The Rationale of the Study

Discuss about the International Archives Of Integrated Medicine.

A good number of human health researchers have been conducted and the findings show that some of the deadly diseases are directly linked the eating habit. Diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular, and cancers roots from the dietary nature of human and especially have a direct link to the recent liking of fast foods(Balaji et al 2015,p.65). A number of publications show that energy level in the body is a risk factor to obesity: consumption of more energy foods such as French fries and sausages than the body can expend tend to raise the level of sodium leading to hypertension and other blood-related diseases (Brindal et al., 2014, p.186).

 In the past few decades, there has been a changing in the eating behavior of people. The statistic shows that a good number of people tend to eat away from home leading to thousands of consumers in some fast food outlets (Chang,Brown & Nitzke 2016,p.1510). The paper researches on the primary reasons the consumption of food from take away places and ideas behind the tremendous increase.

This research is of great importance because it will help in addressing the current rise of human diseases such as hypertension, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Several approaches have been used to treat the high risk of these diseases, unfortunately; the health practitioners and nutritionist have done so little in addressing the rising liking of the fast food, which are the primary causes of these diseases (Danhong, Jaenicke & Volpe 2016, p.883). The nutritionist has always embarked on warning against taking fast food, showing the adverse effects but never dwell so much on what drives people to make the unhealthy food. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the significant reasons that encourage people to change the eating behavior from home to take away places, to solve the increasing rate of food-related diseases.

The research paper tries to understand the nature of fast food consumptions that have been rampant in the today’s human eating habits. At the end of the research, we will be able to identify the reasons that push people to have fast food rather than eating from home.

Take away foods or commonly known as fast food refers to food items that are prepared in places that have fast preparation and services, of which they are consumed away from the place. The foods are always prepared to target that individual that have limited time to drink a good diet either because of work, or class related issues (Jernigan et al.2017, p.443). High energy level always characterizes these foods, hence overconsumption leading to increasing in weight. As the technology advances, food processing has become common in most of today’s industries, thereby making food more convenient for people hence creating more liking than homemade food(Patel et al. 2017,p.9). These food prepared away from home tend to contain more energy than those developed at home, thus leading to increased weight in the consumers.

Aim of the Study

The method of expected behavior is the most used to describe the change of individual behaviors as it adopts the cognitive approach to examine behaviors. The argument was evolved from the theory of reasoned action, which tasted that intention to act is whether positive or negative is the best predictor of behavior. On top of the two aspects, the expected outcomes and the subjective norms from the real reasons action TPB added the third aspect that is behavior as a factor that affects intentions and behavior that is perceived behavior control (Shadi et al. 2018, pp.87). The perceived behavior control is more similar to the notion of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to the belief of individual ability in determining the nature of the behavior (Linder et al 2017,p.550). Therefore, the theory state that an individual intends to act is the most significant determinant of the behavior. 

The theory is more significant for the study because of the previous validity in explaining the change of behavior (Ruiz-De-Cenzano et al.2017, p.1881). Using the model with respect to the consumption of fast food among people, there are numerous reasons influencing the behavior change among people to avoid eating from home and start eating from fast foo(Newson et al 2013,p.10).

The research approach was a qualitative method, where both the interview and questionnaires were designed to help in data a collection from various customers in the town and selected fast food destinations (Kisey & Kendall 2011, p.365).  The choice of surveys and interviews were applicable for this research because from the previous literature review it is evidential that more than 50% of fast food consumers always have limited time.  Therefore having brief questionnaire would save both the time of the participant and the researcher.

The questionnaire designed by me contained mostly simple questions of yes or no choices, pertaining the general knowledge and feeling about fast food (Lub 2015,p.6). The number of questionnaires produced related to the estimated population of about 1000 customers that would be randomly approached on selected research sites (MacDonald Fast Food). Assisted by were by a trained field worker in the selected Fast Food Shop, the first 500 questionnaires were administered to customers immediately they entered to save time in answering questions. We made sure that the request to participate in the data collection was accepted to and all the completed questionnaires were collected before each customer left. A total of 1000 surveys produced where 500 were used to conduct the face-to-face interview in various homes.

