Although this is important information for parents who are committed to helping their child be healthy, the ideas can also be applied to yourself. We have made eating a social activity, but eating alone may help you stick to your food plan and limit your caloric intake. Another idea might be to find an eating “mentor,” eating with someone whose food habits you would like to emulate. The research suggests that simply by eating with them, you are more likely to behave like them. With whom are you sharing meals?

In addition to this research, the Time article discusses the theory that we are attracted to others we find similar to ourselves, suggesting that when two people who are overweight are together it can be a self-feeding loop that gives permission for obesity. The article also mentions that we are generally more relaxed with close friends and family and less concerned about judgment for our choices. Lastly, there is the theory that spending time with those who are overweight helps us to accept it as more normal, in effect giving permission to behave similarly. The Time article also mentioned other research that reports that we generally consume fewer calories when accompanied by the opposite sex.

Have you noticed any of these things to be true for you, impacting your eating habits? I challenge you to be more conscious of how much you are eating, especially when you are with different people. I have found that this is not always true for me and my mindset and will power play an important role as well. I would love you to comment here and post your observations.

via Time

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How Much You Eat Reflects Who You Are With

But, the peer mimicking went further. Interestingly, the largest calorie intake was seen when overweight children snacked with an overweight friend.

Researchers were not surprised by the fact that kids ate more around friends than strangers. According to Dr. Sarah-Jean Salvy, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, the same holds true with adults.

Salvy believes that this all-pervading eating pattern in humans is due to the fact that people are more self-conscious around strangers. She referred to friends as “permission givers.”

The same is seen in teen’s smoking or drinking habits. A teen doesn’t have to overtly tempt a friend to to do either, but there’s an unspoken pressure to be like your friends. The positive in this, Slavy says, is that there could be a domino effect if a certain amount of children and teens are convinced to eat healthier.

via Yahoo

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Kids Mimic Their Friends’ Eating Habits

It is tempting to share the wisdom of your age and life experience with your kids, but they won’t believe that it is wise and applicable to their lives unless they believe you understand them and their daily activities and interests. Before you say anything, make sure you are listening to and asking about their daily lives and the people with whom they surround themselves. Let them teach you a thing or two and they may be more open to what you want to teach them.

Keep the message positive. Teens who want to assert their independence, be respected, and believe they are nearly adults will reject negative messages even more than the average citizen. Telling them to “not” do something, only makes them want to do it more (and doesn’t it work the same way for you too?). Positive reinforcement is always a good way to encourage more of a behavior that you appreciate. The other danger of negativity is that teens and tweens are very self-conscious. Encourage self-esteem in your child by empowering him or her, providing information and support, and always using positive language.

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Talking to Your Teen about Health

Today I stumbled on this article in my Google Reader which reports that recent research shows a great suicide risk for teens that are overweight or believe that they are, regardless of gender. This doesn’t come as a major surprise to me, and I think it is important to note that self-perception is an important factor. I wonder if the correlation is truly with those who believe themselves to be overweight, regardless of actual BMI. There could be teens who are overweight but do not view themselves that way. With the growing obesity rate in children and adolescents and higher risk of suicide for those that view themselves as overweight, it’s more important than ever that we reach the teens.

It’s developmentally appropriate (normal, expected, and even healthy) for teens to look to their peer group more than adults and even family members for approval and guidance. Adults that tell teens what to do will not reach them.  However, the same developmental stage that causes teens to ignore us, helps them reach each other. As adolescents establish their own identity, they first create groups (cliques) which allows identity to be a multiple-choice rather than essay question. It is developmentally appropriate for teens to look, sound, and act like their peers. Teens can have a lot of influence over each other. If you’re trying to reach teens, you have to have teens on board. How do you get teens to join your team?

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Suicide Risk Increases for Overweight Teens

High school vending machines. (via MSNBC)

Washington is going on the offensive. No, this isn’t another bailout. U.S. Senators want to give candy in vending machines the boot from schools. And I say, it’s about time. Leave it to mom and dad to pack a Snickers if they want to.

A bill was just introduced that would require schools in the U.S. to provide healthier options in order to fight the childhood obesity epidemic.

Senators Tom Harkin and Lisa Murkowski said their bill would allow the U.S. Agriculture Department to establish “common-sense nutrition standards” for food and beverages sold in school vending machines.

While school meals must comply with U.S. dietary guidelines, there are no rules on snacks sold outside of school lunchrooms. That seems kind of strange.

Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees school lunch and breakfast programs.

“Poor diet and physical inactivity are contributing to growing rates of chronic disease in the United States,” said Harkin. “We must take preventative action now.”

An estimated 32 percent of kids in the U.S. are overweight, and 16 percent are considered obese, at risk for serious health problems.

Harkin and Murkowski (a Democrat and Republican respectively) have offered similar legislation before. Maybe they will get a more sympathetic ear from the new administration.

Consumer and health advocacy groups including the American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association and the Center for Science in the Public Interest support the legislation.

“It’s intrusive for the federal government to establish requirements beyond the programs that they fund, particularly when states are addressing the issue,” says Reginald Felton of the National School Boards Association. “If local boards want to restrict they should.”

He also noted that some schools rely on snack sales to help cover costs. So, we make ends meet at the expense of our children’s health?

(via: Reuters)

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Senators Want to Ban Junk Food From Schools

In a study by Gaiam and California State University, researchers showed that kids who did yoga received better grades and had less disciplinary action taken against them in class.

Marsha Wenig, creator of the Gaiam YogaKids DVD program and the president of YogaKids International credits these results to the physical aspect of yoga since children learn best when they learn through movement. The postures of yoga help develop hand-eye coordination and motor skills at the same time as they produce the mind-stilling moments that have helped to give yoga the reputation of being a wondrous stress-reducer.

Perhaps one of the most important benefits of yoga is that it boosts confidence. For kids who are focusing hard on their schoolwork, yoga teaches them that with effort and perseverance, they can succeed. This particular study reflects similar yoga research which has proven yoga’s benefits in improving body image with young women and lessening the likelihood of having an eating disorder.

As school-based yoga programs like Bent On Learning are becoming more popular in classrooms,  all across the country educators, parents and kids are witnessing and benefitting from the enormous benefits of  this 5,000-year-old tradition.

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Better Grades for Kids Who Do Yoga

A new report has found there to be an increased obesity rate of at least 5.2 percent among teenagers at schools where fast-food outlets were a tenth of a mile or less away. That’s only about one city block, so it’s believable that the kids would partake in a little take-out.

Eric N. Gioia, a city councilman from Queens, New York. wants to stop fast-food restaurants from opening so close to the city’s schools.

“With the proliferation of fast-food restaurants directly around schools, it’s a clear and present danger to our children’s health,” says Gioia, who proposed the ban at a news conference.

Under Mr. Gioia’s proposal, new fast-food restaurants would not be prohibited within a tenth of a mile of schools (about a city block), with existing restaurants being exempt. It sounds like a flawed proposal. Look for new fast-food restaurants two blocks from New York City schools.

Even though Mr. Gioia says that the ban should be accompanied by other adjustments, being in a free society, it will be hard to legislate away bad food choices.

(via: New York Times)

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Fast Food too Close to Schools