"I just grab what I can get..." Social and cultural factors that influence African American men's eating patterns

Over the last decade, obesity has increased significantly among African American men. This presentation describes how African American men conceptualize healthy and unhealthy eating, define different meals and consider the factors that influence their eating patterns. We conducted a thematic analysis of nine exploratory focus groups with 83 middle-aged, urban African American men in southeast Michigan. In these focus groups, men described healthy meals as ones that included vegetables, organic ingredients, salt substitutes, and poultry, and unhealthy meals as those that were fried and contained fatty meats and salty seasonings. Unhealthy foods were thought to taste better than healthy foods. Meals were defined as eating with others and including a protein source. Due to demanding weekday responsibilities, men reported skipping breakfast and either being too busy to eat lunch or eating fast food. They emphasized the importance of dinner with their spouse during the work week, which was described as usually a home-cooked, healthy meal. On weekends, many men reported that their spouses cooked less; they snacked more, and were more likely to dine out on unhealthy food than during the week. Sunday dinners involving favorite, unhealthy comfort foods were depicted as the highlight of men's weekend eating. Eating patterns differed during the week compared to the weekend and were shaped by time constraints, whether men's spouses cooked, busy work and family schedules, and the availability of healthy food at home. These findings provide insight into the social and cultural factors that influence African American men's eating patterns.