From “Healthy Eating” to a Holistic Approach to Current Food Environments

Abstract

The consumption of the industrial diet—characterized by highly processed, low-nutrient foods and the reduced intake of produce in its natural state, such as fruits and vegetables—is generating a large number of health and environmental concerns in the developed world. In the meantime, the public health response to food-related health issues typically focuses on healthy eating, despite the growing amount of research showing the complexity of food environments. In this article, we discuss the limitations and fragmented perspective of current “healthy eating” strategies and the obvious disconnect between public health interventions and broader food environments. We outline the transformation of food environments in recent decades and how this is shaped by shifting ways of life and forms of governance built on neoliberal principles, which in turn influence individuals’ food practices. By availing of critical social theory, we suggest that the potential for change should involve a systemic, ecological understanding of the complexities involved, exposing the interdependencies within broader socioeconomic, cultural, and political contexts and current food systems processes and environments.

Impacto de un programa de promoción de la salud nutricional y ambiente alimentario escolar en escuelas primarias públicas

“…Por otro lado, en lo contextos locales Traverso-Yepez y Hunter 41 , sugieren que el potencial de cambio debería implicar una comprensión sistémica y ecológica de las complejidades involucradas, exponiendo las interdependencias dentro de los contextos socioeconómicos, culturales y políticos, así como los procesos y entornos actuales de los sistemas alimentarios.…”

From farm to fork: The difficult journey of healthy food

“…While as yet no method has been agreed upon in order to give direction to this change of approach to the food system in general, a growing number of scholars think that the underlying socioeconomic, cultural, political, and institutional contexts as well as their interdependencies must be taken into account. Traverso‐Yepez and Hunter (2016) noted that, without this effort to consider the role of the overall picture, even the public health response to food‐related health issues risks being “limited and fragmented.”…”

L'alimentation pour se relier à soi

“…Ces approches intègrent des connaissances et méthodologies d'autres disciplines, comme les sciences sociales ou l'agronomie. On retrouve ainsi la « sociologie dans la nutrition » -impact des forces macrosociales sur les pratiques alimentaires (Glass et McAtee, 2006 ;Traverso-Yepez et Hunter, 2016) -, l'anthropologie nutritionnelle -impact de la culture sur ces mêmes pratiques (Calandre, 2002) -ou encore la nutrition economicsimpact du statut économique sur le bien-être nutritionnel des mangeurs . Enfin, les approches intersectorielles entre agriculture et santé permettent de comprendre en quoi les interventions de développement agricole peuvent affecter l'état nutritionnel des individus (Dury et al, 2014 ;Frison et al, 2006 ;Hawkes et Ruel, 2007).…”