Nutrition education is really poor in the UK, large diet businesses (like slimming world) also promote very poor diets. On slimming world people are taught that certain foods are syns and that they can essentially eat unlimited carbs.
Even the NHS isn’t much better, I have type one diabetes and despite it being very well controlled at review I am always told to increase my carb content (by the over weight diabetes clinic nurse) which will in turn increase by blood sugars and put me at higher risk of diabetic complications.
Support for eating disorders is crap, I’ve had bulimia since my late teams, despite me actually seeking help and it being identified by the diabetes service it took almost five years to actually get any help. Before then I was sometimes told to only use my insulin if I wasn’t going to purge a meal. For me it took going private to get adequate support and I was finally discharged from the ED service just before christmas, I’ll still have blips I had one a few weeks ago. But the treatment I received enables me to manage those and get them under control quickly.
Our parents can also have a really negative influence on us, people forced to finish meals as children have greater difficulties in managing their appetite as adults. My son is adopted, as a baby he was malnourished so he doesn’t consciously remember being hungry, but I can’t put food in the bin as when I’m not looking he will eat it, he has to be watched like a hawk at school as he will eat out of the bin, pick food of the floor etc, which has an additional worry as he has a dairy allergy. Despite my best efforts in feeding him a healthy balanced diet with no pressure to finish meals etc he is unlikely to grow up and experience a healthy relationship with food.
Some people don’t have adequate cooking facilities and adequate education/confidence in their kitchen. Fresh ingredients are expensive, getting your five a day isn’t cheap. Then there is the issue if you’re on a low income you can’t afford to waste food on money your children may not eat.
I personally don’t eat meat or dairy, but I have a varied homecooked diet and always get my five a day and usually more. But my food bill is high, I save money where I can so peas, broad beans, green beans and soya beans are bought frozen, but I find any other veg disgusting when its frozen.
For me calories in v calories out is easy because I can cook, I have money for food and I know what a balanced meal looks like. For others it is really hard.
We need a huge shake up of PE provision in schools, food education and the food provided in nursery, primary school and secondary school. If my son ate school dinners he would get one portion of veg per week over five school meals, the rest is almost all carbs.