Teenagers more likely to eat healthily if they think it is rebellious

If you want the teenager in your life to eat healthily, telling them it will be good for them in the long term is simply not going to work.

But appealing to their rebelliousness and sense of social justice could make them take notice of their diet, according to a US study that may offer a new approach to tackling obesity and other health problems in the young.

The research suggests that informing teenagers about the manipulative nature of the food industry reduces their preference for sugary drinks and snacks. By contrast, promoting healthy eating based on future health benefits is no more successful than offering no information at all.

“If the normal way of seeing healthy eating is that it is lame, then you don’t want to be the kind of person who is a healthy eater,” said David Yeager, co-author of the research from the University of Texas at Austin.

“But if we make healthy eating seem like the rebellious thing that you do, you make your own choices, you fight back against injustice, then it could be seen as high status.”

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers conducted two studies which, when pooled together, looked at how 536 schoolchildren aged 13 to 15 responded to different conditions aimed at promoting a healthy diet.

Pupils were randomly given either material that promoted healthy eating based on its long-term health benefits or material that revealed how junk food is designed to be addictive, can be deceptively labelled, and is targeted at particular people, including very young children and those from poorer backgrounds. A third group of pupils received either no information or information entirely unrelated to healthy eating.

Teenagers were also asked to engage with the ideas by writing an essay on how they might take action based on the viewpoint put across to them.

The following day, in an apparently unrelated event, all the pupils were given a snack-pack as a reward from the headteacher for hard work – the contents of which they could choose from a list.

“Once you see [healthy eating] as a high status thing to do, people are more willing to do it of their own free will when they have their own choice in a room surrounded by their peers,” said Yeager.

For teenagers who had received material on the negative aspects of the food industry, 43% chose only unhealthy snacks such as crisps or cookies, compared to 54% of those who had received no information, or health-related information. A smaller decrease was seen in their preference for sugary drinks over water, while the overall sugar content of their food and drink was reduced by 9%.

When surveyed, pupils who had been informed about the manipulative nature of the food industry were also more likely to agree with statements relating to autonomy, social status and social justice such as: “When I eat healthy, I am helping to make the world a better place”. Two days after seeing the materials, teenagers in this group were also more likely to be angered by adverts for fizzy drinks and want to avoid them.

The insight, the authors add, could be used for a range of other campaigns, from motivating sick teenagers to take their medications, to encouraging young drivers to be safer on the roads.

The study comes just days after the release of the latest results from the UK’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which revealed that 11- to 18-year-olds are consuming more than triple the recommended daily amount of sugar, with only 8% eating five portions of fruit or vegetables a day.

Charlotte Evans, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Leeds, welcomed the new research, pointing out that many healthy-eating strategies in the UK focused on preschool and primary school children, rather than teenagers. “Somehow, teenagers have been forgotten about,” she said. “[This] could have the potential of working very well, if you actually target [teenagers’] values and their views on life.”

Aisling Pigott, a registered dietician with the British Dietetic Association, cautioned that the impact of the new approach was modest and that the study should be repeated with a larger number of participants, and followed up over a longer period of time.

But, she added, the approach merits consideration. “What is relevant to the UK and what is quite positive is it takes into account that in teenagers [healthy eating] is a lot about peer mindset, not family or education,” she said, adding that the similarities between the US and UK mean similar effects could be expected among British teens.

Teenagers more likely to eat healthily if they think it is rebellious

Why is Keith Vaz urging us to eat healthily?

But definitely the most useful way to conserve income on pensions and elderly care would be to motivate us to eat as unhealthily as attainable – as a result making certain we really don’t develop previous enough to obtain a pension or need to have elderly care in the very first spot. Tax on alcohol need to be abolished. All foodstuffs need to by law be at least 75 per cent sugar. In colleges, the 3 Rs should grow to be the 4 Rs: reading through, writing, arithmetic and rolling cigarettes. Fresh fruit and vegetables, meanwhile, should be outlawed for the prolonged-phrase harm they do to our public finances. In the brief term, admittedly, the charges to the NHS of treating weight problems would rise. But this need to be far more than offset by the savings produced by the sensible cuts to lifestyle expectancy.

My mother, who lives completely on natural beetroot and green tea, tells me I eat as well much processed meat and cheese. She does not understand: I’m performing it for the sake of my children’s future. Each man need to do his duty. Eat badly, and conserve Britain.

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Terrible to see the photos from Ukraine, where there have been violent protests against the government. Two protesters in Kiev have been shot dead by police. There is also video of police stripping protesters naked and beating them. Just in excess of a week ago the government passed anti-protest laws. The violence instantly intensified. Protesters have accused the government of corruption and abuse of energy.

I’ve been to Ukraine only after, and for less than 24 hrs, but it manufactured an instantaneous impression. In the streets and squares stood tanks and artillery guns. Not actually in use – they were merely positioned on present as historical relics, a unusual and unsettling type of statuary.

It was the summer time prior to last, and 3 pals and I had flown to sweltering Donetsk to view England perform France in the European Championship football. We hired a driver for the day. He was short, tough, shaven-headed and, it appeared, manufactured exclusively of bone and muscle, as if he’d been raised on a diet regime of nothing at all but raw meat. It appeared to be a theme: all Donetsk women looked like supermodels, and all Donetsk males looked like breeds of harmful canine.

Nonetheless, he spoke English and had loads to say. His very first piece of advice was, “Be mindful in shop. Do not trust Ukrainian.” Interesting guidance, from a Ukrainian. Later on he asked, “England police like income?” We looked at him, perplexed. He went on: “Ukraine police like funds. You give Ukraine police cash, you do what you like. You drive quickly, you drink with drive. As extended as you give income.”

We never ever noticed any proof of this, so weren’t certain how seriously to consider him maybe, we thought, it was a joke. We laughed. It appeared amusing at the time.

Why is Keith Vaz urging us to eat healthily?