Obesity Is Contagiousby Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger 28 Jul 2007 06:37 PM You've undoubtedly heard of the saying, "birds of a feather flock together." Well apparently, those of us who like to eat a little too much stick together too! In addition to things like not getting enough exercise or eating too much junk food, a new risk factor for obesity is your relationships with friends and family. Your risk for obesity, in some cases triples, if you have friends who are obese. When I first read the study I thought to myself that this would make a lot of sense. I think of my husband's family and well, we are all rather pleasantly plump. (With the exception, ironically, of the brother in law who has diabetes. . .and one sister in law.) The rest of us are a pleasantly plump lot and what do we do on holidays and during family gatehrings? We get together and eat as if we've never eaten before (my mother in law is a phenomenal cook) and then we sit around and gab. However, this is not the reason researchers are suggesting that your friends influence your flab. While your friends may well influence your eating and exercising habits, relationships change your perception about what is acceptable and in this lies the key. I was quite surprised to find that the obesity bug is apparently just as contagious even when you're hundreds of miles apart from your loved ones. Your chance of becoming obese if a close friend is obese, is 57%, 46% of it's a sibling whose a little chubby and 36% if it's your spouse. Researchers are quick to point out that ditching your fat friends to avoid obesity is not the thing to do. (I had to chuckle when I read that--would someone really do this in an effort to lose weight? I hope not!) Researchers point out that friends make us healthier. A more applicable use of the research may be found in how doctors treat obesity. Some clinics are starting to treat obese patients in groups. Learn more about Valorie Delp  Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line. Relevantweight loss tags Coupons | christmas | Scrapbooking | holidays | weight loss | Kids | pregnancy | children | Food | baby User Comments azmarc (25) 28 Jul 2007 08:58 PMI took off 40 lbs thru WW. In one of the classes I attended early in my weight loss efforts, the leader said, associate with thin or fit people and see how they eat. I did this and it was an eye opener. In order to maintain my weight loss, I tell my fat friends who were my lunch buddies, that I can't go to that restaurant very often or stop at ice cream shops daily, etc. I have had to limit my associations with them because of their unhealthy habits. Church functions are another area where food is the central theme. I attend these activities but am very careful about what I eat as most of it is very unhealthy food. Community Tags Diets, weight loss Discuss this article
|
Weight Loss categories
More weight loss tagsCoupons | christmas | Scrapbooking | holidays | weight loss | Kids | pregnancy | children | Food | baby |