Take Away Foods

(Please tick wherever necessary and give a short answer where applicable)

1. What is your gender? (a) Male   (b) Female
2. What is your age bracket? (a) below 18years (b) 18-30 years(c) 30-40 years (d) above 40 years
3. Do you eat Fast Food? (a) Yes (b) No
4. Explain your reason?
5. How often do you eat fast food in a week? (a)  1-3 times (b) 4-6  (c) 7 times and above
6. How much do you spend in fast food? (a) 1/16 of salary (b) 1/8  (c) ¼  (d) ½
7. What affect your choice of fast food? (a) Branding (b) income (c) peer pressure (d) (e) Price (f) Quick Service (g) Consumption Time (h) taste (i) others, specify
8. Do you have any food at home that can be prepared instantly?
9. Does fast food affect your health? (a) Yes (b) No
10. If yes, would you mind stopping taking fast food? (a) Yes (b) No
11. Explain your answer to question 9.

On the projected 1000 participants, there were about 847 respondents, a representation of 84.7%. 80% of the respondents tend to eat fast food and are consumed by all people irrespective of the sex; however, females have a high percentage of about 56%. 30 % of the respondents consume averagely 4-6 times a week, while 10% consume seven times a week. Among those who take seven times and above a week spend like ¼ of the salary in fast food as they rarely eat from home, while those who eat ones to thrice a week spend 1/16 of the salary.

It is also found that branding, social class, income, the order of the day, stress and emotions level are significant contributors to fast food liking. As much as half of the respondents know very well the negative impacts of fast food, ¾ is not likely to change the eating behavior reason being the schedule, the taste, and peer pressure.

From the study it is evidential that most of the fast food consumers range from 30 years and below while the above 40 years tend to be more conscious about their health, hence just a few consume fast food. Among the youths that form the largest market for fast food, females tend to drink more of them than the male counterpart, the reason being the peer pressure and the social class of the consumers. Generally speaking, 79 percent of respondents said they ate fast food in any event once amid the three weeks (Warrens 2015, p.128). Separating it by salary deciles (gatherings of 10 percent of total family unit wage) did not demonstrate enormous contrasts.

Among the most elevated tenth of workers, around 75 percent revealed eating fast food at any rate once in the period, contrasted and 81 percent for the poorest. Workers in the center were the greatest devotees of fast food, at around 85 percent. Most of the women reported that it was the fashion among girls to be taking light foods such as sausages, French-fries among others, then taking heavy food(Sisnowski,Street & Merlin 2017,p.8). However, the notion is much different from the male counterparts that only consume fast food in the presence of the lovers or as opted by their friend, otherwise most of them tend to love heavy food.

From the study, it is noted that the large group falls between the age of 30 and below, of which some are still in school while some are newly employed hence do not have enough time to go and prepare food at home(Thornton,Jeffery & Crawford 2013,p.2108). The fast foods have quick service as compared to the meals from the restaurants that one has to make an order and wait for quite some time before the meal is ready. Additionally, the served meal always needs concentration while eating, and that still consume a lot of their time.

Planned Behavior Theory

Therefore, the limited time provided by the institutions only enables them to grab some foods that can be nibbled very fast then they resume their daily task (Neo 2016). It was realized that the primary driver of fast food consumptions are the lower prices, as most of the youths that form the large market do not have enough money to budget for a proper meal in the restaurants every day. The low budget leaves them with an option of taking snacks to surpass or control their hunger level. 

Most of the fast food consumers tend to spend more than a half of their salary eating away from home because they are either, lazy cook, busy to cook or love eating out (Lovernovic et al 2015, p.56). The young working and unmarried people always reach home while tired; hence they opt to order or take with them some fast food to shelter.

Another major contributor to why people eat fast food is the taste. Most of the fast foods such as pizza have a lovely feeling to many young people, who would consume them more than four times in a week (Yaling et al 2017, p.8). Other advertising strategies such as appetizing pictures, attracting messages such as buy one gets one free also contribute to the increased number of consumption of fast food.

Various institutions should structure their lunch break period to enable the students and the employed to have ample time in taking proper meals in restaurants.

The fast food shops should design simple menus that are affordable to low-income earners so that they avoid eating fast food. Additionally, the fast food items should be prepared to have the low energy level to reduce the health effects of the food items. Finally, the fast food industry should work towards designing a diet rather than an industry as this would help in maintaining the health status of many people who love the food without prohibiting them from taking them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, fast food consumption tends to increase every day with a large number of them being youths. The behavior change is controls and planned by the consumers since their intentions of consuming the fats food affect their actions step by step and eventually change the consumption behaviors. The significant reasons factors that affect the behavior change of consumption are being the low prices, the quick service and the less time required for use.

Research Methodology

List of References

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