All parents want their kids to grow up as happy and healthy as possible. But, by focusing too much on weight or calories, some parents may be unintentionally setting the stage for their children to develop an unhealthy relationship with food, Ayat Sleymann, a registered dietitian and mom of two kids, ages 4 and 6, tells TODAY.com.
Sleymann, who goes by @momnutritionist on both Instagram and TikTok, specializes in helping moms lose weight. And that often requires guiding them to unlearn some strict dieting rules they may have grown up with to avoid falling into a yo-yo dieting cycle.
For instance, many of Sleymann’s clients grew up in a house where food or sugars were restricted, or one of their parents was always on a diet, she says, which set them up to have a fraught relationship with food as they got older.
As someone who was raised in one of those households where there were “good” and “bad” foods, Sleymann says, “To this day, I have a hard time navigating those thoughts.” So she wanted to give her social media followers “some background as to why these things ended up happening into adulthood,” Sleymann explains, “and it really starts in childhood.”
In a recent video with more than 397,000 views on TikTok, she shared the five points she keeps in mind while working through those issues in her own family — and how she tries to create a more positive environment for her kids to feel comfortable navigating food, hunger cues and their bodies.
I would never put my kids on a diet.
Rather than focusing on weight, Sleymann encourages her kids to engage in healthy lifestyle habits.
“More playtime, more fruits and vegetables, getting enough sleep, limiting screen time, offering water instead of juice — focusing more on the habits rather than a number on the scale,” she explains.
In fact, she prefers to “never even mention their weight” because it can become something they may fixate on, leading them to develop disordered eating behaviors.
I never body shame…
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