Normative social influence: The influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them. In other words, the people you are surrounded by have a huge impact on your behaviors, including eating patterns! If you are constantly surrounded by people who have unhealthy diets, you are more likely to conform to their eating styles and also adopt their unhealthy eating habits.

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Self-efficacy: The extent or strength of one's belief in one's own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. Some people believe that they are incapable of having a healthy diet. Whether you think that you won’t succeed because you don’t have the willpower, or because you think that you can’t learn to cook healthy and delicious meals, we’re here to prove that you can do it! Visit the recipes page of this website for recipes and tips to make healthy and delicious meals quickly and easily!

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Gender roles: A set of societal norms dictating the types of behaviors which are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their actual or perceived sex or gender. Think men can’t cook or shouldn’t cook? Think men have no other choice but to rely on the foods that are cooked for them or to be bound eating take-out? Men are just as capable as women of cooking their own healthy and tasty meals. Give it a try and encourage the men in your life to do the same!

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Social learning theory: All social behavior is learned, reinforced and modeled by the observation of others’ actions and the rewards/punishments following those actions. Our very first and possibly most important models of eating habits are our parents. Beliefs about the importance of a healthy diet, and the information regarding what constitutes a “good” diet are often learned and reinforced at home. If parents tend to have an unhealthy diet, it is possible that children will pick up on these unhealthy habits and carry them on into their adult lives. It is important to start eating healthy early on in life and encourage parents to model healthy eating habits for their children.

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Belief perseverance:

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Referent group norms:

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Theory of Planned Behavior: Include the eating aptitude test

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Motivation: Intrinsic v.s. extrinsic

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Adaptation-level phenomenon: We are used to HUGE portion sizes in the West. We tend to consume an entire coke bottle (which is labeled as 2 servings) simply because we are used to 1 bottle being a single serving. Also cup sizes and plate sizes have gotten bigger and bigger. What we consider to be a “small” latte in the West is considered to be “large” in other countries.