If Parent's Lack Vitamins And Nutrition, Will Their Children Too?
Posted Jun 10 2009 12:00am
It is ridiculous to think that a parent's diet will have no influence on a child's diet. It is more common that a child who is overweight has one or both parents who are overweight. To lead people to believe that their actions have no influence on their children's is not only bordering on stupid, but irresponsible in itself. For generations the saying about a parent setting a good example has not been just a bunch of rhetoric to make the parent feel good about their decisions. It's obvious there is a direct influence. And too many children are not getting the vitamins and nutrition they need to start thinking that parents' actions don't matter. But, the NYTimes is reporting differently --
Parents may try to set an example by eating a healthy diet themselves, but a new study has found that their children are not paying attention.
Researchers studied a nationally representative sample of adults ages 20 to 65 and their children 2 to 18, a total of 2,291 parents and 2,692 children, tracking their eating habits with questionnaires. They found little resemblance between the consumption of total energy, carbohydrates, saturated fats or polyunsaturated fats by children and their parents, although children’s diets were slightly more likely to resemble their mothers’ than their fathers’. The study was published online in Social Science and Medicine.
Level of parental education and socioeconomic status made little difference. Unsurprisingly, the older children were, the more likely they were to differ from their parents. As children get older, the authors suggest, peers become a much stronger influence on food consumption.
“This suggests that parents don’t play as large a role as people have thought in their children’s diet,” said a co-author of the study, Dr. Youfa Wang, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Most parents are not doing as good a job as they should.” ( Reference )
Comments: Let's all just say ah, it doesn't matter. My actions don't mean anything, my kids won't listen anyway. How about we start demanding some discipline of ourselves and our children instead of letting them do what makes them happy. Then you have the other side of the equation taking advantage of that approach - making unhealthy, addictive products that kids (and adults) love to consume because it makes them feel good. That kind of thinking will eventually bring an end to everyone's health. Ignore these "studies" and continue to eat healthy and make healthy choices. We may just find that good health is contagious and more people will start choosing to be such. (You know, this 'influence study' may show these results because there are more unhealthy and overweight people in the US and so it is difficult to have an influence on a child's health. It takes a village works both ways!).
If you don't get enough fruits and vegetables in your diet, add Juice Plus+® .
Dr. J. Patrick Havey The Health & Wellness Institute, PC Official Juice Plus+® Distributor
It is ridiculous to think that a parent's diet will have no influence on a child's diet. It is more common that a child who is overweight has one or both parents who are overweight. To lead people to believe that their actions have no influence on their children's is not only bordering on stupid, but irresponsible in itself. For generations the saying about a parent setting a good example has not been just a bunch of rhetoric to make the parent feel good about their decisions. It's obvious there is a direct influence. And too many children are not getting the vitamins and nutrition they need to start thinking that parents' actions don't matter. But, the NYTimes is reporting differently --
Comments: Let's all just say ah, it doesn't matter. My actions don't mean anything, my kids won't listen anyway. How about we start demanding some discipline of ourselves and our children instead of letting them do what makes them happy. Then you have the other side of the equation taking advantage of that approach - making unhealthy, addictive products that kids (and adults) love to consume because it makes them feel good. That kind of thinking will eventually bring an end to everyone's health. Ignore these "studies" and continue to eat healthy and make healthy choices. We may just find that good health is contagious and more people will start choosing to be such. (You know, this 'influence study' may show these results because there are more unhealthy and overweight people in the US and so it is difficult to have an influence on a child's health. It takes a village works both ways!).
If you don't get enough fruits and vegetables in your diet, add Juice Plus+® .
Dr. J. Patrick Havey
The Health & Wellness Institute, PC
Official Juice Plus+® Distributor