“Discuss the Role of One or More Factors of the Influence of Attitudes Towards Food.”

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“Discuss the role of one or more factors of the influence of attitudes towards food.” There are some obvious factors that influence what we eat. Our diet must contain carbohydrates, fats, protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals in order for us to survive. Animals in the wild have established patterns of feeding, usually from a limited source. Of course, people today survive in harsh environments on what we call a subsistence diet – simply finding enough food to stay alive. Choice is not available in such conditions. However, in affluent societies, food choice is very wide. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins come in a bewildering number of food types and it is obvious that people develop their own preferences. Many factors influence our diet – psychological, social, cultural – showing that despite feeding behaviour having basic biological functions, it can be modified by many other influences. One influence for example being the role of learning. Parents, usually the mother, provide food for the child. Therefore, it is obvious that the mothers attitude to food will affect the child’s preferences. If the mother is concerned over health aspects of food she will work harder to make sure her child has a balanced diet. If the mother is less aware or less concerned over health issues such as obesity, she will take less care over the child’s diet. As expected, there is a significant correlation between the diets of mothers and children (Ogden 2007) Parents, especially the mother, provide key role models for the child. This relates to the psychodynamic approach (Freud), in which a child has stages of development, unsuccessful development of these stages can affect the child in their later, adult, life, often leading to conflicts and anxieties. For example, if at the oral stage, in which children learn how to eat and drink and the associations that come with this,

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