I was just talking to someone the other day about how we absorb the environment we live/grow up in. I lived in a skinny family as a kid and yet I still learned to abuse food to stop me feeling angry, so I stuffed my anger down.... know what I mean? But I did not learn 'fat' habits. My mother and father were pretty thin and we ate mostly steamed vegetables and I don't remember a great deal of butter or milk going into the mash! We didn't eat a great deal of meat as my brother was a vegetarian and it was just easier for mum to find alternatives I think. Sunday tea was always salad and some cold meat slices and I have fond memories of sitting next to the sink, eating bits of raw vegetable as mum peeled them!

Something else that I never had was food given to me for comfort if I hurt myself. That is a killer for learning healthy habits. So my girls, if they fell over or came up against something that caused them distress, I always gave them heaps of cuddles, comfort, etc. but definitely no food! No anchors there...

By way of contrast, my husband’s brother lives in a 'fat' family. Now I am not meaning to be rude in any way, and those of you that know me will realize that, I am just referring to diet, habits and lifestyle, okay?

There are four people in that family and mum is a nurse which really surprises me... or not... I guess if these habits are on an unconscious level or there is no motivation to change them they will stick around... but mum is quite overweight, his brother is very overweight, probably bordering on obese. He has asthma, high blood pressure, and diabetes and up until two years or so ago he smoked too. Then their boys, one is solid, definitely not thin, but the younger one is completely obese. I have watched him go around snack bowls and totally clear them up so there is nothing left for the adults and instead of watching him, they tip more in for everyone. They are big before dinner nibblers, like chips, dips, cheeses, you name it, they love it. Life for them revolves around food and lots of it, very rich foods too. We think they somehow associate plenty of food with being 'well off', you know?

Anyway my point here is this. If you dropped someone, just like Mr. Bean drops from the sky, into a 'thin' family, who eat to live, they value exercise, they prefer healthy living foods, they teach good food habits, probably inadvertently, then this someone would learn to be thin. If, however, you dropped this same person, into a 'fat' family, those that live to eat then they would learn the opposite, they probably comfort eat, watch TV and eat, eat irregularly, love lots of snack foods, eat too much each time, take no exercise, why would they, it's too much effort... they do not value the same things as the other family and they just absorb all this and take it as normal, well that someone would end up being overweight. We are all creatures of habit and we do absorb our environment...

So the moral to the story is this... two brothers, same upbringing, both of them has the potential to be overweight, but one is and one isn't. One lives in a 'fat' family and one lives in a 'thin' family... in the main anyway! I thought you might find that interesting ... and it is fascinating to me to see the differences that two families can make to their outcomes.