Article

Health
14(2) 115–130
Negotiated pleasures in © The Author(s) 2010
Reprints and permission: http://www.
health-seeking lifestyles sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermission.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1363459309353292

of participants of a health http://hea.sagepub.com

promoting intervention

Piia Jallinoja, Pia Pajari and Pilvikki Absetz

National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland

Abstract
Using focus group discussion data the present article examines argumentation around pleasure
from food and physical activity among participants of a health promoting intervention. The article
analyses the conflicts produced by pleasure-seeking and health enhancement, and the pursuits
to solve these conflicts. Due to the discrepancy between the pleasure-seeking and health
enhancement, pleasure was constructed not simply as a spontaneous experience but often as a
planned and disciplined event. In respect of food, it was considered as appropriate to negotiate
with different sources of pleasure and discipline one’s inclination to simply follow one’s taste.
However, the tastiness of food was seen to have a value of its own and the need for pleasurable
tastes was often experienced as beyond the individual’s control. We term food related pleasures
‘negotiated pleasures’ stressing the diverse strategies used by individuals while negotiating
between food related pleasures and their overall health-seeking lifestyle. In respect of physical
activity, life resembled more a mosaic where passivity was occasionally interrupted with disciplined
physical activity that seldom produced pleasure. The scarcity of pleasures from physical activity
as well as from healthy foods is a challenge for health promoters. Instead of building more self-
controlling and self-denying individuals, it could be fruitful to focus health promoters’ attention to
the enhancement of the experiences of pleasure. No matter how self-disciplined individuals are,
if the dilemma of pleasure and health is not disentangled, lifestyle change will not last long.

Keywords
food, physical activity, pleasure, health promotion, negotiation

Introduction
An often-repeated phrase asks why everything pleasurable is so unhealthy. Many foods
considered as producing pleasure are also foods that cause anxiety and guilt (Coveney,
2000). Conversely, it is commonly assumed that a healthy lifestyle cannot be a pleasur-
able one – an assumption that health promoters try to challenge by providing examples
of attractive healthy meals or the joys of physical activity.

Corresponding author:
Piia Jallinoja, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland.
Email: piia.jallinoja@thl.fi

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116 Health 14(2)

The overall tension between pleasure and health in western societies has been recog-
nized in previous studies. Robert Crawford (2000, 2006) has pointed out that the ethic of
work and discipline has for some time been joined by an ethic of consumption offering
an ideal of self-fulfilment through the satisfaction of desires. Not only self-control and
discipline are valued, but enjoyment, pleasure and ‘not worrying’ are also viewed posi-
tively as sources of health (Crawford, 2006). Currently, people often feel they have a
moral duty to gain fun and pleasure from all aspects of everyday life (Ashley et al.,
2004). Accordingly, people are stressed by the quest of pleasure on one hand and the
control of risks on the other, and so strive for balance by avoidance of the extremes
(Backett, 1992; Broom and Whittaker, 2004; Niva, 2007; Pierret, 1993).
Jukka Gronow (1997) distinguishes between the concepts of need, pleasure and taste.
He points out, though, that pleasure and taste are inseparable since tastes are either pleas-
ant or unpleasant. However, a discourse of needs – as exemplified by modern nutrition
science – is constantly in an antithetical relationship with a discourse of taste (Gronow,
1997). The latter manifests itself in gastronomic guidebooks and magazines and, recently,
in TV food programmes. According to Gronow, the dilemmatic relationship between
discourses of needs and taste is exemplified in the difficulty in taking into account the
taste of food in the present-day nutritional recommendations. A similar dichotomy exists
within the modern commercial fitness field that promotes both sustained work and the
discipline of physical exercise, along with consumer culture’s messages of fun and
instant results (Smith Maguire, 2008).
Coveney and Bunton (2003) have analysed the association between pleasure and
health in western cultures, too. They identified four types of pleasure: carnal, disciplined,
ascetic and ecstatic, as well as historical trends in how these emerged. Currently, disci-
plined pleasure and the idea of moderation, restraint and tempered practices are at the
core of public health discourse (Coveney, 2000; Coveney and Bunton, 2003; Oliver,
2006; Sassatelli, 2001b). This discourse is revealed through statistics showing changes
in people’s habits such as a decrease in consumption of foods labelled unhealthy such as
butter and whole milk (Helakorpi et al., 2007). These changes may even indicate changes
in taste and preferences.
Despite these trends of health-seeking practices, pleasure-seeking habits resembling
‘carnal pleasures’ (Coveney and Bunton, 2003) still exist. Coveney and Bunton define
carnal pleasures as sensuous, calling for attention and gratification and also, often the
basis for many prohibitions. As noted earlier, the current capitalist ethos values enjoyment
and consumption. The pursuit for pleasure, however, should not be seen simply as a prod-
uct of this ethos, but also having its roots in human biology. This basis is exemplified by
our predisposition to prefer sweet and salty foods and to reject sour and bitter foods
(Birch, 1999). It is also found in recent neurobiological studies that are gradually reveal-
ing the complex cognitive, hedonic and emotional neural processes that play an important
part in energy intake and expenditure (Esch et al., 2006; Zheng and Berthoud, 2007).
Leann Birch (1999), however, stresses that in addition to the predisposition to prefer cer-
tain tastes, humans have a predisposition to learn preferences by associating foods with
contexts and the consequences of eating them. Therefore, eating is not simply the con-
sumption of nutrients, nor is it merely a form of ‘health behaviour’ aiming at the ideal diet.

