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Healthy Eating Habits Begin Early

By Peter Liu

[Nutrition & Diet]

How can you help steer your kids away from fatty, salty and sugary foods? Peter Liu has some suggestions.

How high a priority is health and nutrition in your family? Do you make a point of buying lots of nutritious groceries that are mostly found in the outskirts of the grocery store? Is every member of your family well versed in how to read nutrition labels and how to eat less salt and fat? Do you try to eat healthy in the midst of a hectic, busy home life where mealtime is unpredictable and fitted into the timeslot that seems most convenient? All of these questions take into consideration the eating habits of each family member, starting with the parents.

Healthy eating begins at home and a family that promotes and encourages healthy eating will produce good habits that reflect the positive effects of balanced eating. Unfortunately, a recent American study has found that the eating habits of parents don’t necessarily rub off on their children because of the many other social and environmental factors surrounding kids today. If you think that’s a bit unbelievable, then there’s hope yet.

Habits Survey

Published in the May issue of the journal Social Science and Medicine is a study that compared the eating habits of parents to their children. Funded jointly by the John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. National Institute of Health, the study utilized data from thousands of people who were part of the USDA’s Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals between 1994 and 1996. At the same time, 1,061 fathers, 1,230 mothers, 1,370 sons and 1,322 daughters (almost 5,000 people) had their diets evaluated for two days by answering questionnaires about what they’d eaten. Afterwards, each applicant was given a healthy diet score, based on the USDA’s 2005 Healthy Eating Index.

Researchers found that the eating habits of parents didn’t really translate as much to their children as once thought, but factors outside the home like the school community, peer pressure and television are greater influencers of younger kid’s eating habits. As children get older, factors like self esteem and self-image are added to the picture. But is it so simple as to blame outside factors and leave it at that?

Questionable Approach

It’s not to say that things like peer pressure in schools, self esteem issues or targeted children’s advertising don’t exist, but all children start eating at the table with mom and dad. Children don’t innately learn to pick up a fry and dip it into ketchup. Eating skills and habits are acquired from parents. So it makes sense that educating children about eating healthy from a very early age ensures that kids can protect themselves against things like advertising, junk food in schools, pop machines and convenience stores. If it was possible for a small French town to spread and encourage healthy eating habits after enrolling in a government health project, then it can be achieved anywhere. Parents that eat healthy and teach their children to eat healthy on a regular basis will have kids that eat healthy. Whatever outside factors there are that interfere with healthy eating, I believe, can be hammered out at home.

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