Hunter, E., Stone, R.A. orcid.org/0000-0002-8910-8792, Brown, A. et al. (6 more authors) (2025) “We go hunting …”: Understanding experiences of people living with obesity and food insecurity when shopping for food in the supermarket to meet their weight related goals. Appetite, 205. 107794. ISSN 0195-6663
Abstract
The high prevalence of food insecurity in the United Kingdom has been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. In high-income countries, those experiencing food insecurity struggle to buy and consume foods that meet Government healthy eating recommendations, and are at increased risk of obesity, linked to poor diet quality. Individuals in high-income countries purchase most of their food to consume at home from supermarkets, making this an important context within which healthier and environmentally sustainable food purchasing should be supported. However, the lived experience of supermarket food purchasing in people living with obesity and food insecurity has not been explored in depth. Adults, living in England and Scotland, who self-identified as living with obesity and food insecurity and looking to reduce their weight, were recruited to take part in semi-structured interviews (n = 25) or focus groups (n = 8) to explore their experience of shopping for food in the supermarket. Using thematic analysis, four main themes were generated: 1) the Restricted Consumer; restrictions around the type of food purchased, where food can be purchased and the resulting emotional toll, 2) the Conscious Consumer; decision making and effortful practices both in preparation of and during the shopping trip, 3) Mitigating the Rising Cost of Food; agency and actions taken to mitigate high food prices, 4) Stigma; instances of perceived and/or experienced weight and poverty-related stigma and the physical actions and cognitive social comparisons used to minimise stigma. Findings provide insights for evidence-based policy on the need for upstream changes within the wider food system to address the social determinants of health and support people living with obesity and food insecurity to eat healthier and more sustainable diets.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Food insecurity; Obesity; Supermarkets; Lived experience; Cost-of-living; Health inequalities; Qualitative research |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 14 Feb 2025 12:02 |
Last Modified: | 14 Feb 2025 12:02 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107794 |
Related URLs: | |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:223314 |