‘Like Father, Like Son’ Applies to Eating, As Well

At the ADA meeting last week, family resemblance took on new meaning–your tendency to adopt the same eating behavior as your parents or sibs. How likely you are to overeat in response to stress, or how quickly

you become hungry could because you learned it from your family.
But is it your genes or your environment?
It’s vanishingly rare to sit around a table, eat dinner and drink a bottle of wine and discuss the day’s events–in the U.S.
Some people in Western European countries still a leisurely midday meal, even closing shops for it (think Spain, Italy, some of the UK). Europe’s obesity/overweight prevalence is only beginning to approach ours, as they shift to U.S. eating habits and foodstuffs.
The moral?
Eat when you’re hungry.
Try not to eat when you’re lonely, anxious, bored or happy.
If you’re not sure, eat sitting down. Put food on a plate. Pick up a fork or spoon and ask yourself: am I really hungry?