Causes and Solutions: Unhealthy Eating Habits of Teenagers in Vietnam

This report investigates the rising trend of unhealthy eating habits among Vietnamese teenagers. It begins by defining unhealthy eating and explores various contributing factors, including the appeal of fast food, convenience, social influences, and lack of nutritional knowledge. The report presents data from a survey, revealing insights into teenagers' food choices, meal frequency, and spending habits. It also highlights common opinions and concerns expressed by the respondents. Finally, the report proposes practical solutions to address the problem, such as reducing fat intake, promoting home-cooked meals, improving nutritional knowledge, and encouraging physical activity. The report emphasizes the importance of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle for teenagers, aiming to improve their overall well-being.

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UNHEALTHY EATING HABITS
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................2
Purpose....................................................................................................................................2
Background..............................................................................................................................2
Method of investigation..........................................................................................................2
Scope........................................................................................................................................2
DEFINITION OF UNHEALTHY EATING HABIT..................................................................................3
THE CAUSES OF UNHEALTHY EATING HABIT OF TEENAGERS........................................................4
UNHEALTHY EATING HABITS DATA................................................................................................5
RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM..........................................................................................................7
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................................8

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INTRODUCTION
Purpose
This report is prepared to find out the reasons of the rise of unhealthy eating habits of
Vietnamese teenagers. This report will not only show how this problem appears, it will also
propose the ways to avoid unhealthy eating habits.
Background
As a research, Junk food is more popular with the young generation nowadays and the rate
has reached to 45% in Viet Nam. The teenagers often choose it to be daily food because of
its attraction but they don’t think about the consequences such as Obesity which is typical
and nearly 25% were infected in HCM City, 20% in Ha Noi Capital (Trang, 2017). On the
other hand, teenagers are using the alcohol drink including beer and wine and using dope
and this reality is extremely developing and becoming addiction to the young generation.
Method of investigation
A survey of Da Nang Health Research Institute with 100 students displays that 80 students
prefer to eat fast food to home-made food and they have signs of using stimulants and only
about 20 students have a healthy lifestyle.
Scope
Besides these figures above, we have a solution to the problem. We should spread
awareness about the consequences of it, and the fat students should be given education
about the importance of a healthy eating habits. Therefore, it will helps improving the
quality of their life.

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DEFINITION OF UNHEALTHY EATING HABIT
Unhealthy eating is defined as any eating habit that does not fulfill the requirements of the
body. It can be interpreted in both ways as a deficient diet or as an excessive diet (Hopkins,
n.d.). It means that you do not need to know a logical eating regulation, you just eat whatever
and whenever you want and do not think about the consequences.
This is the common eating way that many people fall into a daily routine that can include
skipping breakfast, wolfing down an unhealthy lunch, grabbing soda, chips, candy, donuts or
coffee all day and gorging in the evening (Nestle, n.d.). In addition, it can be known that people
are extremely depended on junk food and drinks which have stimulant or harmful substances
in, such as soft drink, alcohol drink and coffee.
There are 2 types of unhealthy eating habit (Hopkins, n.d.):
 First is the kind of people who eat to involve insufficient nutrition.
o This is the kind of people who are underweight because of their diet rather
than because of metabolism or other factors.
 Second is the people who just want to eat too much food.
o Such people are also likely to eat what is termed as junk food because of
their eating demand. Junk food is usually prepared rapidly and has plenty of
bulk but not much in the way of nutrition. Furthermore, Junk food also
contains a lot of fat and is generally avoidable.

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THE CAUSES OF UNHEALTHY EATING HABIT OF TEENAGERS
After researching and investigating through our survey with the young people, we could
conclude and bring out the common reasons lead to the bad habits in eating:
 Fast food is so delicious, multiform and it attracts extremely on the teenagers. Not only
children and teenagers, but also adults nowadays love eating fast food with many of
kinds, including French fries, fried chicken, hamburger, hot dog, Vietnamese bread and a
lot types of cakes.
 Junk food is more convenient than home-made food and there are many junk food store
around the world. As you can know, home-cooked food take a lot of times consisting of
preparing unavailable material that you have to buy at supermarket and cooking.
However, sometimes you can have difficulty in all cooking process.
 The demand of using alcohol drink and dope to reduce stress or just for fun. These days,
almost teenagers often choose Bar or Pub club which are the places for them to meet
friends, play and relax. In these places, you have to use alcohol drinks (ex: beer, wine,…)
to have the permission to play. On the other hand, to serve the relaxation needs of
customer, stimulant such as funky balloon, weed, drugs was used by teenagers although
it is not allowed to use. This is the typical entertainment form with young people in the
world.
Some other causes that we have consulted from online research articles:
 Family not eating meals together (Education, 2008). Because of working schedule, each
member cannot have any time to have a meal together.
 Simply the enjoyment that a person may have for this sort of junk food. (Hopkins, n.d.).
They just eat because they want and do not need to think about the consequences.
 They are not sure which foods are healthy (Club, 2013). In fact, some people have lack
of knowledge about what is healthy to eat, they just eat and enjoy the food.
 Strong advertising of food (studymoose, 2016). Almost people are attracted by the
advertisement about fast food or drinks, thus they bought them and it contributes to
unhealthy eating habits.
 Cost price of choosing healthy food (tiger, n.d.). It is important cause of unhealthy eating
habits. People may aware of healthy food, but they just cannot afford it.
 Taste (tiger, n.d.). Fast food taste better than homemade food sometimes. For instance,
when you are thirsty, a soft drink such as Coca Cola may taste better than water to
some.

