You are What Your Parents Ate

Of this week’s required reading, I thought the parts in chapter 2 of Evolutionary Medicine (EM), where the ­idea of evolved inherent taste preferences was explored. I found it especially interesting that there are no satiety mechanisms for fat, like there are for protein and carbs.  It was also extremely interesting that when born, omnivores might actually be unable to select the correct diet unless they first learn and observe from others around them.

OP-ED About Eating Habits of Babies

This super cool article is about how scientists have recently figured out (or have been able to prove) that the food the mother eats whilst the baby is in the womb, and the food she eats during breastfeeding highly impact the baby’s food tastes later in life. This becomes very important, especially when the child becomes an adult. The pattern of eating developed at a very young age becomes extremely difficult to change once the child reaches adolescence and adulthood, as the article mentions.

Article About Teaching Kids Healthy Eating

This article also hits on the same point that the other article does, which is that it stresses that food habits taught in early childhood greatly impact there food choice later in life, especially in early adulthood. Early is better seems to be a continued theme throughout these articles and what EM stresses as well.

Overall, I think it’s super interesting that diet at such a young age makes such an impact on how you eat later in life. So, if you have really junky eating habits right now, you can blame your parents! I joke, but the role your parents (or guardians) played in your early childhood and how you learned to eat was extremely important, so that’s something to think about until next time!