“To eat and to know what you eat”: exploring perceptions on diet and diet recording among people in a Sri Lankan locality

Improving nutrition through dietary modification is important for prevention of non-communicable diseases. Lack of culturally-apt diet recording tools undermine the accurate assessment of dietary behaviors of a population, in research and practice. This study aimed to explore public perceptions on diet and diet recording in the Sri Lankan setting, as a preliminary step in designing a diet recording tool that reflects local food culture and eating habits. Three focus group discussions were conducted among a heterogeneous, purposively selected sample of 30 adults to identify perceptions on diet and diet recording, following completion of a standard food diary. Content analysis identified six key themes: i.e. definition of a meal, knowledge on calories, determinants of diet, benefits / difficulties in diet recording and expected improvements of the diet diary. The understanding of a meal, calories and determinants of diet were major components in the perceptions of diet. Individual, family, food, occasion and time-related and socioeconomic factors were identified as determinants of daily diet. Participants stated that documenting diet is useful to define health, nutritional components of a meal and diet control, while time constraints emerged as a limitation. Participants expected a user-friendly diet recording tool to include information on balanced diet and diet-related diseases, attractive appearance, instructions and food lists to choose from. These findings are important in designing culturally appropriate tools for the assessment and self-monitoring of the diet in the management of non-communicable diseases.