Improving your Family's Health for Life

Weight problems do not always run in families, but it is quite likely that the eating and exercise habits we learn as children stay with us into adulthood. That is why it is never too early to help your family develop the habits that can help them eat right and control their weight for life. Implement these daily living rituals and improve your entire family's health:

Food is not a reward:

One of the earliest associations we have with food is comfort: a crying infant get's a bottle and feels happy for a while. Food should be comforting when it satisfies hunger, but it should not merely be used as a substitute to satisfy other needs. A cranky toddler may calm down when you hand her a cookie, but a hug or a story might have worked just as well. Then there is the cranky adult who calms down when you give them chocolate. Is it not amazing what chocolate can do? But consider the message you are sending your kid when we are cranky: we eat. Help them learn to eat when they are hungry, not when they are not.

A time and a place to eat:

We can also learn to associate eating with other activities such as watching Television or going to the cinema. After a while, we find that turning on the TV turns on our desire to eat even when we are not really that hungry. Remember Pavlovâs' Dog? It is really the same concept; conditioning breeds behavior. The good news is that unhealthy behavior can be changed through conditioning as well. You can help your family break the habit of automatic eating by making two simple rules: only eat meals while seated at the dining table and eat healthy and balanced snacks rather than junk food.