How your dieting affects your daughter

Daughters watch as their mothers diet. They observe that when one diet doesn’t work for her, she swiftly moves on to another one, before going back to her bad eating habits. No sooner than later, she flirts with another diet and it becomes a vicious cycle of diets. As a mom, have you ever considered that your constant dieting and weighing yourself can have serious repercussions on your teenage daughter? It’s your life, you might think, but your lifestyle may be affecting your daughter’s body image and her view of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Girls may grow up thinking this is normal because you are teaching them it’s perfectly fine to go for fad diets instead of teaching them to make changes in the overall diet, in order to maintain a healthy weight.

How it affects your daughter’s self-image?

Daughters who often see their moms dieting may pressurised to be skinny. This can lead to the development of eating disorders and a distorted view of what being fat actually means. Moms who are addicted to dieting are actually passing down bad eating habits to their daughters. Your excuse might be the entire family isn’t following your current diet, but they see what you eat. Even though you may tell your daughter what they should eat, what they actually watch you eat will stick in their minds. They will likely feel that if it’s okay for you to do it, it’s acceptable for them as well. If you are body conscious, you may not be aware that your child will follow the same route.

Dieting without exercise

Instead of obsessing about dieting, reinforce the importance of exercise in maintaining a healthy weight and losing weight. The best thing you can do is to get into your gym gear, persuade your daughter to join you on a jog. That way you are leading by example. If you get into such a habit while she is still young, you are setting a standard they can stick with for the rest of their lives.

Teach your family to eat healthily all the time

Prepare healthy meals for the family so that your entire family can learn how to eat right from an early age. This is a habit they will take into adulthood and will help improve their self-esteem while developing good eating and fitness habits. Teaching your daughters to eat healthily will help them in many ways. A healthy diet won’t be confusing because they’ll always know how and what to eat. Their bodies won’t be deprived of the nutrients they need and they won’t always feel the need to be too skinny. It will give them the knowledge and wisdom to pass along to their own daughters so healthy eating habits can be passed down through the coming generations. It will make your daughters feel better about themselves all the time.