Parents Model Healthy Eating
It should come as no surprise that the more stressed parents are at work, the greater the burden on their family is. 1[■] After all, the more time parents spend working, the less time and energy they have to plan and prepare healthful meals.
For years, most studies have focused on the role of working mothers while fathers were ignored. They didn’t look at the family as a whole. 2[■] It adds a new wrinkle to the relationship between work stress and family nutrition.
Moms’ work related stress is still a central factor in how well families eat because they typically do most of the food shopping and cooking. 3[■] The study found that when mom or dad experience high levels of work related stress, their families are eating one-and-a-half fewer family meals per week, and the parents themselves report eating fewer fruits and vegetables, more fast food, and are less likely to eat breakfast regularly.
It’s worth noting that the study looked mainly at low income families who belonged to ethnic or minority groups. 4[■] But the implications are wide ranging.
5[■] Teaching kids, especially teenagers, to help with grocery shopping and to cook actual meals, instead of just putting a frozen pizza in the microwave, could be an important piece of the puzzle in helping families improves their eating habits.