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Jallinoja et al. 117

The social aspect of food consumption opens the question up to the wide variety of
food cultures and their rationales. Pleasure is tied not only to chemical processes but also
to taste as a learned and cultural concept. In the world of abundance, eating is a constant
choosing in respect of food traditions and fashions, the health effects of nutrients and
diets and ethical components of food production. For some time food cultures have been
characterized by differentiation: there are more and more followers of distinct food sub-
cultures such as vegetarians, vegans, macrobioticians, connoisseurs of all sorts of cui-
sines and followers of health enhancing diets (Gronow, 1997). Still, we should bear in
mind that many lifestyle choices and their gradual changes are not actually conscious
choices but routines that people do without thinking about them in any reflective way
(Crossley, 2004).
Compared to food, leisure-time physical activity has been less studied from cultural
studies’ or sociological perspectives. Previous studies have mostly focused on active
gym or fitness centre goers (Crossley, 2006; Sassatelli, 1999) and participants of aerobic
classes (Markula, 1995). But those with less systematic and unorganized activity patterns
and their rationalizations have been poorly studied (Wandel and Roos, 2006). One expla-
nation for the situation might be that eating, more so than physical exercise, is part of
everyday consumption patterns and consequently reflects the cultural undercurrents of
the whole of the population more poignantly (Ashley et al., 2004). As a result, eating has
interested researchers more so than unorganized physical activity.
In this article, we examine argumentation around pleasure from food and physical
activity among Finnish middle-aged adults. Eighteen months prior to the interviews, the
interviewees in our study had participated in a health promoting lifestyle-counselling
programme to prevent type 2 diabetes. This situation sets them in a special position with
respect of pleasure-seeking and health-seeking. The intervention aimed at healthy life-
styles including healthy eating patterns and physical activity. Pleasure and enjoyment
were also tied to the intervention and while pleasure was not a goal of the intervention,
its role in sustainable lifestyle change was brought up. The intervention participants
underwent a series of clinical and psychological measurements aimed at measuring the
impact of the intervention on both health behaviour and health (Absetz et al., 2007). With
the present focus groups discussions, the objective was to deepen the understanding of
the intervention participants’ experiences of lifestyle change.
In the present article, our first aim was to analyse the intervention participants’
descriptions of pleasure from food and physical activity or inactivity. Moreover, we
examined how pleasure-seeking fits to the intervention participants’ potential health-
seeking goal. Hence, our second aim was to analyse the conflicts produced by pleasure-
seeking and health-seeking, and the pursuits to solve these conflicts.

Methods
Prior to the focus group discussions, the participants of our study had participated in and
completed a group-based counselling programme to prevent type 2 diabetes – GOAL
(Absetz et al., 2007; Ikihyvä, 2008). The counselling targeted persons aged 50–65 years
with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes. These groups were facilitated by public health

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118 Health 14(2)

nurses at primary care centres in the Päijät-Häme region of Finland. A total of 216 per-
sons participated in 20 groups during spring 2003.1
In order to tease out diverse views on lifestyle change processes we chose to interview
those who had been successful in the weight reduction goal and those whose weight had
increased after the intervention (Jallinoja et al., 2008). We chose to contact intervention
participants living in the vicinity of major population centres, so that the journeys to
interview locations would not be too long. To recruit enough people, the inclusion crite-
rion for the weight-reducers’ interview group was 4.5 per cent weight reduction and for
weight-gainers 2.0 per cent weight gain.2
In the end, three weight-reducers’ interview groups (five women, 10 men) and three
weight-gainers’ interview groups (12 women, three men) were formed.3 The interview-
ees were between 52 and 65 years of age and 13 interviewees were retired. Their present
or pre-retirement occupational status was as follows: eight blue-collar employees, eight
lower white-collar employees, eight upper white-collar employees, two farmers and one
entrepreneur (three had not provided information).4
During the interviews it transpired that some interviewees in the weight-reducers’
groups had actually gained weight and some weight-gainers had started to lose weight
during the months before the interviews. Moreover, weight-loss was only one aim of the
GOAL intervention among other, more behaviour-oriented lifestyle objectives. Most
participants were able to attain a number of these objectives even though achievement of
weight-loss was less prevalent (Absetz et al., 2007). Hence, the interview groups of
weight-reducers and weight-gainers were not totally distinct in respect of lifestyle change
experiences. Consequently, we decided not to compare weight-reducers and weight-
gainers in the present article.
The group interviews were conducted between October 2004 and December 2004 by
two of the authors (PJ, PP) at university premises in the town of Lahti and at a health care
centre in one of the small rural towns. The interviews were structured around questions
tapping experiences and views on lifestyle change, group counselling, nutrition and
physical activity guidelines, goal setting and self-monitoring, difficulties in lifestyle
change, individual responsibility and social support. The discussion around the themes
started with contradictory arguments shown with a data projector. These arguments
served as vignettes in the conversation and were designed to tease out both positive and
negative experiences and viewpoints (Vesala and Rantanen, 2007).
These interviews, lasting 70–120 minutes, were tape recorded and transcribed verba-
tim. In the analysis, pseudonyms are used, such as Seija1/WG/F, where WG stands for
weight-gainer, F for female (WR for weight-reducer; M for male) and the number refers
to the number of the interview.
During the analysis, the data were read several times and indexed with ATLAS.ti
software. First, we re-read and analysed more closely the accounts fitting the overall
themes of ‘food’ and ‘physical activity’. Second, while reading the data we developed
the following more nuanced codes for describing the sources, motives and justifications
of pleasure-seeking and health-seeking: ‘temptations’, ‘old habits’, ‘new habits’,
‘choice’, ‘forbidden behaviours’, ‘allowed behaviours’, ‘lapses’, ‘treats’, ‘feeling good’
and ‘pleasure and enjoyment’ (Frankland and Bloor, 1999).

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Jallinoja et al. 119

We searched for recurrently used accounts for characterizing and evaluating pleasure
and its association with health-seeking, first in relation to food and second in relation to
physical activity (Potter, 1996; Potter and Wetherell, 1987). We also paid attention to
whether enjoyment was expressed in the meaning of corporeal or sensory pleasure or
whether it contained other meanings. The recurrent accounts of describing pleasure-
seeking and health-seeking, as well as their associations, pin down the sources of pleas-
ure and how individuals achieve a balance between health-seeking and pleasure-seeking
motives.
The research plan for the focus group discussions was approved by the Ethics Review
Board of the National Public Health Institute. The interviewees’ anonymity has been
guaranteed throughout the study.

Results
An overall agreement existed among the interviewees that pleasure is an important
part of life in general as well as of healthy living. This view is exemplified by Esko3
(WG/M): ‘I would say that, [pleasure] is part of life. So that … there has to be high-
lights in life.’ Moreover, total denial of pleasures was regarded as a useless effort. We
found no arguments representing either the view that pleasure and healthy living in
general would form totally distinct areas or the view that pleasure and healthy living
would be totally identical and overlapping. Instead, descriptions of balancing and
negotiating between pleasure-seeking and health-seeking were common during the
interviews.
When accounts relating to food and physical activity were analysed in more detail, the
associations of pleasure and health were found to be more nuanced. In the following we
explore separately and in more detail the experiences of pleasure from food and from
physical activity. We focus on the ways in which health-seeking and pleasure-seeking
were contrasted, as well as on the attempts to solve contradictions that had arisen during
the lifestyle change process.

Pleasure and health from food

Food related pleasures often came up during the interviews. Food products that were
labelled as healthy and unhealthy were both mentioned as examples of enjoyable foods.
For many interviewees, the opponent in their struggle for healthy living was their hunger
for treats considered as unhealthy. A major part of the descriptions of food related pleas-
ure and enjoyment, contained descriptions of how the interviewees currently limited
their consumption of some pleasurable product.
We identified four patterns of negotiation between the participants’ preference for
pleasurable but unhealthy food and their wish to live healthily. First, we found statements
of denial. Here the contradiction between pleasure and health was resolved by classify-
ing certain products as forbidden. In the following extracts, Esko and Aulikki note the
discrepancy between pleasure-seeking and the objectives for healthy eating learned dur-
ing the GOAL intervention:

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120 Health 14(2)

Esko3/WG/M: ... but that was what I noticed [in the GOAL group] ... that since I’m a bit like
that, I enjoy indulging in something sometimes ... so all those treats are just the thing you
should skip.

Aulikki1/WG/F: I have now limited myself, I always get to eat a little chocolate at the weekend,
but not too much, I force myself to stop. Even though, it’s a drag. And cream puffs, they are for
some other time, later.

Both extracts contain the view that pleasure-seeking is a rather strong motive for action.
Consequently, denial was considered as an appropriate method of combating this desire.
However, total denial of any pleasurable food was seldom brought up. Above, Aulikki
classifies cream puffs as forbidden for now, but allows herself a small amount of choco-
late. Instead of asceticism, the interviewees considered that even unhealthy treats may be
consumed, but in moderation or in disciplined and limited amounts. This is a view that
will be exemplified in more detail also in the other three patterns of negotiation.
The second pattern was identified in descriptions of permitted minor pleasure-producing
habits classified as not ideally healthy. A part of these accounts concerned preparation of
certain meals. For example, using butter while frying fish was a habit mentioned by sev-
eral interviewees, one being Vilma4 (WR/F): ‘if one fries fish, it absolutely requires a
dash of butter, first oil, and then add a little bit of butter, so that [the fish] gets a nice
colour and in my opinion also the taste [laughs].’
Another similar habit was adding a dab of butter in porridge, as described by Tiina4
(WR/F): ‘Rice porridge actually requires butter [laughs] …, but we only eat it four times
a year, so ...’
Notably in these accounts, interviewees stressed that these habits do not characterize
their overall lifestyle. Consequently, these habits do not threaten their health and are not
presented as indulgence or letting go. Moreover, both the above women refer to the
almost mandatory nature of butter in certain meals. It is the meal that requires the use of
butter, not the eater. Hence, the obligation to use butter is presented as not simply under
these women’s control. Thereby both women downplay their responsibility, implying
that their ‘vices’ should not be judged too harshly.
Some accounts falling into this category presented unhealthy habits that had at some
point been abandoned from daily routines but were occasionally ‘revisited’. Here, indi-
viduals were presented as indulging in a conscious but controlled manner. In the follow-
ing extract, Severi describes his controlled enjoyment of unhealthy treats:

Severi5/WR/M: I know that sometimes I go and buy a 200 gram chunk of slow-roast ham and
eat it, and that’s that. For a brief moment I enjoy it on my slice of bread. Then I just sort of
digest it away and continue as before.

For Severi eating a chunk of ham is in principle forbidden, but he allows himself to enjoy
it in a disciplined manner that does not interfere with his overall lifestyle. Likewise
accounts of lapses were found in respect of vacations, special holidays and visits with
friends or relatives. These special occasions were presented as exceptions of daily

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Jallinoja et al. 121

routines that required letting go of the normally restricted, health-seeking diet. Here, too,
letting go was presented as almost obligatory – during special occasions and periods one
simply must indulge and enjoy, otherwise one would be a too rigid and extreme health
enthusiast.
The third pattern of negotiation between pleasure and health was present in the
accounts of substituting unhealthy treats by consumption of some healthier food product.
In the following discussion, Erika describes her insurmountable craving and her story is
well understood by another interviewee, Laila. The extract contains a statement of denial,
too, as Erika has attempted to limit the availability of certain foods in her household:

Erika6/WG/F: But eventually the da[y] comes when you search all the cupboards for if there
would be anything good left somewhere [laughs] … Even a small slice of white bread, so that
you may spread the jam on the bread [laughs] … Sometimes … when one has really minimized,
so that when one searches, in which of the cupboards would there be, would there be almonds,
would there even be almonds somewhere [laughs].

Laila6/WG/F: Almonds, they are awfully good.

Erika6/WG/F: They are very healthy, I usually keep them, but you should eat only a couple of
them. Yes, they are really good … Or raisins. [You] find some hard raisins in the cupboard –
a few.

Laila6/WG/F: Sounds so familiar.

Erika6/WG/F: Yes, it is ... but [at least I can enjoy it]. I think, oh, wonderful, now I found
raisins, now I’ll really settle down and eat those, you know, I think one has to enjoy the lapse,
and should not have a bad conscience and feel guilty … because [otherwise] one would not
enjoy it.

Erika’s description is a good example of the negotiation between ill-controlled desires

and consciously disciplined enjoyment. Her story reveals her initial feeling of the press-
ing desire for something sweet despite her minimization of the availability of unhealthy
treats in her home environment, and her consequent victory over the initial desire by
substituting the desired treat by less unhealthy products. As in the previous category,
here too, letting go was presented as happening only occasionally and having its basis in
a compelling desire. A moment of pleasure is allocated a tiny niche in the middle of a
dominant health-seeking lifestyle.
The fourth pattern of negotiation in respect of food was formed of accounts where the
pleasure-value of a low-fat product was set as high as or even higher than that of a high-
fat product. In respect of food, this group of accounts was the least often used by the
interviewees. In the accounts of pleasure, the interviewees often brought up their initial
liking of high-fat products, such as butter, cheese or sausages, and the eventual changes
in their taste. The following discussion contains an observation that low-fat cheese tastes
as good as high-fat cheese:

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122 Health 14(2)

Ahti2/WR/M: In my opinion, was it this five per cent [cheese]? Well, in my opinion … it tastes
quite the same as this high-fat [cheese].

Tomi2/WR/M: Isn’t it so.

Ahti2/WR/M: Yes. It is amazing. In my opinion it tastes really good. … In my opinion it tastes

the same, through and through.

In the above extract, pleasure-seeking and health-seeking were presented as congruent in

respect of a single food product. What is not observable here is the compulsiveness of
pleasure-seeking and its strained relationship with health-seeking found present in the
other three negotiations patterns.

