ABSTRACT
The word eat both refers to the moments when we actually put something in our mouths to consume it, and the more extended periods of time during which a succession of these moments takes place. We are constantly reminded that changes in demographics and the decline of communicable disease in Western populations have resulted in the rise of so-called chronic illnesses, in particular those labelled lifestyle conditions. Consequently, growing attention paid to the ways in which the environment can interact with the body throughout our lives has led to social factors increasingly falling under an expanding medical gaze. Both aetiological models and strategies for therapy have had to find ways to embrace not merely what is inside the body, such as the continuous interactions between physiology, metabolism and genetics. That eating encompasses much more than this restricted sense of behaviour and the behavioural choices that diet' has come to stand for is clearly emphasized by Lavis.
