, 100.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jped.2023.11.007.
Morris, L.S., Grehl, M.M., Rutter, S.B., Mehta, M. and Westwater, M.L. (2022). On What Motivates us: a Detailed Review of Intrinsic v. Extrinsic Motivation. Psychological Medicine, 52(10), pp.1–16.
Wood, W., Quinn, J. and Kashy, D. (2002). Habits in Everyday Life: Thought, Emotion, and Action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, [online] 83(6). doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1281.
Shivani Kachwaha, Kim, S.S., Das, J.K., Rasheed, S., Gavaravarapu, S.M., Pooja Pandey Rana and Menon, P. (2024). Behavior Change Interventions to Address Unhealthy Food Consumption: A Scoping Review. Current Developments in Nutrition, 8(3),
pp.102104–102104. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.102104.