Investigation of Eating Habits of Students
ocation. Of course, staying active plays an important role in our life, but eating the wrong kind or quantity of food could jeopardize our health. Therefore, having good eating habits are far more important than just staying active to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The best eating habits that you can developed are the ones that allow you to enjoy what you eat, and at the same time provided you with a balanced diet and good variety of wholesome food.
Nowadays, people are suffering from many serious health problems such as heart attack, obesity, anorexia and so on. All these occurred due to the imbalance diet However, the rapid rise of health problems make the public more concern about their health. As a result, the government and private sectors have come up with multiple ways to create awareness on the importance of proper eating habits to overcome health problems. In view of all this problems, this research is conducted to study the eating habits that influence the health of Johore Matriculation College (JMC) students.
1.2 Definition of Key Terms
Eating means taking either solid food or soup into the mouth and swallow it for nourishment while habit refer to the thing that a person does often and almost without thinking. It is usual behaviour that sometime is hard to stop doing food is any substance that people or animal take in to maintain life and growth. (Oxford, 1997).
According to the website, www.faqs.org , the term eating habits or eating food habits refers to why and how people eat, which food they eat, and with whom they eat, as well as the ways people obtain, store, use, and discard food. Individual, social, cultural, religious, economic, environmental and political factors all influence people’s eating habits.
1.3 Objectives of Study
- To investigate whether JMC students have proper eating time.
- To find out whether JMC students have general knowledge about eating habits.
- To gain insights on the type of nutrients taken daily by JMC students.
- To study the factors that influent the choice of food taken.
1.4 Thesis Statement
We will be investigating the eating habits that influent the healthy lifestyle of JMC students.
2.0 Literature Review
2.0 Introduction
The best time to eat is as soon as you are able to do so after getting up in the morning and concentrate on starchy carbohydrate food like bread and cereals, which will fill you up and make you less likely to crave high-fat and high-sugar snacks during mid-morning (http://www.ivillage.co.uk,. 2009). This fact was supported by Dr.Ronald Kleinman, Harvard Medical School said that the best time to consume fruits is in the morning as part of breakfast or during the course of the day.
According to Michalczyk( 2009) eat only when hungry. Hunger is a signal that indicates that the body needs and ready for more food. It is important to keep proper eating time in the forefront of your mind, As eating at proper time is important, therefore to have the general knowledge about eating habits is crucial to a healthy life. Besides that, the choice of food consumption is to be taken seriously to ensure ones has the correct proportion of nutrients intake.
Proper Eating Time
As discussed by Blaxter(1976) an individual should have a proper eating time where breakfast is the first meal of the day. Then, in the afternoon you must take lunch to keep your systems functioning more efficiently to continue using our body. A meal is usually defined as the consumption of two or more food in a structured setting at a set time (Earl,2005). So , usually there are several dishes served during dinner that are not really heavy, but will give you energy for your body to function during the night before you take a nice rest..
2.2 Eating Habits
According to Greg (2006), good eating habits are the key for maintaining and improving your health regardless of your age, gender, occupations or location. Of course, staying active plays an important role to maintain a healthy life. However, consuming the wrong kind or wrong quantity of food in your body will keep you from being healthy. The best eating habits that you can develop are the ones that not allowing you to enjoy what you eat, but have a balanced and good variety of wholesome food.
2.3 Daily Nutrients
According to Michalczyk (2009), it is essential to ensure a balanced and adequate intake of nutritional food. Daily nutrients that are needed by our body are nutrients that are required for healthy body function and cannot be manufactured by the human body. They can only be obtained from a dietary source and currently include: essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Balanced intake of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and fat are fundamental for proper body function. This is why it is important to know what type of nutrients that we take daily in our life.
2.4 Influences on Food Choices
There are several factors that determine the type of food consumed by people. Political are the factors that influence the choices of food eaten by people (http:/www.faqs.org,food choices by Brown). Everyone has his or her own preferences which developed over time and are influenced by personal experiences. The cultural influences also provide guidelines regarding acceptable food, food combinations, eating patterns, and eating behaviors. Compliance with these guidelines creates a sense of identity and belonging for the individual. Within a large cultural groups, subgroups exist that may practice variations of the group’s eating behaviours, though they are still considered part of the larger group. Eating burger made from lean turkey is acceptable by Americans as these are appropriate cultural substitutions, but burger made from horse would be unacceptable (Nutrition by Culture, 2003 ). Members of a social group depend on each other, share a common culture, and influence each other’s behaviours and values. Peer group, working places, or community groups influence the behaviour of food.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, based on the information about proper eating time, we were able to know the right time for a person to eat their meals in a day to ensure a rhythmic eating habit. This can help a person to have a healthier way of eating. This is related to the next point which is eating habits. Good eating habits contribute tremendously to a person’s health, therefore this survey was conducted to know whether the students are eating healthily or not. Next, the information on daily nutrients were used to gain insights on the balanced proportion and types of nutrients that are needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Lastly, the factors that influences a person to choose what they eat. This is one of the major contributor that affects the health of a person. This can be clearly seen by the health level of people from different races and religions.
