Balancing Diet in a Modern Lifestyle: Do we care enough to stay healthy?

BDB3023 Business Research Methods Assignment ONE

Submitted by: Abdul Latiff bin Mohamed Section 2 Tan Lay Hoon KJC90052812 Vikneswari Ganesan KJC91013254 KJC90034312 Section 2 Section 3

Written for:
Mr. Abdul Aziz bin Mohamed Lecturer Faculty of Business Administration UNITAR International University Leisure Commerce Square, Sunway Petaling Jaya

5 October 2012

Deadline:

1.0

Introduction

Food is essential to life. Do we eat to live or do we now live to eat? In some parts of the world that enjoy economic prosperity, people are dying from overeating. In other parts of the world where food is scarce and people are poor, people are dying from hunger and malnutrition. Too much food is bad while too little food is also bad. Food can be a source of good health and food also can be a source of many illnesses. What we put into our mouth, in what quantities and how often we do it will have a significant impact on our health. With so much information easily accessible in the Internet, we should be able to know how to eat well. Having said this, the number of people suffering from diabetes, stroke, heart failure, gout and obesity (overweight) are increasing at an alarming rate. Why do we as humans do not take control of our lives and eat well to improve our health? 1.1 Definition of food How do we define food? What are the categories of food? Can we consider water as food? What is processed food? Why is free range poultry a healthier choice? Be careful not to be tricked by people selling flavored drinks orange flavored does not mean the drink contains orange; it just means it taste like orange. What is fast food? What is instant food (that can be prepared in a short time with minimum effort)? 1.2 History of food intake Humans were hunters and gatherers during prehistoric times. They hunted for meat and they picked fruits and vegetables growing in the wild. When our forefathers did not have refrigerators and preservatives, they use salt and spices to try keep food from becoming rotten. Today most of our food come in packages and ready to be cooked or eaten. People nowadays spend less time cooking than ever before. Today people do not have time to cook or they find cooking a waste of time and effort. They prefer to eat out or chucking food in microwave ovens for dinner. 1.3 Cultural influence of food intake Malaysia is a multicultural country. Each race has their signature dishes that can be traced through many generations. Curry, assam pedas, etc. Each state has her own unique dishes east coast with their nasi kerabu and budu; north with their laksa, etc. 1.4 Religious teachings about food Every religion teaches us about how to eat and what to eat, and what to avoid. For example, Islam teaches us to eat when we are hungry and to stop eating when we do not feel hunger (NOT when we are full); to chew our food 15 to 20 times before swallowing.

1.5 Modern lifestyle Modern living has made us impatient and to crave convenience. Fast food seems to be the solution. People sipping coffee at Starbucks is a sign of being hip. Eating a 100 different dishes during hi-tea at a 5-star hotel is not too extravagant. 1.6 Food industry Food industry is a multi-billion dollar business. Businesses do not mind spending millions of dollars on food campaigns and aggressive advertisements to get people to eat what they are serving. 1.7 Purchase and consumption of food supplements Balancing our daily food intake is a challenge. We prefer eating oily food and avoid what is healthy for us. For this reason many people take food supplements to try to balance their diet. The questions we are asking is why is there a difference between people willing to spend money on food supplements. 2.0 Research Problem Our research is important because Malaysians are being plagued by silent killers like stroke, heart attack and diabetes because we are not making enough effort in eating healthy food. 2.1 Burden on national health care As more Malaysians adopt unhealthy eating habits, there may not be enough hospitals to take care of the sick. We need to identify factors that are making us adopt unhealthy eating practices and work towards improving our health through the food we eat. 2.2 Quality of life Eating responsibly is the solution to a better quality of life. Our research will identify factors that are causing Malaysians to be unhealthy and as such offer ways to improve our quality of life through eating right. References Sunlier, Navin and Karakus, Suzan Seren (2010) Evaluation of food purchasing behavior of consumers from supermarkets, British Food Journal, 112 (2): 140150.