It may be a challenge for some people to change their old habits, and what types of food they eat could be one of the hardest things to change, because this does not merely come from what kinds of food they have already eaten for a few decades. Still, eating habits are also part of their DNA like their gene tells them to choose this food to eat but not try new things. Indeed, one of human nature's feelings is feeling unsafe when they face some new things that they are not sure about whether they are edible.
First, we should look at why it’s tough to change eating habits. According to the article by Odgen (2014), “Habits are formed through three very simple processes: repetition, reinforcement, and association” (p. 53). One of the main parts of this for most people could be related to the formation of eating habits is reception: because they have already been fed by their parents or other older family members since birth. Then when they are growing up, the ‘reinforcement’ imposes on them to keep their old eating habits even when they move to a new country with a different eating culture. This behavior is due to a kind of human brain’s self-protection that makes people not want to change or come out of their ‘comfort zone’ that they have already built inside their consensus. “These routines can become hardwired in our brains” (Volkow), although the old eating habits of immigrants cannot always be negative, sometimes, they could be a potential threat to their health.
Here is my personal experience: My mother was a person who loved vegetables and when I was in middle school because I could not reach the grade that she wanted, she only fed me steamed rice and fried vegetables, that’s right, no meat at all. I’m not very sure whether all Chinese or East Asia immigrant families have habits or are inclined to eat more vegetables and less meat like being vegans, but it did cause some health issues to my body: Such as I could not focus on school even more and my grades were poorer. I also have mild autism; I can say this action increases the side effects of my symptoms like getting more depressed and not feeling the hope for my future. Perhaps plenty of other immigrant families all have habits because of some bad things that happened to them when they were young, and if they can’t get rid of it, then they will keep that habit for a very long time. Not only eating habits but something else too like behaviors. My original family from China sometimes also affected my eating habits, such as I chose not to eat or just have one meal a day because after I came to Canada, my body could not get used to the environment and food cultures here, so I am keep having digestion problems and my gained more weight too. Sometimes when my mother has video chats with me, she blames me “why you’re getting so fat now?” Although she is still using the old East Asian beauty standard to judge my body shape, what she said affected me and made me eat less than before, then when I want to eat more like having a
burger or something, my stomach usually feels nauseous and want to vomit. So, the problem here is clear: for many immigrant families, when they are trying to be a part of Canadian society, their old families in their mother countries sometimes will still try to stop them from fully getting used to Canadian cultures and keep some certain parts of cultural standards from their mother countries as their old families wanting which is including eating habits and beauty standards.
When we are talking about another part of why it’s hard to change eating habits – association. There is another instance that may happen to some new immigrants in Canada, and that is why many people choose McDonald's as their first food choice when they don’t know what they should eat after they arrive in this land. Usually, the people who can move to Canada have some not very poor family financial backgrounds. McDonald's could be a trigger to remind them when they were in their mother countries before that they enjoyed eating there, although it may not be too often like every day. But this could be an ‘associated’ factor to make people stay in their old eating habits and hard to get rid of them, even if they know that is unhealthy. Then probably they will refuse to find something healthier and local for them to eat but only keep themselves inside this small circle and refuse to get out of it, which is an important root of plenty of health issues that new immigrants in Canada are facing now. Not only does the stress come from their lives, but also could be because they don't eat properly.
So next time, when you’re thinking about what should you eat for your next meal, if you think about some fast food that you have already got used to or maybe just some extremely “healthy” vegetables and fruit salad, don’t forget to remind yourself that did you got enough nutrition today? If your body is feeling kind of uncomfortable, then maybe you should ask for some professional help.
References
Breaking bad habits. (2024, June 17). NIH News in Health. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2012/01/breaking-bad-habits#:~:text=In%20a%20sense%2C%20then%2C%20parts,not%20simply%20creatures%20of%20habit.
Ogden, J. (2014). Why are Eating habits so Hard to Change? In The Good Parenting Food Guide (pp. 52–66). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118715017.ch4