3.0 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Sampling
60 JMC students were selected to participate in our research. 20 students from life science, 20 students from physical science and 20 students from accounting were chosen as respondents in our research. The respondents were divided to 30 boys and 30 girlsl. They were chosen as our respondents for this research as the research was to study the eating habits of JMC students.
3.2 Instrument
Questionnaires were chosen as our instrument for this research because it was more convenient and easier to interpret. It was also chosen because not much time was needed compared to interviews and such. The questionnaire was divided into four parts, according to the significant objectives. Part A of the questionnaire was done based on the first objective, to investigate whether JMC students have proper eating time. Part B and part C was done according to the next two objectives respectively, which are to find out whether JMC students have the general knowledge about eating habits and to gain insights on the type of nutrients taken daily by JMC students. Lastly, part D was done according to the forth objective, to study the factors that influent the choice of food taken.
3.3 Research Procedure
Nowadays, the importance of a good eating habit nor a balanced diet were practiced by people due to hectic life in chasing after material gain. Good eating habits were seldom followed as some people were unaware of its’ importance. Due to these reasons that prompted us to chose this topic in order to gain insights on the eating habits that influent the healthy lifestyle of JMC students.
These tables insert as appendix – 28/1/2010 -10.45am
Q1. You eat your meal properly
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents/%
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
15
18
25
30
No
15
12
25
20
Q2. You particular about time you eat
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents/%
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
16
15
26.67
25
No
14
15
23.33
25
Q3. You think it is important for rhythmic mealtime
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents/%
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
28
27
46.67
45
No
2
3
3.33
5
Q4. You skip breakfast
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
10
12
16.67
20
No
20
18
33.33
30
Q5. Time you have your breakfast
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
5-6am
0
0
0
0
6-7am
2
2
3.33
3.33
7-8am
18
16
30
26.67
None
10
12
16.67
20
Q6. Breakfast is important
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
30
30
50
50
No
0
0
0
0
Q7. Class of food you think we should take the most
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Carbohydrates
19
8
31.67
30
Vitamins
1
3
1.67
5
Fibers
5
3
8.33
5
Minerals
1
0
1.67
0
Proteins
4
6
6.67
10
Q8. You think eating fast or slow aids in digestion
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Fast
1
5
1.67
8.33
Slow
29
25
48.33
41.67
Q9. In your opinion, when is the best time to eat fruits
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Before meal
20
17
33.33
18.33
After meal
10
13
16.67
21.67
During meal
0
0
0
0
Q10. You think eating supper is good for health
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
5
5
8.33
8.33
No
25
25
41.67
41.67
Q11. Dish that you eat the most during your meal
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Rice
17
22
28.33
36.67
Meats
5
2
8.33
3.33
Vegetables
7
6
11.67
10
Fruits
1
0
1.67
0
Cereals
0
0
0
0
Q12. Which you drink the most
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Water
28
28
46.67
46.67
Carbonated drinks
0
0
0
0
Fruit juices
1
2
1.67
3.33
Others: Milo Ice
1
0
1.67
0
Q13. You think food serve in JMC is healthy
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
12
23
20
38.33
No :
18
7
30
11.67
Q15. You eat healthy everyday
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
12
9
20
15
No
18
21
30
35
Q16. You on diet
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
10
7
16.67
11.67
No
20
23
33.33
38.33
Q17. You take in consideration of the nutrition values when having your meals
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
19
18
31.67
30
No
11
12
18.33
20
Q18. You think the price of food influent your choice of food taken
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
18
18
30
30
No
12
12
20
20
Q19. You think the taste of food influent your choice of food taken
No of respondents
Percentage of respondents
Female
Male
Female
Male
Yes
30
28
50
46.67
No
0
2
0
3.33
Objective 1: To investigate whether JMC students have proper eating time
Figure 1: Percentage of students who eat their meal properly
Figure 2: Percentage of students who particular about the time they eat
Figure 3: Percentage of students who think a rhythmic meal time is important
Figure 4: Percentage of students who skip their breakfast
Figure 5: Percentage of students with different breakfast time
Objective 2: To find out whether JMC students have general knowledge about eating habits
Figure 6: Percentage of students who think breakfast is important
Figure 7: Percentage of class of food that JMC students think should take the most
Figure 8: Percentage of students who think eating fast or slow aids in digestion
