Perceptions and Dietary Intake of Self-Described Healthy and Unhealthy Eaters with Severe Mental Illness

Abstract

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine how community-dwelling adults with severe mental illness describe themselves as eaters and how these eating identities relate to dietary intake. Twenty participants completed one in-depth qualitative interview and three 24-h dietary recalls. Two distinct groups were identified; self-described healthy eaters (n = 10) and self-described unhealthy eaters (n = 10). Healthy eaters emphasized fruits and vegetables, limiting sweets, three meals a day, overcoming cost concerns, and benefits of healthy eating. Unhealthy eaters emphasized junk foods, fried foods, few fruits and vegetables, cost and household barriers to healthy eating, and concerns about consequences of unhealthy eating. Self-described healthy eaters consumed significantly more vegetables and less kilocalories, carbohydrates, fat, and saturated fat than self-described unhealthy eaters. Understanding how eating identities relate to dietary intake provides important insights for development of more effective approaches to promote healthy eating in this high risk population.

Associations Between Gender and Obesity Among Adults with Mental Illnesses in a Community Health Screening Study

“…Perhaps the racial disparity in obesity typically observed in the general U.S. population (Wang and Beydoun 2007 ) was masked by psychotropic medication-induced weight gain often experienced by psychiatric outpatients (Virk et al 2004 ). Other possibilities are that racial and ethnic disparities were moderated by constraints on exercise due to poor health (Glover et al 2013 ), unhealthy eating patterns (Carson et al 2015 ), or low health literacy regarding nutritional and food information (Lincoln et al 2008 ). However, as in other studies linking minority status, obesity, and poor mental health (Hicken et al 2013 ; Rosen-Reynosoa et al 2011 ), we did find an interaction between race and gender in which African American women were twice as likely to be obese as non-African American women and men of both races.…”

Relationship between Diet and Mental Health in a Young Adult Appalachian College Population

“…The majority of research investigating the relationship between nutrition and mental health has been focused on older adults. There are some studies that have focused on food insecurity across the lifespan and mental health [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], and specific nutrients’ effects on mental health [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], while some have focused on overall dietary quality and mental health [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. It may be more beneficial to examine overall dietary intake’s relationship to mental health, as this is more representative of human lifestyle behaviors.…”

Portion‐control intervention for people with serious mental illness: A feasibility study

“…For example, individuals with SMI tend to consume excessive food 5 and calories from processed food. [6][7][8] Prior studies have reported the effects of portion control to manage weight through education (eg, knowledge of nutrition), training in healthy eating practices (eg, increasing intake of fruits, vegetables, and water), support for behavioral changes, and action-oriented approaches (eg, grocery store visits, cooking demonstrations). 9,10 Moreover, a more recent study 11 demonstrates that reducing portion size is a useful weight loss strategy for people with SMI.…”

“…These findings suggest that adding guidance about the portion control of energy-dense food to the PCI could be an effective strategy to improve the outcomes of the intervention, which has been addressed in prior studies. 7,25,26 Moreover, complimenting the PCI with physical activity likely would result in better outcomes. 11,27 The results of this study come with several limitations.…”