RESULTS Our findings suggest that consumers have a relatively poor underst and ing of a healthy diet .
The literature also demonstrates that there is poor evidence on the health protective effects of single foods or nutrients .
We further show that low SES is the single consistent risk factor for not adhering to a healthy diet .
Our review of the literature on determinants demonstrates that intentions , habits , self-regulatory skills , and the social and physical environment are the most important determinants of a healthy diet , which are in turn amenable to change by intervention strategies with varying levels of effectiveness .
Educational interventions generally show a limited effect on practising a healthy diet whereas interventions targeting habitual behaviour and /or the physical environment seem more promising .
In view of the large number of people who are concerned about their diets and make attempts to change their dietary patterns , we conclude that it is crucial to gain a better underst and ing of both the automatic and environmental influences that are responsible for people not acting upon their good intentions for diet change
OBJECTIVE To discuss healthy diet from a psychological perspective by considering definitions of healthy diet in terms of consumer underst and ing ; the health effects of specific dietary elements in terms of overweight and ( chronic ) illness ; the prevalence of healthy diet ; the psychological and environmental determinants of healthy diet ; and the psychological interventions that have been design ed to promote healthy diet .
Are dietary restraint scales valid measures of moderate- to long-term dietary restriction? Objective biological and behavioral data suggest not.
Prospect i ve studies indicate that elevated scores on dietary restraint scales predict bulimic symptom onset , but experiments indicate that assignment to dietary restriction interventions reduces bulimic symptoms . One possible explanation for the inconsistent findings is that the dietary restraint scales used in the former studies are not valid measures of dietary restriction . The authors previously found that  dietary restraint  scales were not inversely correlated with objective measures of short-term caloric intake ( E. Stice , M. Fisher , & M. R. Lowe , 2004 ) . In this follow-up report , 3 studies indicated that the Three-Factor Eating Question naire  dietary restraint scale was not correlated with doubly labeled water estimated energy intake over 2-week periods or with observationally measured caloric intake over 3 months . Results from this study and others suggest that  dietary restraint scales may not be valid measures of moderate- to long-term dietary restriction and imply the need to reinterpret findings from studies that have used dietary restraint scales
RESULTS Our findings suggest that consumers have a relatively poor underst and ing of a healthy diet .
The literature also demonstrates that there is poor evidence on the health protective effects of single foods or nutrients .
We further show that low SES is the single consistent risk factor for not adhering to a healthy diet .
Our review of the literature on determinants demonstrates that intentions , habits , self-regulatory skills , and the social and physical environment are the most important determinants of a healthy diet , which are in turn amenable to change by intervention strategies with varying levels of effectiveness .
Educational interventions generally show a limited effect on practising a healthy diet whereas interventions targeting habitual behaviour and /or the physical environment seem more promising .
In view of the large number of people who are concerned about their diets and make attempts to change their dietary patterns , we conclude that it is crucial to gain a better underst and ing of both the automatic and environmental influences that are responsible for people not acting upon their good intentions for diet change
OBJECTIVE To discuss healthy diet from a psychological perspective by considering definitions of healthy diet in terms of consumer underst and ing ; the health effects of specific dietary elements in terms of overweight and ( chronic ) illness ; the prevalence of healthy diet ; the psychological and environmental determinants of healthy diet ; and the psychological interventions that have been design ed to promote healthy diet .