By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Having trouble getting your kids to eat healthy? A study indicates the route to go is to have a conversation with them about a healthy lifestyle rather than their weight and size.
The study finds that conversations between parents and teenagers that focus on weight and size are linked to an increased risk for unhealthy weight-control behaviors. Those behaviors include fasting, binging and purging.
Jerica Berge at the University of Minnesota Medical School says conversations about healthy eating – like eating fruits and vegetables – worked better:
“This allows adolescents to feel more empowered because they are trying to change a behavior rather than an outcome. Focusing on healthy eating behaviors also has a more positive undertone and seems more doable.”
The study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.