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 Work load (tiger, n.d.). Heavy work load experts a negative influence on eating habits.
Some people are so busy that they have little time to eat; some others just take work
priority to meals, and they would not like to eat until they finish their work.
UNHEALTHY EATING HABITS DATA
Below is a summary of the survey's data as well as some significant estimation. We present
the choices and questions of the respondents and give the results:
 Most of the respondents is more than 18 and the rest are between the ages of 12 to
18, which indicates they are in school age.
13
37
50 Respondents
12 to 18 Over 18
 Over 60% of them usually spend less than 50,000 dong on food every day, while 25%
have more than 200,000 dong on food and 15% of them spend from 150,000-200,000d.

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60%
15%
25%
Percentage
Less than 50,000d 150,000-200,000d More than 200,000d
 Those over 18, who over the age of school and work, more than 80% often skip
breakfast. Beside, those who are in middle school and high school age rarely skip
breakfast.
 There are average about 80% of them are always spend less than 15 minutes to finish a
meal.
 According to the survey as also in the eyes of domestic and foreign tourists, most of the
food that young people love is fast food. They eat fast food about 2 to 3 times in a
week.
 More than 80% of them eat on schedule, the rest often skip meals or not on time.
 About half of them usually order food online or convenience stores and spend less time
cooking for themselves.
We also mention some opinions of the responders:
 Viewed from different angles, most people seem to feel that their eating habits are not
good for themselves. In the other hand, several people thought the opposite.
 Some people say that their eating habits make them slim and hard to gain weight and
some are lazy to cook and eat fast food.
 Therefore, most of them have questions about what food they should eat to help them
improve their lives after responding to our survey.

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RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM
After considered the options, we sets out some tips to improve a healthy eating habits:
 There is a significant problem of fast food so the approach used here is reduce any extra
fat (butter bread, sour cream...). Instead, use low fat or nonfat versions of foods so it
can help lower cholesterol, promote the role of health.
 In fact, for many people, cooking is a difficult challenge, you should spend more times to
cook with your family or friends. You will not be afraid to cook anymore, cooking with
everyone will be a good experience for life.
 Try to avoid fast food and also try to cook your own meal. It will help you improve your
cooking and also contribute to lazy cure.
 Read the nutrition book to establish knowledge about healthy eating. It will make
cooking easier for people who are unskilled.
 Be aware of hidden fats and larger portion size. In other words, you need to know what
kind of food is suitable for your life and what it contains.
 Do some regular exercises to keep your body healthy and improve mood.
 Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, fish, whole grain cereals and also drink
plenty of water instead of sugary drinks.
 Have a nutritious and scientific diet.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Club, Y. M. (2013, January 12). The Top Reasons We Eat Unhealthy Food. Retrieved May
29, 2018, from huffingtonpost: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/yummy-mummy-
club/how-to-eat-healthy_b_2116885.html#gallery/542043/1
Education, E. f. (2008). Nutrition advisor. Retrieved May 29, 2018, from VISTA:
http://vista.engines4ed.org/nutrition/docs/NA_UnhealthyEatingHabitsFAQ.htm
Hopkins, S. (n.d.). Signs of Unhealthy Eating. Retrieved May 29, 2018, from Home
Remedies for you:
https://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/articles/1181/diet/signs-of-unhealthy-
eating.html
Nestle. (n.d.). Unhealthy Eating Habits. Retrieved May 29, 2018, from nestle:
https://www.nestle.com.eg/en/nhw/health-wellness-tips/unhealthy-eating-
habits
studymoose. (2016, November 27). Advertising - the main causes of unhealthy eating
habit essay . Retrieved May 29, 2018, from studymoose:
https://studymoose.com/advertising-the-main-cause-of-unhealthy-eating-habits-
essay
tiger, S. (n.d.). Is the Media the Main cause of unhealthy Eating Habits. Retrieved May
29, 2018, from Study tiger: https://studytiger.com/essay-is-the-media-the-main-
cause-of-unhealthy-eating-habits/
Trang, P. (2017, 10 19). Suc Khoe. Retrieved 5 17, 2018, from vnexpress:
https://suckhoe.vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/suc-khoe/tre-em-viet-nam-ngay-cang-beo-
phi-3657777.html