Taipei City youth aged 15 to 24 formed the population under study. A cluster random sample of Taipei City was surveyed. Altogether 259 properly completed questionnaires were generated. Results: Taipei City youth on average took 11.35 meals per week outside the home, or about 54.05% of all meals. Only 1.56% of youth took all meals at home over a week. The youth averaged 20.97 in Body Mass Index and only 11.76% had a BMI above 24. While 42.35% were trying to control weight, 83.78% of youth concurred that diet were important to health. On average, the two most practiced health behaviors per week in decreasing order were eating breakfast (5.13 days) and eating green and yellow vegetables (4.17 days). The least practiced health behaviors were not drinking sugared beverages (2.5 days) and eating whole-grain food (2.87 days). Whether a youth is on a diet, appear to make a statistically significant difference in 6 of 9 measures of healthy eating, and those are the most important factor identified. Other factors identified in decreasing order of influence are eating out, excessive school work, lack of time, and the force of habit or inertia. These factors account for 10.3% to 24.0% of the observed variation in the number of days of healthy behavior practiced in the surveyed population. This study recommends the development of new strategies in health education, adapted to the peculiarities and proclivities of youth, including the adoption of sugar-free beverages as part of popular food culture; the aggressive popularization of health-promoting practices in the workplace; and the creation of eating establishments that support healthy eating outside the home.
Taipei City youth aged 15 to 24 formed the population under study. A cluster random sample of Taipei City was surveyed. Altogether 259 properly completed questionnaires were generated. Results: Taipei City youth on average took 11.35 meals per week outside the home, or about 54.05% of all meals. Only 1.56% of youth took all meals at home over a week. The youth averaged 20.97 in Body Mass Index and only 11.76% had a BMI above 24. While 42.35% were trying to control weight, 83.78% of youth concurred that diet were important to health. On average, the two most practiced health behaviors per week in decreasing order were eating breakfast (5.13 days) and eating green and yellow vegetables (4.17 days). The least practiced health behaviors were not drinking sugared beverages (2.5 days) and eating whole-grain food (2.87 days). Whether a youth is on a diet, appear to make a statistically significant difference in 6 of 9 measures of healthy eating, and those are the most important factor identified. Other factors identified in decreasing order of influence are eating out, excessive school work, lack of time, and the force of habit or inertia. These factors account for 10.3% to 24.0% of the observed variation in the number of days of healthy behavior practiced in the surveyed population. This study recommends the development of new strategies in health education, adapted to the peculiarities and proclivities of youth, including the adoption of sugar-free beverages as part of popular food culture; the aggressive popularization of health-promoting practices in the workplace; and the creation of eating establishments that support healthy eating outside the home.