I have always wondered if our diet/weight really can be influenced for the rest of our lives by what we’re fed, even from a young age. According to the Virginian Pilot’s “Spotlight”, page 3, (11/26/11) a story covered by Lena H. Sun of The Washington Post provides revolutionary thinking about our palate and how it’s influenced through a new conclusion: What we’re fed from the time we’re in our mother’s womb sets a course for our life.
Kim Trout, Director of the Nurse Midwifery/Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program at Georgetown University, co-wrote a paper reviewing the “prenatal flavoring” possibilities through the mother’s diet. As early as 13 weeks, we’re teaching our babies what to eat through the natural course of what we’ve consumed. Taste buds begin developing at 13 weeks, with taste receptors following suit at 16 weeks setting the link between mother and child. No wonder our kids automatically “like” what we like. We’ve been influencing them from before they were able to make decisions on their own.
“Train a child” takes on a whole new meaning when we stop and think about how much our decisions influence their lives from the start. With disease like Diabetes and Obesity constantly on the rise, it isn’t so surprising to see children suffering from the same problematic related illness their parent’s suffer from, as well. Not only will what we eat influence them, but whatever passes through our mouth (i.e. drink/smoke/chew/breath and receive) may have a more powerful effect on our unborn children more than we could ever imagine. Prenatal care and nutrition will now become even more underscored as awareness of this influence rises.
DNA and genetics have typically taken the front seat in determining much of who we will become by sheer association to our heritage. But when we stop and think about the “bigger picture” and how easily us mom’s can turn the genetic tables around, we see more clearly how much more important it is that we take care of our babies before they make their grand entrance into this world. For me, this new theory/understanding makes a ton of sense: If what I eat is directly fed to my unborn child then they are automatically learning how to eat. Maybe it doesn’t go through their palate as it does mine, but it is influencing their development physically and that’s more important than anything else. If we’ve ever wondered why some kids seem to automatically like or dislike certain foods we need to look back at our past to understand their selective process. I can remember the first time my mom, who was the only person in our family that ate spinach, fed me spinach. As much as the entire remaining members of my family disliked the green leafy food, I loved it from first bite! In fact, I can look at many of my mother’s food choices and see my natural disposition towards those foods. I can also see those same trends in my husband’s taste buds and his mother’s natural inclination toward certain foods.
There are always two ways to look at this type of discovery: A) We can understand better why we’re the way we are or B) We can see our future through our mother’s lives. To this day I thank the good Lord for my mother and now I know why (even more): Mom is as healthy as a horse! She doesn’t take one single medicine and eats a well balanced diet. Today, mom is 79 years young…..guess I have a pretty good life ahead of me, too.
Quick Tips for Wellness: Consumption consumes us more than we realize.
Developing a wellness lifestyle is rooted in being mindful of what you eat/drink and consume.
Quick Tips for Wellness ™ Copyright © 2011, All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment