What are we talking about when we say ‘Lifestyles?’: The experience of an educational community in Colombia

Abstract

It is proposed to rethink the notion ‘healthy lifestyles’ from the experience of an educational

community in Colombia and from the notion ‘lifestyles’, raised by the social sciences, addressing the percep-
tions of food, physical activity, health and disease. A qualitative methodology was implemented, with the

participation of girls, boys, adolescents, caregivers and educators from Educational Institutions from 4 mu-
nicipalities of Cundinamarca in Colombia. Through the narratives provided it is clear that lifestyles cannot

be limited to an analysis of risk behaviors, because they have a structural component and are mediated by
factors such as time, infrastructure, spaces and individual and collective practices. The conclusion is that
although people know and dominate the discourse of ‘healthy lifestyles’ they do not identify with it, because
it does not establish any kind of dialogue with their realities, nor does it take into account structural aspects
such as age, social class, gender, ethnicity, all of them related to the possibility of being healthy or not.