I started to study parents’ influences on children’s eating behavior long before I was a parent. In hindsight, that was unreasonable; no one should try to understand parenting until he or she is a parent. Only then, do the complexities become so much more, well, apparent. At any rate, I was confident back then that parenting would only improve my eating habits. After all, I thought, I would need to model good habits for my offspring. I would need to feed them balanced, healthy meals that I would eat, too.
[See: 10 Healthy Meals You Can Make in 10 Minutes.]
Are you laughing yet?
If you’re a parent, I’m sure you are. Instead of becoming a healthier eater, parenting has led me to develop some unhealthy eating patterns. My mom friends can relate. But not all parenting-related diet changes are so bad. Here are five mealtime signs you’re a mom — and tips that may help you correct the unhealthy ones:
1. You eat standing up.
I don’t remember the last time I ate breakfast sitting down. Instead, I stand and munch while making kids’ lunches, doing laundry or getting myself ready for work. Sometimes, I find a half-eaten piece of toast somewhere around the house that I never finished.
I’m guessing a relaxing cup of coffee and a sit-down breakfast are not in my near future. If the same is true for you, there are still ways to be healthier without necessarily taking a seat. Research suggests, for example, that taking a more mindful approach to eating by thinking about what you eat, enjoying it and not overeating can aid in weight regulation and weight loss. You can also try planning what you eat ahead of time and being cognizant of your portions in order to help reduce the odds you’ll overeat while multitasking at mealtime.
2. You eat leftovers.
Kids are notoriously finicky eaters. They say they want pizza for dinner and then they say they want chicken, not pizza. They love apples and want them every day — until they don’t. Or, they are hungry for a dozen meatballs and then eat two. As a parent, the potential for food waste is astronomical — unless you eat your kids’ leftovers. You did want ten meatballs and a glass of wine for dinner, right?
But despite the fact that digging into the remainder of your kids’ meals is economical, environmentally friendly and may stave off many an argument at the dinner table, it’s rarely healthy. If you polish off their pizza or chicken nuggets, for example, you’ll likely be left unsatisfied and tempted to serve yourself a second course. What makes this routine particularly dangerous is that, in general, people typically underestimate how much they’ve eaten by 20 to 40 percent, research suggests. So, after you think you’ve only tasted a few bites of pizza and move on to your next course, you’re apt to eat twice as much as you intended. You may be better off skipping the kids’ leftovers altogether.
[See: 7 Diet Mistakes Sabotaging Your Weight Loss.]
3. You eat in unconventional places.
One of my mom friends recently told me she had planned to sneak in a snack and a shower while her newborn son slept, but couldn’t remember later why there was peanut butter in the bathroom. Indeed, sleep deprivation and a rumbling stomach can create strange circumstances. Maybe you’ve never found yourself eating in your bathroom, but I bet you can’t even count how many meals you’ve eaten in your car since becoming a mom.
Of course, where you eat matters far less than what you eat. But the two can be linked because it’s hard to pay attention to what you are eating — and how much — while you’re, say, driving. People who stay slender without stressing over it are those who eat high-quality foods, eat at home (presumably not in the bathroom) and pay attention to their internal cues of hunger and satiety, according to research by Brian Wansink, author of ” Mindless Eating” and ” Slim by Design.” All of these patterns are easier to achieve in the comfort of your own home, seated at a table.
4. You drive through.
When I was childless, I didn’t drive through any sort of fast food restaurant — at least, not with any sort of regularity. Although I am still adamantly against McDonald’s consumption and won’t let my kids eat from many typical fast food establishments, sometimes the thought of preparing a meal and cleaning up afterward is more than I can bear. Whether it’s on the way home from soccer practice, following a kid’s doctor appointment or after a long day at work, driving through a Chick-fil-A makes us all happy. (Look up the nutritional information for the grilled chicken sandwich before you judge too harshly.)
The quality of most fast food is pretty awful. And, eating quickly and on-the-go is hardly advisable. Further, evidence indicates that eating out (as opposed to preparing a meal at home) nearly always means consuming larger portions and more calories. So, driving through for dinner is not your best bet if you are interested in eating healthfully, maintaining your weight or losing weight.
5. You drink more booze.
I can still remember one afternoon as a little girl when my mom — who was, and is, a very light drinker — spiked her diet coke with rum. I didn’t understand why — then. But when my daughter was a baby, it made more sense. I remember opening the fridge one morning, seeing cranberry juice (which I craved while nursing) and then looking at a bottle of red wine on the counter. I momentarily veered toward the red wine, thinking, “How different is red wine from cranberry juice? What if I just had a half glass of red wine? Does it matter that it is 7 a.m.?” While I soon snapped out of it and reached for the cranberry juice instead, I know my temptation to quell mealtime stress with a cocktail isn’t unique.
If you can relate, the news isn’t all bad. In fact, up to one glass of wine a day for women and up to two a day for men may prove health-enhancing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other research suggests that any moderate alcohol consumption may reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke and even overall mortality risk. But beware: More than two drinks a day for women and three a day for men appears to increase health risks.
[See: 7 Health Risks of Binge Drinking You Can’t Ignore.]
So as long as you can keep your cocktails limited, why not toast to the joys — and challenges — of motherhood at the end of the day? Cheers!
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5 Ways Becoming a Mom Changes the Way You Eat originally appeared on usnews.com