Pleasure and health from physical activity

Remaining inactive was presented as convenient by several interviewees. Still it was
rare to describe inactivity as a particularly pleasurable or desired state. Likewise,
there were only a few accounts presenting physical activity as causing actual dissat-
isfaction. These accounts of dissatisfaction were mainly related to situations where
the person was exercising with someone who was in a better physical condition.
Hence, the displeasure was connected not only to physical displeasure but also to
shame or frustration.
As the benefits of healthy food were recognized by the interviewees, they also brought
up health benefits of physical activity, and active lifestyle was an obligation or even an
ideal for many. We found four distinct categories of negotiation by which the interview-
ees described their struggle against passivity.
By far the most frequently used category was formed of accounts presenting the inter-
viewees as either pushing themselves or using someone else as an external push to over-
come the temptations of remaining inactive. Below Sara characterizes her husband as
someone who makes her go for a walk. Marja’s story describes the interplay between two
co-existing forces: on one hand, a strong aversion to getting started, and on the other
hand, a pressing obligation to be physically active:

Sara1/WG/F: For me this pushing, well, I go for walks with my husband and it is always him
who says ‘let’s go’ … I don’t feel like it, but when the others say … ‘let’s go’, well, then we
[go]. It helps to have someone who pushes in the family.

Marja6/WG/F: … it is so unpleasant to get oneself moving ... it’s pretty strange that a person of
my age sometimes needs to treat herself like a little child: like deceiving and tricking, tempting
yourself to do something … When I go take out the garbage … at the same time I’ll use it as an
excuse [to] somehow get myself out there … I’ll just go on a short walk at the same time.
Indeed, more than once it’s happened that when I take the garbage out and think that I’ll take
the shortest of walks but then I might walk an hour and a half. So you just have to have to kid
yourself into getting going.

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In the above extract, Marja’s activity turns out eventually more agreeable than antici-
pated and her walks tend to extend longer than she has initially planned. Still, time after
time Marja has to negotiate with herself anew in order to make herself go out for a walk,
suggesting that the tendency to stay inactive is felt somewhat compelling. Similar
accounts characterize the overall attitude towards physical activity during the interviews.
However, sometimes other categories of negotiations were used, too.
The second category of negotiation in respect of physical activity stressed the instru-
mental values of physical activity, such as health or psychological benefits. In the follow-
ing extract, knowledge of health benefits was initiated in the GOAL intervention group.
It is noteworthy, however, that the interviewee mentions enjoyment not in the meaning
of sensory pleasure but in the meaning of awareness of health benefits:

Leena2/WR/F: Something stuck in my mind [from the GOAL group]. I just think that – now
I have to go out … – I have the idea that it is good for my blood pressure, my lipids. In fact,
I [laughs], when I take a walk, I enjoy the idea … [that my] cholesterol is getting lower, blood
pressure is getting lower – I have this kind of motivation.

Psychological benefits produced by physical activity and exercise were described by

some interviewees. As in the above account by Leena, here too, activity was associated
with an instrumental value as it was an inspirational method for Maija:

Maija3/WG/F: I have always had physical exercise on top and really as a therapy for me. All
the ideas, inspirations [for knitting] occur to me [while exercising] … I have arthritis. Now
I have to live with it, so that I only have swimming and a stationary bicycle at home.

The above accounts, however, do not contain a clear view that activity would be pleasur-
able as such. Instead, Leena and Maija exercise because activity produces other values,
health or well-being.
Accounts of satisfaction at fulfilling one’s activity goal formed the third category of
negotiation between activity and inactivity. In the following, Terttu and Erika describe
their habits related to physical activity and the pride they feel from accomplishing their
obligation. Thus here, although physical activity was not described as causing corporeal
pleasure, it was presented to produce positive emotions, namely contentment and pride:

Terttu1/WG/F: Well at least for me it suffices when, if I walk for an hour and a half – walking
fast I could walk twice the distance – but I’m awfully proud when I have walked that hour and
a half.

Erika6/WG/F: … for example in [name of a walking tour], there I always think that I walk as
long as I can. It is 10 kilometres and 600 metres, although for me it takes two hours. But I think
it is great that I have already been able to walk it.

Terttu and Erika express contentment on the magnitude of their accomplishment, too: the
measures of speed and length of the walks prove that they have been adequately active.

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124 Health 14(2)

Descriptions of immediate psychosomatic pleasures related to physical activity were

sparse, too. Below Tuula’s and Pekka’s accounts describe motivations that were not
based on obligation or force by themselves or by somebody else. Instead, these accounts
(forming the fourth category of negotiation) present a view that the stimulus for physical
activity lies on sensory pleasure that is felt during and after being active:

Tuula6/WG/F: The peace, and there one just rests. [Exercising alone] is so … it’s so varied
what you get out of it. You don’t need to explain anything to your partner or make conversation.
And yet nevertheless I got ideas from this GOAL group … there was this water jogging. It’s
been … it’s really wonderful ... In the summer I even dared to go in the lake when I felt that,
like, I couldn’t. You know? It’s so wonderful.

Pekka6/WR/M: I go on these one-hour, a little over an hour generally, pole-walking rounds or

then go picking [mushrooms or berries in the forest] ... It was for me kind of like a pleasure and
just that feeling, ... yes, really the kind of feeling that you get some kind of power from there.
Then in the evening, afterwards you lie on the couch and watch TV or something. Yeah it’s
really that pleasure which sort of gets me to go out there.

For Tuula, the pleasure arises from the moment of exercise and from the surroundings in
which it takes place. Although the idea of water jogging was initiated in the GOAL coun-
selling group, eventually she does not need an external push in order to continue her
habit. For Pekka, the moment of physical exercise is presented as pleasurable as such,
and he also reflects his efforts with the aftermath of the exercise and the relaxing moments
on the couch. Although Pekka associates his walks with the instrumental values of the
walks – picking berries and mushrooms – the pleasure of being active also carriers a
value of its own.
In the above extracts from Tuula and Pekka, neither inactivity nor activity is presented
as being based on a compelling need to do something. Yet where Pekka mentions inactiv-
ity – lying on a couch – as enjoyable, it seems that this pleasure becomes acceptable
because it is preceded by activity.

Discussion
The GOAL intervention participants frequently brought up negotiations between two
objectives: health-seeking and pleasure-seeking. Due to the discrepancy between these
aims, pleasure was constructed not simply as a spontaneous experience but often as a
planned and disciplined event.
The compelling nature of the pursuit of pleasure was present in all negotiations over
food except for when healthy products were already categorized as pleasurable. This lat-
ter case, however, was not the most frequently used negotiation category. Rather it was
the granting of oneself some relatively minor unhealthy habits and substituting them
with treats by a less unhealthy product that was brought up more often. Sometimes these
pleasures even reflected the ideal of scarcity. Such negotiations over eating reflect the
current food culture that contains the view that food should produce pleasure but pleas-
ure should not be the sole guide while choosing food (Gronow, 1997). Instead, one must

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Jallinoja et al. 125

combat one’s inclination to simply follow one’s taste. In this, a discourse of needs and a
discourse of pleasure and taste are in conflict while attempting to adjust to each other.
However, the tastiness of food was seen to have a value of its own. To this end, a
strategy of denial of treats was seldom used. For example, for the sake of taste, fish needs
to be fried in butter – a situation one may not negotiate with. Is this a question of innate
preference for the taste of fat? Is it a duty to experience life as pleasurable or a question
of a learned habit? Or are all these explanations valid? Although it is not possible to
answer these questions with the present data, it is a central finding that the need is expe-
rienced as strong and beyond the individual’s control.
Elsewhere we have reported that some of the GOAL intervention participants were
not able to follow a healthy diet after the intervention and felt stuck with their old habits
(Jallinoja et al., 2008). Still, even these individuals did not accept indulgence or gluttony,
and agreed with the ideal of health enhancement by lifestyle. The present article has
shown that pleasures are regarded as acceptable as long as they follow a controlled
scheme and occupy a specified niche in everyday life – at least in principle. We term
these pleasures ‘negotiated pleasures’ – each episode of consumption of an unhealthy
treat must be negotiated, balanced and rationalized. Negotiated pleasures resemble what
Coveney and Bunton (2003) have termed ‘disciplined pleasure’, Roberta Sassatelli
(2001b) termed ‘tamed hedonism’ and others ‘pleasure in moderation’ (Crawford, 2000;
Pajari et al., 2006).
The above concepts are related to each other and are partly overlapping. The differ-
ence in terminology is due to differences in perspective on eating: ‘pleasure in modera-
tion’ highlights the value of moderation as a guiding principle and the importance of
avoiding the extremes of asceticism and total indulgence. The term ‘disciplined pleasure’
sets pleasures in contrast to vulgar and emotional displays of enjoyment (Coveney and
Bunton, 2003) and ‘tamed hedonism’ stresses the disciplined indulgency of the modern
consumer. With the term ‘negotiated pleasure’ we stress the diverse strategies used by
individuals while negotiating between food related pleasures and their overall will to live
a healthy life.
In respect of physical activity, the pushing of oneself or the using of someone else in
this task was by far the most often used strategy. Other strategies were the stressing of
instrumental values of activity, the gaining of satisfaction of fulfilling one’s obligation
and the psychosomatic pleasures of exercise. Where the negotiated pleasures of food
resembled disciplined pleasure and other related concepts (Coveney and Bunton, 2003;
Sassatelli, 2001b), negotiations over physical activity fit less well into these models.
Although physical activity is very corporeal as such, sensory pleasure or displeasure was
relatively seldom connected to it. Hence, it seems that inactivity is less an outcome of
rational or irrational actions than it is a response to living in an activity-adverse environ-
ment promoting sedentary lifestyle (cf. Crossley, 2004; Smith Maguire, 2002).
Inactivity was tempting for many of our interviewees. Yet this pleasure was mostly
presented in association with the difficulties in going about doing physical activity rather
than as a particularly desired state. Hence, instead of describing pursuits related to physi-
cal activity via the concepts of disciplined pleasure or pleasure in moderation or any kind
of sensory pleasure, they are better described through concepts of ‘forced activity’, ‘dis-
ciplined activity’ or ‘negotiated activity’. In respect of physical activity, the following

