UNDERLYING FOOD CHOICE MOTIVES TO HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ZNNHS Gomez, Mae T. 1 Ontolan, Dorothy S. 2 Samaniego, Jeram Jude V. 3 Jeovanny A. Marticion 4 1234 Senior High School students of Zamboanga del Norte National High School 5 Senior High School Faculty Zamboanga del Norte National High School Abstract The present study aims to know the level of food choice motives in Senior High School students in terms of their BMI. The researchers engaged 5 point Likert scale, 1 is for not Important and 5 for Very Important to measure the research of Food Choice Motives. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient formula was used in computing the reliability of the questionnaire. The calculated alpha coefficient was through SPSS software for questionnaire was .920, which is reliable and acceptable. With the total of two hundred seventy-three (273) were randomly chosen for the conducted study. Despite of the fact that the senior high students got a level of moderate results about their BMI but still there’s a presence of students that got severely wasted and obese. Researchers encourage students to continue healthy habits or dietary practices. Students who are reported as severely stunted and obese must slowly practice and encourage to do healthy diet, exercise and do practice on choosing healthy foods in order for them to be more- healthy and can avoid from diseases. Introduction Over the years, the consumer’s food environment has had dramatic changes. The food environment was dubbed as “toxic food environment” by Brownell and Horgen (2004). People in western cultures are subjected to food abundance 24 hours a day a daily physically activities are minimized owing to fresh forms of distribution (e.g. internet shopping) and food distribution facilities. There has also been a loop in the selection of food products has resulted in more processed food with an unusual high energy density. So, nutritional status changes as the food and activity environment changes (Marrsman, 2016). It now a challenge to stay healthy as it is affected by the food making decisions individuals make each day. Food choice is influence by both physiological and psychosocial impulses (Sobal, Bisogni, & Jastran, 2014), is both a conscious and unconscious process, is affected by inner and external (i.e., social) forces, and has been approached from a multitude of theoretical roles and disciplines- psychologist, behavioral economist, social scientist, government health researchers, and neuroscientists. People estimate that, on average they make about 15 food related decisions are made by individuals each day. To date, there are many studies that tackle under lying food choice motive but only few focus on senior high school students and on how these motives contribute to healthy food choices. That’s why there is a need to delve deeper since senior high school students are at the adolescent age. Healthy eating during adolescence is essential s the body changes during this moment and affects the nutritional and dietary requirements at people. This is a moment of fast development such as physical, emotional, intellectual, and social maturation and a window of opportunity to improve nutritional status and corrects poor nutritional habits. Adolescence will to start to become more autonomous and make their own food choices as they tend to increase their appetite to meet their growth needs (National Nutrition Council, 2017). The research examines twelve motivational factors underlying food choices among