Figure 9: Percentage of students who think when is the best time to eat fruits
Figure 10: Percentage of students who think eating supper is good for health
Objective 3: To gain insight on the type of nutrients taken daily by JMC students
Figure 11: Percentage of dish that they eat most during their meal
Figure 12: Percentage of drink that the students drink the most
Figure 13: Percentage of students who think the food serve in JMC is healthy
Figure 14: Percentage of students who think they eat healthy everyday
Objective 4: To study the factors that influent the choice of food taken
Figure 15: Percentage of students who is on diet
Figure 16: Percentage of students who take in consideration of the nutrient value when having their meal
Figure 17: Percentage of students who think the price of food influent their choice of food taken
Figure 18: Percentage of students who think the taste of food influent their choice of food taken
Objective 1: To investigate whether JMC students have proper eating time
Based on figure 1, 55% students ate their meal properly, with 25% of them are female students and 35% are male students. Meanwhile, 25% female students and 20% male students did not have proper meal .
Figure 2 showed that 26.67% female students and 25% male students were particular about the time they eat, whereas, 48.33% consisting of 23.33% female and 25% male JMC students were not particular about their meal time.
While in figure 3, 46.67% female students and 45% male students thought that it was important to have a rhythmic meal time. Moreover, 3.33% female students and 5% male students thought that it was not important to have a rhythmic meal time.
In figure 4, 16.67% female students and 20% male students skipped their breakfast. In contrast, 33.33% female students and 30% male students did not skip their breakfast.
Based on figure 5, 3.33% female and male students had their breakfast from 6 to 7am. However, most students, consisting of 30% female students and 26.67% male students had their breakfast between 7am and 8am. Lastly, 16.67% and 20% female and male students respectively did not have their breakfast.
Objective 2: To find out whether JMC students have general knowledge about eating habits
Based on figure 6, all of the JMC students thought that breakfast is important for a healthy lifestyle and had no objection.
According to figure 7, among female students there were 31.67% thought that we should take in carbohydrates the most, 1.67% of them thought vitamins and minerals are the most essential, while 6.67% and 8.33% among them thought that we should take in fibers and protein the most respectively. Among male students, 30% of them thought carbohydrates is the most important. 5% of them thought vitamins and fibers are essential. 10% of them thought protein is the food that we should take the most.
In figure 8, among all the students, 1.67% female students thought eating fast aids in digestion and 8.33% of male students had the same thought. On the other hand, there were 48.33% and 41.67% female and male students respectively were of the opinion that eating slowly aids in digestion.
Based on figure 9, it was clearly seen that none of the students thought consume fruits was the best during meal. In contrast, there were 33.33% female students and 18.33% male students were of the opinion that we should eat fruits before we have our meal. Besides that, 16.67% female students and 21.67% male students thought that the best time to eat fruits was after having our meal.
With reference to figure 10, same percentage of male and female students, which were 8.33% of each thought that eating supper is good for our health. Furthermore, 41.67% of both male and female students stand against the statement that eating supper was good for our health. They were positive that eating supper was detrimental to our health.
Objective 3: To gain insight on the type of nutrients taken daily by JMC students
According to figure 11, rice was the food that most students ate the most during their meal, with 28.33% female students and 36.67% male students. Apart from that, there were 8.33% female students and 3.33% male students consumed meats the most compared to other type of food. There were also a comparatively small amount of students ate vegetables the most during their meals, with 11.67% female students and 10% male students. There was a mere 1.67% female students ate fruits the most, while none of the male students ate fruits most frequently. None of JMC students consume cereals the most during their meals.
Figure 12 showed that 44.67% both female and male students drank water the most. While there were a mere 1.67% female students and 3.33% male students drank fruit juices the most daily. Furthermore, 1.67% female students had other beverage that they drank the most, which was Milo ice. Worth to mention that none of the JMC students drank carbonated drinks the most.
Figure 13 showed the percentage of students who thought that food sold in JMC was healthy. There were 20% female students and 38.33% male students were of the opinion that food serve in JMC was healthy. Moreover, there were 30% female students and 11.67% male students thought that food serve in JMC was not healthy.