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126 Health 14(2)

ethos was observed: it is more convenient to stay inactive than to be active but this ten-
dency should not be the sole guide for making daily decisions. Instead, an individual
should push oneself or find motivations to contest one’s inclination to stay on the coach.
Hence, in respect of food, life was composed of a mosaic of healthy and unhealthy
food choices. The participants of GOAL intervention clearly tried to increase the number
of the healthy choices in the mosaic while also guaranteeing moments of pleasure. In
relation to food, the interviewees tried to combat their initial wish to do something –
namely consume food products labelled as unhealthy but pleasurable. Consequently, the
negotiations were presented in the form of increasing avoidance, and the limiting and
controlling of one’s behaviour.
In these respects the negotiations over physical activity differed from those on food. In
respect of physical activity, life resembled more a mosaic where passivity was occasion-
ally interrupted with more or less disciplined physical activity. Here, staying inactive is
not presented as based on a conscious choice, whereas eating an unhealthy treat is more
clearly a choice to be rationalized. As regards to physical exercise, the interviewees tried
to combat their initial tendency to avoid doing something – namely their tendency to
avoid getting started. As a result, the negotiations were presented in the form of decreas-
ing the avoidance, that is, trying to overcome one’s tendency to avoid physical activity.
Why was physical exercise so rarely associated with pleasure? Previous studies have
shown that it is the regular exercisers who experience ease and enjoyment at the gym, not
the irregular ones (Sassatelli, 1999; Smith Maguire, 2002). For the gym-goers enjoyment
is a central argument for maintaining the habit, and the process of enjoyment contains
actually two processes (Crossley, 2006): first, despite not feeling like it beforehand, an
active gym-goer knows that one will enjoy the act if one has enjoyed gym in the past.
Second, enjoying the exercise presupposes having learned to enjoy it. Another study sug-
gests that regular gym-goers find the routines as a well-balanced mix of both immediate
rewards and rewards in the remote future (Sassatelli, 2001b). They have arrived at the
conclusion that fitness is ‘right’ because it is ‘good’ for them but that it would ‘not be
right’ if they did not enjoy the process.
The middle-aged interviewees’ experiences of pleasure in the present study differed
from that of the gym-goers in the studies cited earlier. Although well aware of the health
benefits of physical activity, it seems that most of our interviewees did not regard exercise
as a specifically body-conscious project (cf. Crossley, 2004). They had not experienced
physical activity as pleasurable as such and the irregularity of their habits probably further
distanced them from the possibility of learning to enjoy physical exercise. It seems that
they were not touched by the current fitness ethos that emphasizes pleasure and satisfac-
tion instead of fatigue and physical effort (Sassatelli, 2001a). For these reasons, pushing
was clearly the most frequently used category of negotiation. The main motive for doing
physical exercise was the felt obligation to enhance health and hence resembles a need
discourse (cf. Gronow, 1997). Furthermore, pleasure associated with fulfilling one’s obli-
gation was primarily related to pride – not sensory, non-instrumental pleasure.
The special situation of our focus group discussions should also be mentioned while
interpreting our results (Radley and Billig, 1996). The discussion culture and health
objectives of the GOAL intervention probably grounded the interviewees’ argumentation

