A Study on Diet Consciousness of IT Employees

Abstract

Diet denotes the aggregate of food consumed by a living organism for gaining energy needed for executing the routine activities of life. Diet involves the intake of adequate nutrition which may be oriented towards gaining good health or for managing weight. Human dieting is driven by taste preferences, health consciousness or ethical beliefs. Usually, human beings prefer to take balanced and healthy diet. People in developed nations enjoy the privilege of having adequate wealth to ensure that they get access to healthy diet without any constraint. Limited consumption of processed meat, hot and soft drinks and intake of food originating from plants is healthier. This descriptive study has endeavored to assess the diet consciousness of IT employees in Chennai & Puducherry and the association of such diet consciousness with their nature of weekend food, opinion about outside food, skipping the usual meal pattern and consuming nutritious food. Results reveal that quite a large number of IT employees skip breakfast and prefer home prepared food even during weekends. Green and vegetables are consumed to a better extent than dairy products, eggs, meat and fish by the respondents who enjoy only average level of family support on grounds of them complementing their healthy diet and making them feeling guilty for not consuming healthy diet. Finally, outside food has been rated average by the IT employees on grounds of price, hygiene and quality while they have appreciated its taste.