Open access publications in the SLU publication database

Organic food and mental health : young adults' existential relationship to food as a strategy for well-being

Taking departure in eco-psychology and a life-world phenomenological perspective, young people's choice of organic food can be described as a nature-based self-therapeutic intervention used to improve mental health. The aim of the study is to investigate how young people actively use the relationship between body and food to increase wellbeing and to handle existential problems and their anxiety about the future. The three studies are to contribute to an understanding of how young adults use their relationship to organic food in daily life as part of a strategy for mental health. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a strategic selection of 30 young adults between the ages of 18 and 35, about their interest in organic food. The descriptive phenomenological psychological research method guided the analysis, complemented with a phenomenological narrative method. In sub study I the phenomenon "young adults' relations to organic food" was investigated on a general level showing how this relationship with organic food is a multidimensional phenomenon with four constituents: 1) the lived body as a starting point for an exploration of life, 2) a narrative self through emotional-relational food memories, 3) a conscious life strategy for wellbeing and vitality, and 4) a personal set of values in relation to ethical norms. Sub study II investigated variations in forms of expression in constituents one and three, and describes how young adults used food as a self-therapeutic intervention by using their bodies and minds in relation to food as a tool by: 1) listening to their body; 2) moderating their body's condition and feelings; 3) finding bodily vitality and resilience; 4) creating a space for stillness and meditation and 5) cooperating in a creative process. Sub study III describes how the relationship to food develop through memories connecting food with specific people, events and contexts, with three life narratives illustrating how this relation can evolve during the period as a young adult: 1) positive emotional food memories can be associated with using food as an emotional anchor. 2) Negative emotional food memories can be connected with: a) a preoccupation with
food, which means that the individual exchanges or compensates for interpersonal relations, b) an avoidance of food, which is about memories associated with a controlled and evasive relation to food. The study also shows how the relationship to food during the young adult period can entail
"a second chance" to develop good food habits, but also how the strong focus on eating healthily can be problematic and can be problematic for the person.