Food Autonomy: The Paradox to Cereal-Based Food Choice

Certain aspects of our modern diet have been implicated in thedevelopment of non-communicable diseases. For instance, energyconsumed in excess of an individual's physiological requirements maylead to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes mellitus, gall bladder disease,coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and possibly some cancers.Although many of these diet-related diseases can be controlled by modernmedicine, they cannot be cured. Instead, prevention through public healthstrategies is the only satisfactory solution. One of the major strategies forprevention of diet-related diseases in Australia is to modify the nationaldiet (Rogers 1987). In April 1979, the Commonwealth Department of Health responded to theWorld Health Organisation's call for the development of national food andnutrition polices by proposing the Dietary Guidelines for Australians. "TheDietary Guidelines for Australians provide advice to the general populationabout healthy food choices, so that their usual diet contributes to ahealthy life-style and is consistent with minimal risk for the developmentof diet-related diseases" (National Health and Medical Research Council1992:ix). However, in order to achieve the aim of the dietary guidelines,supporting educational programs are required. This is because it isbelieved that as consumers become more informed about food, nutrition,health, and the dietary guidelines, they are more likely to begin changingtheir diet in the directions recommended by the CommonwealthDepartment of Health and Family Services (1998a). Public health professionals believe that behaviour-change theories arebeneficial in gaining an understanding of the evolution of peoples' foodand nutrition behaviours. Behaviour-change theories are typicallyintegrated into dietary interventions as a means of educating theAustralian population about healthy food choices. However, attempts tochange Australians' food and nutrition behaviours by applying behaviour-change theories have been adi