Australian Food Habits

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There are many reasons why Australians consume the foods that they do, sometimes we consume food aimlessly without even thinking about the food habits we have developed. I live with my parents which means that a lot of the foods consumed are based around convenience or they are cultural foods that mum and dad grew up with when they were younger. As a university student, I bring in my own income which also influences my food consumption. The aim is to use the Food and Diet Questionnaire and Food Frequency Questionnaire to ascertain the amounts of foods I eat as well as seeing what influences my food choice.
I am lucky enough to still live at home where mum cooks the main meals and does all the shopping. We follow an Australian Diet which consists of traditional dessert foods such as pavlova and lamingtons as well as various dishes particularly from the Italian, German, Croatian and Chinese cuisines (Australian Government, 2012). There is an abundance of fresh fruit, vegetables and meats which help to meet our daily dietary requirements.
If I started doing the shopping and cooking my meals then I would decrease my consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables and increase sugar intake (Papadaki et al as cited in Ansari, 2012). My eating patterns would change and I would begin to skip meals, snack on unhealthy foods and revert to consuming fast foods as the main meals in my diet (Savige et al as cited in Ganasegeran et al, 2012). This would increase the risk of heart diseases, high LDL cholesterol and obesity (National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2009)
As a student and low income earner I would look to purchase more energy dense foods to maximise the calories obtained for the money that I spend on them (French, Wall & Mitchell, 20...

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