Are your friends a bad influence on your healthy lifestyle?

September 29, 2014 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie

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Conversely, participants consumed less kilojoules when told others were eating low-kilojoule meals. Which led Eric Robinson, lead investigator of the study, to conclude: “Eating behaviours can be transmitted socially.”

Sydney-based psychologist Victoria Kasunic says this occurs because we’re programmed to match each other. Not just when it comes to eating, but also our gestures, postures and language: “We tend to mimic without even realising it.” She says this mimicking behaviour helps us connect with others and gives a sense of belonging.

While we’re all “social creatures” who like to belong, Kasunic says women are “more socialised to fit in”. Which means women are even more inclined to act like the person they’re spending time with. “So when we’re with someone and they’re saying, ‘Let’s have dessert,’ we’re very cued in socially to go, ‘Oh, okay then.’ It’s much harder for us to say no.”

Your weight can also be affected by your friends, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. The study analysed more than 12,000 people over a period of 32 years and found a person’s chance of becoming obese increased by a massive 57 per cent if one of their friends became obese.

Kasunic says this occurs because we judge ourselves against our peer group. So if you’re surrounded by overweight friends, that’s then considered the norm. “[People] don’t want to stand out from their friends or be seen as different,” Kasunic notes. Furthermore, if your friends are overweight, you’ll also be less motivated to lose weight, as doing so can lead you to “feeling on the outer”.

The good news, however, is that while your friends’ size can influence you negatively, it can have a positive effect. “It also works in reverse,” notes Kasunic. So if your friends are starting to slim down, you’re more likely to want to join them. Plus, she says, exercising with a friend or choosing to eat healthier food together makes you more likely to stay on track.

So if you embrace healthier food choices, one day your friends – and their waistlines – may thank you for it.

Eating with friends: smart tips

• When eating out, choose a restaurant you know has healthy choices.

• Look up the menu online before you leave and decide what you’ll order before arriving.

• Have a healthy snack before eating out so you’re not ravenous – and vulnerable to poor food choices when you arrive.

• Order your food first, so you don’t get tempted to change your mind when you hear what others are having.

• Invite friends over for meals so you’re in control of the food on offer.

Source: nutritionist Emma Sgourakis, The Nutrition Coach, Melbourne.