Based on figure 14, 20% female students and 15% male students claimed that they eat healthy every day. While there were more than half of the JMC students stated that they did not eat healthy every day. Among those, there were 30% female students and 35% male students.
In addition, most of the JMC students gave opinion that cafe should sell more fruits so that we can get more vitamins and stay healthy. Besides that, many of the JMC students were of the opinion that cafe should serve more on vegetables and some would more serving on cereals. Apart from that, there were also a significant amount of students thought that café should improve their cleanliness and hygiene by taking care of the stray cats and flies. They claimed that the food was contaminated by the flies and perhaps fleas from the cats’ bodies. However, only a small number of students had no comment and gave neutral responds.
Objective 4: To study the factors that influent the choice of food taken
In figure 15, we can know that most students were not on diet, with 33.33% female students and 38.33% male students. Furthermore, there were approximately one-third of JMC students were on diet. Among them, there were 16.67% female students and 11.67% male students.
Based on figure 16, there were 31.67% female students and 30% male students took in consideration of nutrition values when having their meals. Contrasry, 18.33% female students and 20% male students did not take in consideration of nutrition values when having their meals.
According to figure 17, 60% JMC students with 30% each for both male and female students thought that price of food influent their choice of food taken. Meanwhile 20% of male and female students chose their food regardless of the price.
With reference to figure 18, all female students claimed that their choices on food were greatly influent by the taste of food. While almost all the boys had the same opinion, with 46.67% male among all JMC students, but there were only 3.33% male students thought that taste of food did not influent their choice of food.
Furthermore, most of the JMC students thought that the food sold in cafe was too expensive but there were a few of them thought that the price was moderate and affordable. Besides that, most of the students were of the opinion that the food sold in café was contaminated and dirty. According to one of our respondents, he said that he found dead flies in the food while having his lunch in one of the café here. There were also students who claimed that the food sold was too oily and unhealthy.
Conclusion
Summary of findings
This survey had made it possible to conclude the eating lifestyle of Johore Matriculation College (JMC) students. Firstly, our first objective was to investigate whether JMC students have proper eating time. Based on this survey, majority of the students here had a proper eating time and they care mostly about taking breakfast in the morning as this to them was the most important meal of the day, but some stated that laziness is the cause why they do not have their breakfast. Females especially, in this case were more particular about their eating time compared to the male students. They were also particular about their eating patterns as they know that a rhythmic eating pattern was essential for a healthier lifestyle as it makes your body familiar to the usual digestive process. This in turn will further help the digestive system to be healthy too.
Our second objective of this survey was to find out whether JMC students have general knowledge about eating habits. As we can see from the graphs, it was obvious that most JMC students have a strong knowledge about the food pyramid and they ate according to the food pyramid. However, there are still some of them that holds on to this pyramid but in a wrong concept. They misjudge the correct food to be taken daily, to be more specific, the proportion of the food. Most of JMC students were well aware of the fact that eating slowly does helps the digestion process. Another thing was that most JMC students were in the opinion that eating supper was bad for their health. This might be slightly wrong as research had been made and it was found out that healthy midnight snacks actually help our body to become less tired when we wake up.
Thirdly, for our third objective, we decided to gain insight on the type of nutrients taken daily by JMC students. It was comparatively a large number of JMC students that eat rice everyday and not many were consuming fruits in their daily diet. This was partly due to the fact that most of them agrees that the cafes available here in JMC should serve more fruits and vitamin rich food instead of the usual oily food that they serve. Worth mentioning was the students here drink plain water the most, instead of flavoured drinks. This shows that generally they know what they should consume the most and the least.
Last but not least, our final objective was to study the factors that influent the choice of food taken. According to the result of this survey, it was shown that approximately only one-third of the JMC students are on diet and most of them took in consideration of nutrition values that they consume daily. Most of the male students were greatly influenced by the pricing and the taste of the food when choosing their food while female students were mainly concerned about the taste of the food compared to the price of the food. Nevertheless, almost all of the students seem to agree that the cafes should improve their cleanliness and the amount of oil that they use to cook the food served.
Thus, from this survey, we can knew that there are quite an amount of factors that influences the eating lifestyle of JMC students.
Recommendation
For future use, we recommend a few ways which can be used to improve or further the survey. Firstly, we can make number of respondents one of the aspects. We can increase the number of respondents. Besides that, other methods such as pass the questionnaires randomly to any groups of students, increase the number of questions in the questionnaire and be more specific on the questions in the questionnaires can be consider to improve or further the survey.
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