What Makes Healthy Eating Hard?
Healthy eating is experiencing a continuing global evolution with increasing emphasis on whole foods, clean and sustainable production, and nutrition. This growth is driven by enhanced evidence and awareness of the benefits of food components, such as fiber, antioxidants, and minerals, on improved wellness and longevity. There is also increased understanding and caution around the impact of toxins on the body and the environment.
Enlightened government policies, campaigns, and the media, especially digital media, have also significantly promoted the movement. Concern for the planet, too, has led to reduced meat consumption and a demand for greener farming and manufacturing approaches. Products marketed as healthy are also no longer automatically accepted, with increasing consumer focus on transparency, labels, ingredients, and manufacturer values.
What Is Healthy Eating?
Healthy eating is a diet that improves and maintains overall wellness. Eating should provide the body with fluid and essential nutrients, including energy, protein, fiber, and micronutrients. Healthier diets can include more pure water, fresh vegetables and fruit, healthy fats, less sugar, and sometimes, fewer calories, with lifestyles embracing adequate exercise and rest. This seachange towards more nutritious eating includes references to superfoods, clean eating and labels, and plant-based diets.
However, for many, healthier eating can be tricky. Numerous barriers contribute to making the necessary changes challenging.
Barriers to Healthy Eating
With recent research suggesting that over half of consumers have one or more health concerns, often including stress and being overweight, a more holistic lifestyle is increasingly urgent. However, while many take appropriate steps to address these issues, the barriers to achieving healthier lifestyles are real, including cultural and social expectations and a lack of nutritional education. For example:
- It Costs Too Much, Takes Too Long to Make, and Tastes Bad
Among these obstacles or repellants are the cost, inconvenience, and time investment of focusing on fresh and unprocessed ingredients and the unappealing texture and taste of healthier alternatives. - Food Deserts
In many communities, accessing healthier options is complicated, with convenience and fast food chains easier to find and get to than fresh food outlets. The less healthy – often potentially damaging – food available from these stores is also usually cheaper and faster than more holistic options. Lower-income consumers may find accessing and affording a healthy diet a barrier. - Enticing Marketing
In addition, misleading food labeling and marketing abound and can overtake even the best intentions. At the same time, fresh produce and more wholesome alternatives are less aggressively promoted. This lower profile can make healthier choices seem less appealing, costlier, and more troublesome than processed food and beverages. - Emotional Eating
Last, psychological and emotional drivers can prevent healthy eating through stress, boredom, and comfort eating, especially unhealthy food options. This compulsion can be made worse by consuming foods high in fat and sugar, perpetuating the cycle.
So, how can manufacturers help consumers achieve a more wholesome lifestyle while keeping their products and brands thriving? The secret is creating products with a taste and texture similar to those preferred but without sugar, gluten, GMO, empty calories, or unhealthy additives and using only natural ingredients. In addition, functional foods and beverages add goodness to already popular drinks and treats.
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Use our pure, plant-based, and EU-certified ingredients to add familiar, favorite, and comforting taste and sensation to healthier food and beverage formulations. Our range covers from sweet to savory to match your flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel profiles. Discover concentrated distillates, pyrazines, thiazoles, Koolada cooling agents, and other natural extracts. Please contact us today to place your order or with any questions.