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When you say "I do," you are not just signing up for a lifetime of togetherness -- you're also, apparently, signing up for shared eating habits.
Researchers analyzed the eating patterns of more than 3,000 participants in the ongoing Framingham Heart Study to determine whether social ties influence eating behaviors and exactly how they do so. They considered the role that spouses, friends, brothers and sisters played over the course of 10 years. Overall, the analysis, published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, found that couples had the greatest impact on one another's dietary patterns.
"The hypothesis is that your eating behavior is going to be affected by those around you," said Paul F. Jacques, D.Sc., director of the Nutritional Epidemiology Program at Tufts University and one of the study's authors.
"With spouses, it has a lot to do with the stronger shared environment," he added. "One person is probably preparing food for the other frequently."
But it wasn't just couples who influenced one another; friends also appeared to share certain eating patterns, particularly when it came to regular consumption of alcohol and snacks. (For purposes of analysis, the researchers grouped the individuals into seven distinct patterns, including meat and soda eaters, sweets eaters and those who avoid caffeine.)
3 hours ago (9:15 AM)
From the Big Book of Duh.
3 hours ago (9:23 AM)
When my wife and I were married, I had been a vegetarian for 20 years. She was not, though she ate very little red meat. Since I was a better cook and prepared most meals, she adopted my diet. After 7 years, she can’t even imagine going back to a carnivorous diet.
2 hours ago (10:59 AM)
Thanks for making me laugh today.
2 hours ago (10:34 AM)
This is why me and my wife cook at separate times of the day, eat meals in separate rooms and sleep in separate beds.
Now that I think of it I haven’t seen her for weeks…I’m sure she is fine…at least I’m sure she is still in town, I think.
2 hours ago (10:49 AM)
You are what you eat. I’m a vagina.
2 hours ago (10:57 AM)
I am a pescetarian and my boyfriend/cohabitant eats red meat and chicken (but really dislikes seafood). We compromise by preparing our proteins separately and sharing the same veggies/carbs. Most of the time we season our food similarly so that we can share the same sauces/gravies. Works for us and neither one of us has to change our preferences. Seems straight forward to me… this article is really speaking more about common sense than anything else. Silly.
58 minutes ago (11:32 AM)
First wife gained an average of 3 pounds a year – guess to give me more of her to love. Periodically she’d go on a diet, which I would follow in support. Naturally she would ‘cheat’ during the day, and it would be me that lost weight.
Current wife eats only seafood, which is o k once a week. I make sure her son and I have red meat on the table as it should be. She is not a snacker except for her pistachio fetish (I am a snacker), and she likes a healthy diet – so my overall diet is much better.