Junk Food Diet during pregnancy leads to Obese Kids
Pregnancy is a wonderful thing but too many woman take advantage of this situation to excuse excessive eating. A normal pregnancy should lead to about 30 to 35 pounds of additional weight gained and subsequently lost a year or so after childbirth. The problem is many woman are already obese before becoming pregnant, as a result, that additional weight is not necessary and possibly harmful to the baby… these habits sadly persist during the breastfeeding phase as well, compounding the potential problems for both mother and child.
Study Results
The British Journal of Nutrition published on Wednesday a study involving rats with one group of test subjects was given junk food while the other healthy food. Rats that where fed a healthy diet had healthy offspring but those in the other study group gave birth to rats that overate, leading towards obesity.
Ramifications
Although this study was done on rats, which may not necessarily translate into humans, there are some things to learn here. The first is that if you are pregnant or about to become pregnant, you should have a healthy diet nailed down pat so that if you have sugar cravings, you can control them with healthy foods. Sure, homemade carrot muffins aren’t as tasty as a Oh Henry chocolate bar but it’s just as filling and will provide the necessary nutrition for your growing child. Secondly, your child should have priority over your own desires, this includes drinking no alcohol what-so-ever and of course, not smoking… your child deserves this at the very least. Thirdly, the healthy habits developed before and during pregnancy should stick with you during breastfeeding and later in life as well. If you need to, use pregnancy as an excuse to get yourself into shape, join a gym, go for long walks and tell yourself there is no going back if you lived an unhealthy life previously.
The Bottom Line
Excuses can be used in a positive way, use pregnancy as an excuse to become the person you may not have been before.
Buzzvia
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/08/14/pregnancy-junkfood.html?ref=rss
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