Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents different literature and related studies which have given further knowledge about the research. Foreign Literature According to the book Nutrition for Healthy Living by Wendy J. Schiff with contributions from Gordon M. Wardlaw, Food is a basic human need for survival. You become hungry and search for something to eat when your body needs nutrients, the life-sustaining substances in food. Nutrients are necessary for growth, maintenance, and repair of your bodys cells. However, you have no instinctual drive that enables you to select the appropriate mix of nutrients your body requires for proper functioning.1 In order to gain complete nutrition, you need to eat the right kind of food; And to distinguish the right kind of food, you need to learn about the nutritional value of foods and its effect on your diet by understanding the food-related behavior. A person can better understand if he is eating the right kind of food by observing the food he regularly eats and the variety of the food he eats. According to Gordon M. Wardlaw and Anne M. Smith authors of the book Contemporary Nutrition, Variety in your diet contains sufficient nutrients. A variety of foods within any given food group rather than eating the same old thing day after day.

Variety makes meals more interesting and helps ensure that a diet contains sufficient nutrients. A variety of foods is best because no one food meets all your nutrient needs.2 Merely having the information about the nutrients found in food is not enough for a person to change his eating pattern. He needs a driving force for him to change it. One way of obtaining a balanced diet is by consuming a variety of food from the six major food groups every day. By doing this they can be ensured of a balanced diet; but it doesnt necessarily mean that people would use the balanced diet as a basis of what they really eat. In adolescents, teenagers lack time, money, and effort to prepare and eat the right kind of food. This statement was affirmed by L. Kathleen Mahan and Sylvia Escott-Stump authors of Krauses Food and Nutrition Therapy, stating that Food habits that are seen more frequently among teens than other age-groups include irregular consumption of meals, excessive snacking, eating away from home (especially fast-food venues), dieting, and meal skipping. There were several reasons as to why teenagers tend to eat as they do so, these reasons contributed to their behavior included decreasing influence of family and increasing influence of peers on food and health choices, increasing exposure to media, increasing prevalence of employment outside the home, greater discretionary spending capacity, and increasing

responsibilities, leaving less time for teens to eat meals with their families3. Most adolescents are aware of the importance of nutrition and the components of a healthy diet; however, there are many barriers to choosing healthy foods and beverages. Teens cite taste, time, and convenience as the key factors that affect their food and beverage choices.

Local Study Teenagers especially those who are in the tertiary level of education have developed bad meal patterns due to several factors such as time constraints and food allowance. Students eat during their available time and eat food that fits their budget and not during the ideal time and the ideal meal pattern. According to the research study conducted by the HRM students entitled Meal Pattern of the three selected colleges in CEU Mendiola, Manila, Most of the students, both genders eat the right or proper meal pattern however they eat too much and the metabolism of their body cannot hold it any longer. It also showed that both male and female are food conscious. The researchers also stated that allocation of resources from the university fund should be done and nutrition counseling of the students must also be provided, so that they can develop further their health and lifestyle.4 Health is very important; students need to learn how to value this through developing good eating habits. Attention should be put on this matter for the efficiency of a person largely depends on his health. Foreign Study Choosing the kind of food we eat is one of the things that have been set aside by other people thinking that it is not important to note the food we take and how it affects our health. There are instances that we cannot blame the person because our food intake pattern is affected by different factors.

Food intake patterns are guide in choosing the right food to eat to promote health and to prevent nutrient inadequacies. Consumers should follow this food guidance in order to reduce the risk of having chronic diseases because a study conducted in Canada, entitled Eating Well with Canadas Food Guide (2007): Development of the Food Intake Pattern that Revealed convincing evidence on the relationships between: 1.) Consumption of vegetables and fruits and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer; 2.) Consumption of whole grains and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease; 3.) Consumption of milk products and reduced risk of osteoporosis and 4.) Consumption of fish, particularly fatty fish, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.5 Food Intake patterns are not easily formulated, it has been transformed several times to come up with a pattern that will achieve the ideal food intake and that will suit everyone. This however contributes to good eating habits of each individual. Most people are not aware that it is better to have a pattern of eating rather than having a dietary pattern.