Post by Lisa on Apr 22, 2006 15:47:17 GMT 7
We were TAUGHT to Binge!
(article taken form Dec 2003 issue of Allure magazine)
I have always suspected that the way i was made to eat as a child had something to do with why i feel
compelled to finish all my food. Now i have run into an article that confirms my suspicions. I think everyone should take this into consideration when raising your children, maybe it will even help you analyze your own eating habits.
People whose parents used food to coax or threaten them to behave may be susceptible to binge eating. A survey was done of 122 men and women about the eating-related rules they had learned early in life.
Messages of restriction-"No junk food"
and urging "Eat your vegetables"
and control (the offering or withholding of food to reward or punish behavior) were sited.
These control strategies were linked with dieting and problem eating in adulthood. If parents teach children that they can earn dessert by behaving themselves, these children may grow into adults who get home after a challenging day at work where they "behaved themselves" and feel like binge eating on sweets. Similarly, if children who fall down and hurt themselves are immediately offered an ice cream cone to "make it better" they too may grow up to view food as a way to self soothe after both physical and emotional injuries.
Cleaning your plate may not make it such a "happy plate". When we are forced to do this as kids we learn to ignore our natural feelings of being full. listen to your tummies and call it quits when you are no longer hungry...not when your plate is empty.
(article taken form Dec 2003 issue of Allure magazine)
I have always suspected that the way i was made to eat as a child had something to do with why i feel
compelled to finish all my food. Now i have run into an article that confirms my suspicions. I think everyone should take this into consideration when raising your children, maybe it will even help you analyze your own eating habits.
People whose parents used food to coax or threaten them to behave may be susceptible to binge eating. A survey was done of 122 men and women about the eating-related rules they had learned early in life.
Messages of restriction-"No junk food"
and urging "Eat your vegetables"
and control (the offering or withholding of food to reward or punish behavior) were sited.
These control strategies were linked with dieting and problem eating in adulthood. If parents teach children that they can earn dessert by behaving themselves, these children may grow into adults who get home after a challenging day at work where they "behaved themselves" and feel like binge eating on sweets. Similarly, if children who fall down and hurt themselves are immediately offered an ice cream cone to "make it better" they too may grow up to view food as a way to self soothe after both physical and emotional injuries.
Cleaning your plate may not make it such a "happy plate". When we are forced to do this as kids we learn to ignore our natural feelings of being full. listen to your tummies and call it quits when you are no longer hungry...not when your plate is empty.