TV DINNERS LEAD TO LESSER GREENS IN DIET

A recent study has thrown light on a topic that has deluded us for years. The connection between television and obesity has been shown clearly over the years. Nonetheless, this new study has shown that children who turn to TV dinners are more likely to give up on their greens.

Couch Potato and No Greens

The idea that works here is that, when you’re having a quiet dinner by yourself, you focus on what’s going into your stomach and what isn’t. At the same time, if children have dinner with their parents around, they are likely to be bothered about the nutritional value of their diet.

Where Was This Study Conducted?

This study was conducted by the Tufts University in Boston. They did their study by researching the patterns of 91 families during their dinner times.

The children who ate while viewing television were prone to eating snack foods, pizzas, chips and soft drinks that were caffeine-laced.

According to Katherine Coon, the author of this study, when the television is switched on, it tends to take up all of our attention. This lets all of our healthy habits slip away, and our food intake mode shifts to ‘automatic’.

Double Whammy

Koon points out that the TV dinner syndrome can actually end up being a ‘double whammy’, in the sense that not only will it affect the nutritional value of the meal, but it also ends up encouraging sedentary lifestyles amongst the children.

Earlier studies have proven that there is a strong sort of link between the lowered consumption of veggies and fruits in early life and debilitating health conditions in later life.

Parental Trends

A newer trend in young girls has shown that things are getting out of hand with the obesity epidemic in America.

Girls as young as five years old are having issues with their self image. Being on the fatter side is leading them to have low self-esteem.

In such a scenario, the parents feel the urge to take control of the situation. The easiest way to put a curb on the child’s increasing waistline is to put restrictions on his/her food intake. This phenomenon can have some undesirable effects. The restriction can have an adverse effect on the already low self-esteem values of the child. She may believe that her parents also see her as being ‘fat’ and hence feel the need to restrict her dietary intake.

The better way to go about this issue would be to introduce only health food in the house. Do not invest in unhealthy food items. This way there is no temptation for the child or the parents. Its good for the parents’ health as well.