In a study released in the June issue of the journal American Sociological Review, mothers who have had a baby while unmarried appear to be at higher risk for poor health. The study, which began in 1979, followed close to 4,000 women between the ages of 14 and 22. The young women were queried every year until 1994, and every two years thereafter until 2008.
Those women who had delivered children outside of marriage reported being less healthy as they approached their 40s than the ones who had postponed motherhood until after marriage. In addition, those who began motherhood and then married reported the same health concerns. Those who married before having children reported the highest levels of positive health.
The study allowed for prior existing health conditions.
The rate of birth in the unmarried mother category has jumped from less than 10% in 1960 to close to 40% today.
The reasons for reduced health in this group are unknown, but many surmise that the possibility of a lower income level may have something to do with it. Women who have children when they are both younger and unmarried typically have a lower level of education and this can be a deterrent to higher income.
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It begins so innocently. You spoon feed your baby, and he turns up his nose. “Look at mommy!” you say as you pop a bite into your mouth. “So good!” Baby pops a Cheerio into your mouth, several times a day. He offers you a bite of his dinner, and you want to play along, so you chew and swallow.
It’s the dreaded mommy diet. Not a classic weight loss plan, the mommy diet refers to the poor food choices that many women make as they raise a family. We devote the vast majority of our time and day to raising strong and healthy children that often we get lost. The stereotypical mom is heavy, amorphous and fitness is far from her mind. I dealt with this myself, as I added children to my family and pounds to my frame. At my heaviest, I outweighed my husband by 50 pounds and wore a size 20. Finding time to work out or prepare healthy meals was difficult, rewarding myself with food and finishing my kids’ dinner plates became second nature, and very soon I resembled that stereotypical mom.
We need to change that image. After all, we’d like our children to be at their best physically – and as parents we deserve nothing less. Let’s take a look at some of the most common roadblocks that moms face.
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Turn on the television or pick up a magazine and you can’t avoid seeing the latest craze – Extreme Couponing. It’s a full time job for many women and it’s become the next big thing. TV shows spotlight shoppers who pay next to nothing for cart after cart of merchandise, and cameras focus on closets of toothpaste and basements full of toilet paper. You can’t help but be interested; after all, who among us hasn’t fantasized about being paid to shop and bring home food for free?
Having a larger than normal size family, I’m always interested in trying to cut my large food bill. The most I’ve ever been able to save is about $25, and although I’m happy to accomplish at least that much of a savings, I’d love to do better. I’ve thought for quite a while about trying to use coupons more successfully, but having spent some time cutting coupons from my local paper I’ve noticed that there’s just one small problem: The vast majority of the coupons I’ve seen have been for heavily processed, high fat or high calorie foods that my family just doesn’t eat. Is it just the reality of extreme couponing that you will have to sacrifice eating healthy in order to save money?
Stephanie Nelson, the Coupon Mom, has a philosophy she refers to as strategic shopping to help save money at the grocery store. “Strategic shopping is not changing the way you eat, it is about changing the way you buy the food that you like. If you are working on losing weight, improving your health, improving your family’s health or all of the above, it is possible to do that while saving money on groceries when you know how to be a Strategic Shopper.”
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We recently met up with Debi Mazar at a luncheon hosted by Truvia in New York City. The popular actress, currently co-starring in Extra Virgin alongside her husband on the Cooking Channel, has recently taking up the cause for healthier children, and her efforts have started inside her own home. She has two daughters who she’s teaching the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, and the effort is a family affair.
Watch our interview as she explains the four ways you can raise healthier kids. Her tips include sitting down to family dinners and reducing the amount of sugar your children consume, a culprit in the childhood obesity epidemic.
Click to watch our Debi Mazar interview.
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I recently took my jogging stroller out for a spin for the first time. With an April 2010 baby, she was never big enough to go for runs last summer and fall. But when the weather finally broke this spring, my 20-pound daughter was able to join me. So I dusted off the jogger, put an organic graham cracker and sippy of water in her hands, and headed through the neighborhood on my usual three-mile route.
The run was fairly typical – mentally I’m a much stronger runner than I am physically. I know I can, and I tell myself “Just make it to that mailbox. Good job. Now make it to that shrub,” but my legs are always back talking!
However, I wasn’t a full mile in to the run when my upper arms started throbbing. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my circulation, not being used to grasping the stroller handles while running. By the time I made it home by legs and arms were feeling the burn, but I couldn’t figure out why.
The next day I asked our resident fitness expert and blog editor, Kelly Turner, what the heck was going on. It was a double dose of good news – my circulation was fine, and I was getting an upper-body workout.
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