ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how Chinese international students discuss their relationship with food and how this discussion contributes to their navigation of the ‘norm’ in their construction of a healthy lifestyle. It is informed by research focusing on the health-related experiences of ten Chinese international students attending higher education institutions in New South Wales, Australia. Controversy exists in public health about the approach and key messages that should be adopted in regard to body size, body mass index (BMI), and food-related behaviours when seeking to promote ‘health’. Healthism contributes to a pervasive message reinforcing the construction of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bodies and an ideal health practice. The pedagogical message is that a good body is achieved through regimented exercise and food intake. Food-based dietary guidelines, such as the food pyramid, are often used to communicate nutritional information to the general population. Those who do not conform to the Western ideal and neoliberal rationality of healthy citizenship are ‘othered’ and labelled as ‘bodies at risk’.
