Shocking Facts:
You can eat a healthy meal that tastes good
You can eat a healthy meal that is cheap
You can eat a healthy meal that doesn’t take much time to prepare
You can eat a healthy meal that doesn’t require high levels of cooking skills
You can eat a healthy meal that aligns with your culture
You can eat a healthy meal when you go out or are with friends
You can eat a healthy meal that you enjoy, that tastes good, is aligned with your goals, aligns with your values and is convenient.
Can you consistently consume meals that tick the 3 boxes of Goals, Values and Convenience?
Now termed the FN’Sweet Spot.
A new term and strategy to help promote adherence and sustainability for your way of eating.
This is a truly vital component of healthy eating because “Healthy eating is an important determinant of health, but adherence to dietary guidelines remains a public health concern.” [1]
*NOTE: We are using the term healthy eating to mean eating for your goals.
In the research, common influences on healthy eating are:
Social and cultural factors
knowledge
social media
the relevance of information
peers, taste
convenience [4, 5, 6]
Alongside those are common barriers to healthy eating such as:
Social
heritage (perceived to lose heritage/cultural component of meals)
poor taste
expense
lack of information
cooking skills
confidence
time
effort
convenience
cost
support
availability
competing priorities
ease of access to unhealthy foods [2, 3, 7, 8]
One study had expense and taste coming in the top 3, just after willpower. [2]
One study even showed a common reason being eating healthy is not a masculine/bloke thing to do. [3] (Clearly an Aussie study).
From this list, we’ve placed them in 3 categories:
Goals, Values and Convenience.
We can try to improve our adherence and consistency with our diet by ticking all 3 boxes.
Under each category we have:
Goals - Education, Informed Decisions, Legit Knowledge, Goal Aligned
Values - Taste, Culture, Social, Physical Health, Emotional, Personality, Enjoyment
Convenience - Time, Effort, Energy, Money, Cooking Skills
Why is important to tick all 3 boxes?
If we just tick the goals and values box eg. they are healthy and taste good - they might not be convenient, it might be expensive, take too long to make, have too many ingredients.
If we just tick the values and convenience box eg they are tasty, enjoyable, cheap and easy - they might not be goal aligned.
Then if we just tick the goals and convenience box eg they are goal aligned, cheap and easy - they might not be very tasty or enjoyable.
We know that taste certainly goes a long way when it comes to rewarding. From previous webinars and blogs, we know that the reward is an important final part of the habit-building sequence. We are more likely to continue the behaviour that provides us with immediate rewards.
How do we put the FN’Sweet Spot into practice?
If you feel like struggling to adhere to your diet, do a check-in with yourself.
Use the FN’Sweet Spot graphic as a guide. Do most of your meals tick all these boxes?
If there is a constant theme of a certain box not being fulfilled, look at some strategies to try and improve that area.
Here are some examples for each:
Goals: Improve your knowledge and understanding of nutrition such as food selection, portion control, energy balance, calories per bite. Make sure this is legit information too, not guru health. Make sure it is information that is aligned with your goals
Values: Can you improve the taste of your meals by using low calories sauces, herbs and seasons? Can you bring your culture and heritage into the meal creation? Can you invite friends over for healthy dinners or learn how to read menus and pick goal aligned foods? Can you still enjoy foods and flavours that resonate with your personality?
Convenience: Can you find easy/no prep protein and plant options? Can you shop smarter to keep costs down? Can you find recipes that are within your skill level and don’t have 10+ ingredients?
So to reinforce the point from earlier, you can eat healthy meals that are tasty and convenient.
Take the time to find ways to make the experience and process of healthy eating a little sweeter by using the FN’Sweet Spot.
At FNC we can help you improve the consistency of each category by improving your knowledge and understanding of nutrition, providing you with convenient and enjoyable ways to create your meals.
Contact us today to learn more from our team
[1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13679-016-0192-0
[2] https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/39/2/330/3002965
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5675273/
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15702586
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15570680
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29892990
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276670/
[8] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309314854_The_barriers_and_enablers_of_healthy_eating_among_young_adults_a_missing_piece_of_the_obesity_puzzle_A_scoping_review