Good eating habits are the key in maintaining and improving our health regardless of ages, gender, occupation, or location. Of course, staying active plays an important role in our life, but eating the wrong kind or quantity of food could jeopardize our health. Therefore, having good eating habits are far more important than just staying active to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The best eating habits that you can developed are the ones that allow you to enjoy what you eat, and at the same time provided you with a balanced diet and good variety of wholesome food.

Nowadays, people are suffering from many serious health problems such as heart attack, obesity, anorexia and so on. All these occurred due to the imbalance diet However, the rapid rise of health problems make the public more concern about their health. As a result, the government and private sectors have come up with multiple ways to create awareness on the importance of proper eating habits to overcome health problems. In view of all this problems, this research is conducted to study the eating habits that influence the health of Johore Matriculation College (JMC) students.

1.2 Definition of Key Terms

Eating means taking either solid food or soup into the mouth and swallow it for nourishment while habit refer to the thing that a person does often and almost without thinking. It is usual behaviour that sometime is hard to stop doing food is any substance that people or animal take in to maintain life and growth. (Oxford, 1997).

According to the website, www.faqs.org , the term eating habits or eating food habits refers to why and how people eat, which food they eat, and with whom they eat, as well as the ways people obtain, store, use, and discard food. Individual, social, cultural, religious, economic, environmental and political factors all influence people’s eating habits.

1.3 Objectives of Study

1. To investigate whether JMC students have proper eating time.
2. To find out whether JMC students have general knowledge about eating habits.
3. To gain insights on the type of nutrients taken daily by JMC students.
4. To study the factors that influent the choice of food taken.

1.4 Thesis Statement

We will be investigating the eating habits that influent the healthy lifestyle of JMC students.

2.0 Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

The best time to eat is as soon as you are able to do so after getting up in the morning and concentrate on starchy carbohydrate food like bread and cereals, which will fill you up and make you less likely to crave high-fat and high-sugar snacks during mid-morning (http://www.ivillage.co.uk,. 2009). This fact was supported by Dr.Ronald Kleinman, Harvard Medical School said that the best time to consume fruits is in the morning as part of breakfast or during the course of the day.

According to Michalczyk( 2009) eat only when hungry. Hunger is a signal that indicates that the body needs and ready for more food. It is important to keep proper eating time in the forefront of your mind, As eating at proper time is important, therefore to have the general knowledge about eating habits is crucial to a healthy life. Besides that, the choice of food consumption is to be taken seriously to ensure ones has the correct proportion of nutrients intake.

Proper Eating Time

As discussed by Blaxter(1976) an individual should have a proper eating time where breakfast is the first meal of the day. Then, in the afternoon you must take lunch to keep your systems functioning more efficiently to continue using our body. A meal is usually defined as the consumption of two or more food in a structured setting at a set time (Earl,2005). So , usually there are several dishes served during dinner that are not really heavy, but will give you energy for your body to function during the night before you take a nice rest..

2.2 Eating Habits

According to Greg (2006), good eating habits are the key for maintaining and improving your health regardless of your age, gender, occupations or location. Of course, staying active plays an important role to maintain a healthy life. However, consuming the wrong kind or wrong quantity of food in your body will keep you from being healthy. The best eating habits that you can develop are the ones that not allowing you to enjoy what you eat, but have a balanced and good variety of wholesome food.

2.3 Daily Nutrients

According to Michalczyk (2009), it is essential to ensure a balanced and adequate intake of nutritional food. Daily nutrients that are needed by our body are nutrients that are required for healthy body function and cannot be manufactured by the human body. They can only be obtained from a dietary source and currently include: essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Balanced intake of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and fat are fundamental for proper body function. This is why it is important to know what type of nutrients that we take daily in our life.

2.4 Influences on Food Choices

There are several factors that determine the type of food consumed by people. Political are the factors that influence the choices of food eaten by people (http:/www.faqs.org,food choices by Brown). Everyone has his or her own preferences which developed over time and are influenced by personal experiences. The cultural influences also provide guidelines regarding acceptable food, food combinations, eating patterns, and eating behaviors. Compliance with these guidelines creates a sense of identity and belonging for the individual. Within a large cultural groups, subgroups exist that may practice variations of the group’s eating behaviours, though they are still considered part of the larger group. Eating burger made from lean turkey is acceptable by Americans as these are appropriate cultural substitutions, but burger made from horse would be unacceptable (Nutrition by Culture, 2003 ). Members of a social group depend on each other, share a common culture, and influence each other’s behaviours and values. Peer group, working places, or community groups influence the behaviour of food.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, based on the information