Browsing by Author "Saarinen, Sini"

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract The aim of this research is to find out what kind of snacks the girls in the primary school choose and what they consider as a healthy snack. It is important to get the ground information about the phenomenon of the snacks since there is very little previous research done in this sector. However the previous research points out that it is important to eat snacks to be able to have enough strength. The other side is that the snacks might contain too much energy and sugar. The methods. The research was carried out as a qualitative semi-structured research. The method was interview and the participants ten girls were at the moment of carrying out the interview in the fourth and the fifth grade. During the interview the girls had to point out from the collage what kinds of snacks they would choose and what kind of snacks they considered to be healthy or unhealthy. The transcription was carried out and after that the results were analyzed using the content analysis. The content analysis included reading the content many times and categorize it. Demonstrating charts and tables were formed. The results showed that the most common snack of the girls was mandarin in the school and at home sandwich. Also apple and yoghourt were common snacks. 90 per cent of girls ate snacks daily. If the girls could choose their snacks themselves they would most willingly eat carelian pie, fruits, vegetables, yoghurt, berry soup and dried fruits. The factors that were having the most impact on choosing the snacks were the girls preferences what they like and what they happened to have at home as well as the amount that they ate at lunch. When they were asked more precisely over the half were thinking that the parents and the healthiness of the food had an impact on the snack choice. The parents were controlling the snacking and they also were the ones that brought the food home. Healthiness affected in two ways to the girls’ snack choices: unhealthy food was not chosen and healthy food was chosen for a snack. The results show that the girls chose their snacks according to what happened to be available and what stayed good for longer time as well as what was easy. Allergies had an impact on two of the participants’ choices. Only thing that did not have so much an impact was friends. The participants considered healthy vegetables and grain products because they contain less sugar and many vitamins. The sweets, ice cream, pastry, crisps, puddings and pizza were considered to be unhealthy since they contain lot of sugars, salt and fats. Study's conclusion is that snacks are an important part of primary school girls’ nutrition. Girls' views on what snacks are healthy or unhealthy, are mostly consistent with the current nutritional recommendations. Girls know very well what kind of snacks are healthy or unhealthy and healthiness also affected their snack choices.