| Weight Mangement |
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Nutrition and weight management There are many factors that influence our eating habits. PARENTS One of the first and major influences on our eating behaviour is our parents/guardians. PORTION SIZES Their concept of what a portion size constitutes, will influence our perception of what is acceptable CLEARING THE PLATE This is reinforced at an early age, and doesn`t take in to account if the child has eaten enough, if this is taken through to adult life, you will override your ability to stop eating, once you have consumed enough energy to match your requirements. This in turn leads to a calorie surplus, which can lead to being overweight. TYPES OF FOOD You may be influenced by your parents to eat certain foods on certain days (i.e. Sunday roast), food prepared in certain ways, based on their cooking ability and skill. GENETICS It is true that obesity does tend to run in families, a child has a 70% risk of becoming obese if they have two obese parents. This drops to 20% with two lean parents. A lot of the associated risk could be due to factors such as cultural influences, lifestyle and diet since these will all be shared with the parents. The obesity epidemic has only occurred during the last 30 years, due to our easier lifestyles, liking of high calorific foods etc. A man`s average daily calorific intake 30 years ago was 3,000 calories, today it is 2,500. PEER GROUPS AND PARTNERS Children at school tend to eat crisps chocolates, burgers etc, if a child takes a healthy meal they tend to be ridiculed. Some schools are now recommending what a healthy lunchbox should contain. As an adult you get invited to dinner parties and business lunches, where alcohol is freely available. This sometimes leads to good intentions going out of the window. It is imperative you have the support of partners in losing weight, as this will greatly increase the chance of success. OTHER INFLUENCES There are a great number of things that influence our choice of food; religious beliefs, culture, time, work, money, habit, the media, knowledge, illness, allergy and aversions, geography, location, availability, season, holidays, sports participation and exercise, morals and beliefs, mood. As can be seen there is a great complexity to our eating habits, but the actual management of weight is simple. A BALANCED DIET, THAT CONTAINS BETWEEN 300-500 CALORIES PER DAY LESS THAN A PERSONS` RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCE, WILL LEAD TO A STEADY WEIGHT LOSS i.e.1LB to 2LBS A WEEK OF ACTUAL FAT. |
