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7 Eating Habits Gained
Eating Habits During Childhood Gained During Childhood
By Dani Koltz By: Dani Koltz Prominence Health Plan Wellness Specialist Prominence Health Plan Wellness Specialist
moment, but those choices are not effective to help us stay on track to meet our goals. These behaviors often lead to feelings of guilt or disappointment. There are many eating habits we don’t recognize until we attempt to make a healthy lifestyle change. Let’s walk through some of the ways that our childhood eating habits tend to manifest into our learned behaviors as adults. As habits are addressed, we can counteract them with a healthier way to manage our relationship with food.
Examples of Childhood Eating Habits
T
he habits we create at a young age tend to stick with us through adulthood, especially as it relates to eating habits. Often, when kids don’t want to eat everything on their plate, parents might say, “If you eat all your peas and carrots, we can have ice cream!” And then the children reluctantly scarf it down.
This becomes a regular routine for most households and thus creates the stigma that if you have food on your plate, you must finish it, regardless of whether you are hungry. This may create a habit for your future self. Sound familiar? Or have you ever had a day when things seem to be going well, you are in a great rhythm with your eating habits, and then life happens? Perhaps, you have a long and stressful day at work and forget lunch at home, or you don’t have the greatest workout, then you find yourself reaching for a specific comfort food? Reaching for food in these situations may feel good in the
1. The pressure to finish all the food on your plate. Instead, only eat until you are full, eat slowly, and chew thoroughly. (Eating Habits page 16)
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