When choosing food, we are always considering factors that will ultimately influence our selection, whether it be how good the item will taste or will it look as good as it does on the packaging. We consider things like these during our purchases whether we’re aware of it or not which is why it’s more important now more than ever that when making food choices, we should consider factors not only consciously but also cautiously. There’re many factors that need to be considered that ideally guides us with making the right decision but these factors can be narrowed down to three. The three main factors that we should consider are those that regard, our health, the financial aspects of food and religious guidelines. We as individuals tend to prioritise one factor over the other. This results in some factors being seen as less relevant and neglected, and we will see just why it’s so important to consider these factors equally as in spite of the importance of these factors, we aren’t always diligent in tending to all of them with equal consideration.

The first factor to be considered is our health. Naturally, we eat food to nourish ourselves and sustain our survival . It’s important to consider health and nutritional factors of the food items we choose to consume as it will impact our wellbeing. The body requires nutrients as these provide energy for mental and physical activities, growth, repair and therefore maintenance of your body cells and helps in your resilience towards diseases. “Healthy nutrition ensures all your body systems, like your breathing, your heart, your immune system and so on, are working at their best”(The 6 Healthy Habits.com, 2012). If we remain ignorant towards health factors we may increase our risk of problems with our health and risk of being undernourished. Undernourishment leaves us open to illnesses and even early death.
Undernourishment doesn’t necessarily refer to people who don’t have enough to eat, as there are an increase number of people who are overfed but remain undernourished. The Guelph Mercury(2013), a newspaper in Canada, expresses that we only have to “simply take a look around” to see how dysfunctional the human bodies have become. This statement is referring to the issue with the increase in overweight individuals in our society today. They further state that “our fast-paced lives have created a culture of convenience. Healthy, real food, made fresh every day, takes too much time. Consequently, people turn to what is quick and easy, often relying on processed foods that are high in sugar, salt and fats”(The Guelph Mercury, 2013). Ignorance towards health factors and opting for food which have undesirable elements such as saturated fats, high salts and sugar levels will lead us as a society of deeper health despair. Additionally, the financial aspects of food including cost, have also seen people being forced to neglect health factors.
The most significant aspect of food choice is the cost and price of food. “Global food prices rose for a third consecutive month in August and reached the highest level since Sept. 2008” and “ Leading the price rise was meat.” (Pro Farmer, 2010). The drastic increase in price was the result of higher demands from countries like China while there’s a significant drop in production of meat in countries like Australia. When having to buy groceries the issue of money weighs heavily on our minds. We have been lead to believe that the higher the price the better the quality. In some cases it’s true, for example healthier more organic products and locally produced products cost more than less healthy and imported products. According to Simone A. French (2003) “ Food pricing and marketing practices are therefore an essential component of the eating environment”. Lowering prices of less healthy alternatives is a marketing strategy used to attract customers by taking advantage of many of our financial situations. If we keep buying cheaper foods there’re negatives. These include the use of cheap, potentially damaging pesticides on the harvests of vegetables and the use of preservatives in long-life foods. For many of us in reality it is not so much us ignoring the negatives on purpose but with the rising price of food along with the rising price of many other necessities (e.g. household appliances, household bills, transportation etc.) some of us have been forced to ignore the negatives of lower priced food as we have no other choice. In saying this under certain circumstances, like health factors, the financial aspects of food can also get neglected.

Certain circumstances such as religious guidelines can see both factors like our health and financial aspects of food choice neglected. A perfect example of this happening is with the Islamic faith. The Islamic faith has a very strict guideline when it comes to dietary intakes which further more plays a factor to those who practice the religion and their choice of food. The Islamic faith “has various food restrictions according to their own dietary laws, which are Halaal”(Butlersguild.com). When it comes down too food, Muslims consider the Halaal factor of what they are eating. For example, meat has to have been slaughtered a certain way, and alcohol is prohibited.

There has been much controversy in regards to halal meat in particular, and this is over the issues that regard both health and finance. Unless it’s organic, store stored halal meats have been known accused of being filled with preservatives and added hormones, that obviously worry us health wise. In addition, some halal meats are higher priced than non-halal meats, and according to many online blogs this is because selling Halaal meats involves having to go through a process to be certified legally, and these have additional costs. However, for those whom follow their religion down to the last detail, sticking to these strict guidelines are a must and sometimes the neglect towards factors such as health and financial aspects are reasonably justifiable.

Our food choices are influenced by the everyday happenings that effect our situations. There are many contributing factors to our food choices but they all come down to three. These three, our health and the financial aspects of food choice and religious guidelines, are the main important one we should consider at all times. In saying this, the reality of giving all these factors the equal and ideal amount of consideration is impossible as the world we live in today requires and almost forces us to prioritise each factor separately. Leaving us only capable of considering one factor at a time.

Reference List
Butlersguild. 2013. “Food Restrictions”. http://www.butlersguild.com/index.php?subject=103

French, Simone A. 2003. "Pricing Effects on Food Choices." The Journal of Nutrition 133 (3): 841S-843S. http://0-search.proquest.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/docview/197450115?accountid=12629

The 6 Healthy Habits.com. 2012 “Nutrients: The molecular building blocks that make up your food”. http://www.the6healthyhabits.com/nutrients.html

Pro Farmer. 2010. "FAO: food prices rising." http://0-go.galegroup.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/ps/i.do?action=interpret&id=GALE%7CA241105416&v=2.1&u=murdoch&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w&authCount=1

"We are what we Eat." 2013.The Guelph Mercury, Jan 26. http://0-search.proquest.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/docview/1281847105?accountid=12629