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Objective To investigate in-depth beliefs and experiences relating to the choice of fast and/or healthy foods from a group of young people living in Cyprus. Design Data for the study were generated from one-to-one qualitative interviews which encouraged the participants to articulate the symbolic value of eating choices in their day-to-day experiences. Participants Twenty five young people (12 male, 13 female) aged between 15 and 17 years from diverse socio-economic backgrounds living in different parts of the urban area of Nicosia were recruited using a snowballing technique. Analysis The analysis focused on the division between ‘healthy’ and ‘fast’ foods. Results This study discloses the way that a group of young Cypriots make sense of, and articulate, ‘fast’ and ‘healthy’ foods as consumer eating choices. The analysis demonstrates how ‘fast’ and ‘healthy’ eating choices entail a symbolic value which the participants claimed had significance and meaning in young people’s lifestyles. Eating fast foods was primarily seen as a medium for expressing a youthful self and/or lifestyle image, while choosing healthy food was viewed as being in opposition to the normal image of being young. Conclusions and implications This article challenges the one-dimensional approach of the ‘nutrition value of foods’ approach for convincing young people to choose healthy foods and strongly suggests the need to provide them with opportunities to become aware of and critical about the symbolic value of eating choices.

In this paper, the author develops the notion of health logic, which prescribes 'judgemental' and 'cause-effect' logic to the way that smoking, eating, drinking alcohol and exercise as health-related behaviours are approached within the field of health promotion. The problem, which is raised through the concept of health logic, is concerned with the utilization of health-enhancing or damaging classifications for 'everyday' issues (e.g. spending time with peers, eating out) relevant to smoking, eating, drinking alcohol and exercise. While such classifications can be rationalized under the field of health promotion, which aims at the promotion of healthy choices, they can be relatively misguiding. The emphasis on just a binary concept of health promotion conceals the understanding of these behaviours in people's everyday lives. The health logic critique is established first through a discussion of three main health promotion concepts: 'lifestyle', 'choice' and 'empowerment'. Second, the health logic is highlighted through the empirical tendency within the field of health promotion that favours separating aspects of the everyday life of individuals into positive and negative influences. This paper suggests a different viewpoint of health-related behaviours by centring on people's everyday lives and avoiding the binary divisions created by the health logic, such as healthy/unhealthy, or the role of an enhancing or obstructing social context. Such a strongly value-laden approach seems unlikely to tell us very much about how people make sense of health-related behaviours within the context of their everyday lives.

This article presents results from the Cypriot experience of participation in a pan European health promotion project called 'Shape Up'. Implemented between September 2007 and June 2008, the aims of the overall programme reflect the primary concern of health promotion to facilitate healthy choices by creating the necessary conditions for their enactment. We describe the processes used in Shape Up before reporting findings from the evaluation undertaken by the University of Hull, UK. Findings from the Cypriot case studies demonstrate schools' potential to work in health promoting ways by enabling school communities to create environments conducive to health, where individuals are better able to take care of their health rather than simply implementing healthy activities at school. Participants in Shape Up Cyprus increased their access to healthier foods and opportunities to be active during and after school. Apart from visible environmental changes, participants were equipped with skills and critical knowledge to be healthier and more active citizens. They investigated the wider determinants of health and options for health improvement in specific contexts. They identified what needed changing within and around the school, developing visions of how changes could be enacted. They transferred visions into actions by writing letters, undertaking research, developing networks and accessing advice and financial support. We conclude that increasing awareness of the impact of structural factors upon health and the acquisition of skills in community action were central to Shape Up's success in Cyprus, and are therefore relevant for school-based health promotion.