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Jallinoja et al. 127

during the interviews (Scott and Lyman, 1968). The interviewees were representative of
the general population in terms of their socio-economic position (Absetz et al., 2007),
but as voluntary participants in a health promoting programme they probably already
held pre-existing positive attitudes towards health enhancement prior to the intervention.
However, previous studies among people who have not participated in similar interven-
tions have shown that accounts of balancing between unhealthy and healthy habits is
common among them, too (Backett, 1992; Pajari et al., 2006; Pierret, 1993). Hence,
although it is possible that the centrality of the health-seeking and disciplined pleasure
concepts among our interviewees was partly due to their recent experience of a health
intervention, it is highly likely that it also reflects a more general trend towards valuing
pleasures in moderation.
The scarcity of pleasures from physical activity as well as from healthy foods is
admittedly a challenge for health promoters. Lifestyle change is hard and change aiming
at weight-management is an endless battle against temptations (cf. Jallinoja et al., 2008;
Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, 2000). Despite extensive research on weight management, the
long-term results of lifestyle change interventions are often rather meagre (Norris et al.,
2005a, 2005b). Furthermore, the current concern about the ‘obesity epidemic’ proves
that despite efforts to discipline a population’s diet and exercise habits, people keep on
gaining weight.
Too many health promotion initiatives do not take taste of food into account (Gronow,
1997). These projects target health behaviour as if driven by purely cognitive forces – as
a ‘cold’ rational decision-making process. They neglect the fact that pleasure and satis-
faction are intertwined with our motives and actions. In contrast, a recent revival of tra-
ditional diets, such as ‘slow food’ (Petrini, 2001) and ‘French diet’ (Guiliano, 2005),
emphasizes pleasure and contrasts it with ascetic denial and not with health. The impor-
tance of pleasure is recognized in recent popular diets, too, such as Dr Atkins’ diet, the
Beverly Hills diet and the South Beach diet (Oliver, 2006; Shapin, 2004). This suggests
that asceticism does not currently appeal to many and even moderation may be regarded
as too much an ascetic model for the ‘good life’.
The media often present successful dieters as self-controlling and autonomous indi-
viduals (Kyrölä, 2007). Health care professionals, too, emphasize the role of individual
motivation in lifestyle change (Jallinoja et al., 2007). However, instead of building more
self-controlling and self-denying individuals, it could be fruitful to focus health promot-
ers’ attention to the enhancement of the experiences of pleasure. No matter how self-
disciplined individuals are, if the dilemma of pleasure and health is not disentangled,
lifestyle change will not last long. For a successful lifestyle change programme, the cen-
tral question is as follows: how does an individual who is mentally attached to the ideal
of freedom of choice, who has food in abundance and technological devises that make
physical activity unnecessary, voluntarily limit and discipline oneself and eventually
learn to find pleasure in these limited choices?

Acknowledgements
The study has been funded by the Academy of Finland and the Social Insurance Institution
of Finland.

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128 Health 14(2)

Notes

1 Intervention participants were recruited using a risk test for type 2 diabetes (Lindström and
Tuomilehto, 2003). The lifestyle objectives in the intervention programme were as follows:
less than 30 per cent of energy from fat, less than 10 per cent of energy from saturated fat, 15g
of fibre per 1000 kcal, 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity and 5 per cent weight
reduction. The programme included six counselling sessions taking place over eight months.
During the sessions personal goals were selected together with concrete step-by-step action
plans. Further planning, initiation of novel behaviours, maintenance and lapse management
were tackled. In addition, the intervention included the use of self-monitoring tools (tests for
daily fibre intake and quality of fat, monitoring sheets for eating habits and physical activity)
and personal feedback on diet from a licensed dietician.
2 These parameters left us with 18 weight-reducers and 20 weight-gainers to which the authors
sent an information letter about the study and gave a telephoned invitation to participate.
Three could not be reached by mail or telephone, one declined the invitation and for one the
interview times were unsuitable. Moreover, three did not eventually show up.
3 The size of the interview groups varied from three to seven. One weight-gainers group
contained only women, one weight-reducer group contained only men and the rest were
composed of both men and women. The mean weight at the beginning of the GOAL
intervention was 91kg among the interviewed weight-reducers (mean BMI 31.1) and 87kg
among the weight-gainers (mean BMI 32.6). At the one-year control, the mean weight was
84kg among the weight-reducers (mean BMI 28.8) and 91kg among the weight-gainers
(mean BMI 34.0).
4 The data did not enable comparison of socio-economic groups, or men and women. In the first
place, three-quarters of GOAL intervention participants were women and hence, those men
who initially participated in the programme probably were exceptionally interested in health
matters (i.e. there might have been more self-selection among men than among women).
Second, the socio-economic backgrounds of the interviewed men and women were very
different. For example, there were eight lower white-collar workers among women but among
men there were none. Comparison of different socio-demographic groups has been done with
the quantitative data of the overall GOAL intervention project.

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Author biographies
Piia Jallinoja, PhD, is a sociologist and head of Health Behaviour and Health Promotion Unit at
National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland. She is currently carrying out research
in projects on patients’ and health professionals’ responsibilities concerning lifestyle counselling
and lifestyle change, initiation of new health promotion programmes and food supply and con-
sumption cultures in institutional settings.

Pia Pajari, M Soc Sci, is a social psychologist doing her PhD studies at the National Institute for
Health and Welfare (THL), Finland. The title of her thesis is ‘Dilemmas of lifestyle counselling’
based on interviews of clients and professionals in health care.

Pilvikki Absetz, PhD, is a health psychologist and a senior researcher at the National Institute for
Welfare and Health, Finland, and an adjunct professor of health promotion at the University of
Tampere School of Public Health, Finland. Her main research interests are related to the develop-
ment and evaluation of evidence- and theory-based programmes for behaviour change in disease
prevention and health promotion, and implementation of these programmes in community settings.
At KTL she leads a research team developing and evaluating health promotion implementation trials.

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