Nutrition, Diet and Health Tips

What you eat ( Dietary intake) is directly influenced by your food choices. This also determines how good or bad your Metabolic, Hormonal, Endocrine Health and General well being will be.

It’s known gospel that our food choices are a determinant of our Health and Nutrition status.

So what exactly influences your dietary choices?

✅ Availability of the food – in simple terms, you can’t choose what is not available in your area, location or even country. For example, a Kenyan will comfortably choose Ugali cause it’s available in the country which might not be the case for a person in Nigeria. One time availability has very little influence on dietary patterns ( emigrants cases).

✅ Affordability – We might plan for you a very exquisite and posh menu plan, but if you are not in a position to afford the ingredients used for food preparation, then that will definitely limit your choices. Ofcos there’s the aspect of using good pricey food that you would not normally afford to reward yourself for an achievement done but if it’s not part of your daily routine, it’ll have minimal influence on your health.

✅ Time and skills needed for preparation or cooking – Some meals like the traditional Githeri or even the traditional methods of fermenting foods can be quite time consuming. For a person with a busy schedule or trying to juggle multiple things at a go, getting the time needed to prepare such meals might be close to impossible. They might desire the food  but lack the time and the skills for preparation. If you can’t make something like Chapatis and you love them you totally understand this point lol.

✅ Presence or absence of disease. Some disease conditions like diabetes, Hypertension, kidney or liver diseases, require different food preparation and cooking methods from what many call normal. When you’re trying to control your blood sugars, you should definitely lean towards food choicest that will help you reduce on the glycemic load of the meal. Even your spices and additives tend to be different. Same thing applies to someone struggling with hypertension and cancer. Meal choices will definitely be influenced on disease and medication been taken.

✅ Personal Preference and taste – this is the biggest influencer of food choices and I intentionally put it last because sometimes it’s the barrier in ‘healthy eating ‘. We use food in so many ways and one of the most common way is to satisfy cravings and wants. Someone who has a sweet tooth will most likely use sweeteners and sugar additives to their foods more than someone who is not. It’s good to understand your preferences but it’s also necessary to be willing to adjust if they have a negative impact on your health and nutrition status.

Feel free to add others in the comment section and remember to like and subscribe so that you get notified everytime I upload an article.

Signed with love always
Lilian Mumina
Registered Dietitian
Mumina Wellness Solutions.