Have you ever created a seemingly foolproof plan to execute—only to watch it unfold far differently than you expected? As food and nutrition professionals, this is a challenge that many of us face as we work to communicate evidence-based plans and strategies to help consumers advance their goals and improve their health.

The overall evidence supporting the basics of a healthy diet pattern is, in many respects, strong. Sure, questions remain. Do individual differences affect how macronutrients impact health? How do tens of thousands of phytonutrients function in the body? There are countless unknowns, and it will take generations to uncover them.

Still, the most pressing questions—the ones with immediate, weighty implications—center on how we can effectively enable consumers to initiate, adopt, and sustain healthier eating patterns. Make no mistake, the stakes are rising alongside the increasing rates of overweight, obesity, and chronic diseases. Good nutrition can help mitigate these conditions.

Perhaps Charles Duhigg, award-winning journalist and author of The Power of Habit said it best: “The gap between knowing and doing is where most of our food struggles live.”

Improving Consumer Communication Through Research

One of the keys to helping consumers eat healthier lies in what insights we can gather from consumers directly. This is one of IFIC’s greatest strengths—our relentless pursuit to be a “consumer whisperer” through our research and consumer insights platform. Specifically, we are interested in:

1. Understanding what people know, as well as how they think and act when making food and beverage decisions;
2. Sharing these insights with those who are shaping the broad food, nutrition, and health dialogue and informing the public, as well as educating future health professionals and communicators; and
3. Positively impacting consumer behavior and public health.

Through the annual IFIC Food & Health Survey, monthly IFIC Spotlight Surveys, and a range of research initiatives, IFIC uncovers the beliefs, intentions, and behaviors that shape consumer food and beverage decisions. The IFIC Spotlight Survey: Americans’ Perceptions & Priorities on Healthy Eating offers key insights to understand consumers’ food and health struggles.

Understanding Americans’ Top Food & Nutrition Priorities

In the Stages of Change Model, pre-contemplation progresses to contemplation, preparation, action, and, finally, maintenance. These steps represent the gap between knowing and doing. From mindfulness to emotions to priorities, the latest IFIC Spotlight Survey findings reveal the following key insights:

Is healthy eating top of mind? In a word – no. More than one in four (26%) Americans do not think about how healthy their diet is very often. Only 12% consider health every time they make food decisions.

Food is…? Complicated. When asked simply, “How do you think about food,” nearly two-thirds said food is “fuel” (62%) followed by “delicious” (60%). This reflects the age-old balancing act between nutrition and taste.

Coming in third: “health” (56%) – while not the top priority, it remains a key factor. Meanwhile, about a third of consumers view food as “joy” (37%) and “love” (32%), while a quarter associate it with “medicine” (28%), and “connection” (22%). Perhaps the most telling? Only 18% described food as “easy.”

When asked separately whether they agree that “food is medicine,” nearly three in four (73%) said yes, while just 9% disagreed.

What to eat versus how to eat? The top three priorities remain the same when examining food and beverage decisions, yet priorities shift slightly depending on the question positioning:

• What people eat is driven by: health (42%), budget (42%), and preferences (40%).
• How people eat is influenced by: preferences (43%), budget (41%), and health (36%).

Time or money? When asked which actions play the biggest role in maintaining a healthy diet, consumers prioritized time over money. Further, the most important actions were those that transpired closest to the actual eating experience itself– preparing and cooking (41%) and planning (40%) meals and snacks. Fewer identified spending more time on grocery shopping (10%) as playing the biggest role. Spending more money on food and beverages came in at last place (8%).

Actions matter – but which ones? Consumers agree that exercise (59%) and eating a balanced diet (58%) are the most important actions for being healthy. Interestingly, there’s a gender divide. Men choose exercise more than women, and women identify eating a balanced diet more than men.

Survey respondents were also asked what they check first on a food label to determine if a product is healthy.

• The Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP) was the top choice (38%), followed by the ingredients list (29%).
• Older consumers (45+ years) were more likely to check the NFP compared to those under 45 years of age.

These insights are particularly relevant as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updates the definition of “healthy” and considers front-of-package labeling to better inform consumers and assist them in making healthful food and beverage choices.

Translating Our Knowledge & Insights Into Action

Now is the time for a different approach to our plans and strategies. As food and nutrition professionals, we must self-reflect and consider what we can do (or do differently) as we have yet to crack the code when it comes to significantly advancing healthy eating patterns in America. Consider the following given the latest IFIC Spotlight Survey findings:

1. Put the consumer voice at the center of the dialogue.
2. Recognize that behavior change is the crux of improving diet quality, influenced by a complex mix of immediate thoughts, needs, and emotions, as well as personal and cultural associations with food.
3. Support consumers in acting on their intentions, reinforcing the importance of time management in planning, prepping, and/or cooking meals and snacks to initiate and automate healthy dietary habits.
4. Create environments that make healthy eating easier, enjoyable, automatic, and habitual, addressing common barriers like time, kitchen skills, and budget.
5. Leverage the NFP and ingredients list as known information tools, reinforcing habits already common among some consumers.

If we truly want to move the needle on healthy eating in America, we need to rethink our approach. It is not just about what we tell consumers—it is about how we help them bridge the gap between intention and action. The challenge is not just education; it is transformation. Are we ready to meet consumers where they are and create real change?