Video by Tristan Day
Multimedia by Nishat Chowdhury
Story by Julia Sacco
Following our research, it is clear that COVID-19 and the proceeding lockdown has led to a change in diet for many young people across North America.
These changes are varied and include following specific dietary restrictions, like plant-based and keto diets.
According to research from the International Food Information Council’s (IFIC) 2020 Food and Health Survey, 43 per cent of people who took the survey reported trying out new diets or changing their eating habits for specific diets.
According to Professor Stuart Phillips from the department of Kinesiology at McMaster University, dietary changes are inevitable during a pandemic, but the question remains whether or not these will be permanent.
“COVID-19 has forced a lot of people to consider their health. Most people want to lose weight now more than ever,” said Phillips. “Young people want to be healthier, but these temporary changes don’t last. Persistent dietary change rarely happens.”
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Aidan D’Souza, a post-secondary media expert and Skechers performance athlete, detailed how the pandemic has allowed him more time to focus on meals and cook for himself.
“[I’m cooking] different foods that I normally wouldn’t have to cook when I was working or in school, I was eating out. But now I feel like cooking for myself to see what ingredients go into the food,” said D’Souza.
Other young people have said how their diets have gotten worse since the lockdown.
Shahreen Ahmed, a second-year international development studies student at the University of Toronto Scarborough described how she has become reliant on food delivery services.
“Most of the time my food was prepared by myself and it was healthier. But because of COVID and since we’re all quarantined, I usually wake up a lot later in the day so because of that I naturally just get lazy,” said Ahmed.
However different the changes may be, there is undoubtedly a shift in the diets of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether they are permanent is yet to be determined.
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