Food and Cooking Skills, and Eating Behaviors in People With Overweight or Obesity

Food skills and cooking skills, considered a basic activity of daily living, have become an increasingly important issue, especially in Western countries in parallel with the change in food consumption patterns such as consuming Away-From-Home-Food and processed food. Food skills which include concepts such as menu planning for meals, purchasing, preparing and cooking foods, budgeting, food safety, and healthy nutrition using the resources at hand are defined as "the ability to produce balanced and delicious meals suitable for the age and needs of individuals". Cooking skills not only refer to a series of mechanical or physical skills such as chopping, mixing, and heating used in food preparation but also include conceptual and perceptual skills related to changes in food after the cooking process. The increase in obesity on a global scale and the significant decline in diet quality draw attention to the issue of increasing people's interest in home cooking and methods of preparing food to be eaten at home as a potential strategy for preventing obesity. Thus, it is stated that food preparation knowledge, skills, and behaviors can affect dietary intake and body weight.

This study cross-sectional was conducted in the Nutrition and Diet Clinic of Bandirma Training and Research Hospital in Bandirma district of Balikesir province, located on the coast of the Marmara Sea, in the west of Turkey. The minimum sample size was calculated as 107 using the G*Power 3.1.9.7 program (power:95%, α=0.05, effect size d=0.15). However, considering the possibility of losses during the study, we decided to include 30% (n = 139) more people.

Of the individuals who presented to the diet outpatient clinic between January 2022 and July 2022, those who agreed to participate in the study (n=308), were in the age group of 19-64 years (n=212) and had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25.00 kg/m2 were included in the study. Written informed consent was obtained from the participants. Of these individuals, those with a diagnosis of psychiatric disease (n=8), those who cannot feed orally and/or have difficulty in chewing and swallowing (n=4), and those who had physical health problems that would prevent the researchers from assessing their food preparation and cooking skills or from making their anthropometric measurements (n=13) and those who were pregnant or lactating (n=2) were excluded, and data about 185 individuals were evaluated in the study.

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of Obesity
• who were in the age group of 19-64 years

Exclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of psychiatric disease
• Who cannot feed orally and/or have difficulty in chewing and swallowing
• Who had physical health problems that would prevent the researchers from assessing their food preparation and cooking skills or from making their anthropometric measurements
• Who were pregnant or lactating