Eating habits affected by friends and family
- posted: 04 Oct. 2007
- scrollspecial@byui.edu
During the summer Shawni Shimbashi, a sophomore studying elementary education, noticed her eating habits would vary depending on whom she was with.
“Subconsciously I would justify why I was eating more around my heavy friends,” Shimbashi said.
Researchers have discovered another possible explanation as to why the United States’ adults are increasingly getting fatter. Eating unhealthily and not exercising still have something to do with it, but so do friends and family, according to The New England Journal of Medicine.
In this new study, researchers found that people alter their thoughts on what is acceptable weight depending on how much their friends weigh.
If that’s the case, then everyone’s perspective on weight could be a little different if friends happens to be obese or thin, according to The New England Journal of Medicine.
“Your friends and family make an impact on you, so you’ll end up doing what they do,” said Jared Coudron, a junior studying biology. In Coudron’s case, he not only goes to the gym for himself, but because his family likes being in shape.
Peer pressure is one reason family and friends are linked to obesity. For instance, at a party or at the dinner table, there can be pressure from friends or family to eat the last piece or pizza dispite how full a person has become.
Hillary Strawderman, a junior studying communications, said if someone pays for her meal she feels more obligated to eat the amount paid for even if she wasn’t hungry for it. “I also try to stay away from buffets because you can never tell how much you actually eat when you are there,” Strawderman said.
“It’s just in our culture to look at others, or the environment, as a social reference,” Shimbashi said, “Even if we don’t want to admit it, we reference everything we do depending on other people.”
Even though the recent study is attributing friends and family to obesity, it is not meant to cut off social ties.
Researchers suggest making more friends so there isn’t as much peer pressure. 
