07/20/2025
Research has shown that children’s eating habits and body image are heavily shaped by their mother’s behavior… even more than by the food itself.
One study found that girls as young as 5 yrs old start expressing concern about weight when they see their mother dieting.
And by adolescence, many mirror her exact pattern (even when they swore they wouldn’t).
But it goes deeper than what she ate.
It’s how she responded to food and feelings.
If she used treats to reward good behavior?
If she cleaned her plate out of guilt?
If she skipped meals, talked about her “bad days”, or joked about needing to “earn dessert”?
You absorbed all of it, without even noticing.
Cut mom some slack though, she obviously learned it somewhere too!
We don’t know what we don’t know.
But if you don’t name it, it will continue for generations to run the show.
The data is out there and it’s clear :
Your feeding style becomes theirs.
Your body image language becomes theirs.
Your silence around food becomes theirs too.
You don’t have to fix it overnight.
But you can be the one who becomes aware enough to break the cycle and doesn’t pass it down.
It’s not just about changing your habits. It’s about interrupting the inheritance.
I talk about this in my workbook 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑮𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 but also in my 1:1 coaching, so if this post hit you in the gut, DM me “generations” so we can talk food, lineage, awareness, and how to be the change. (and I can share the workbook link 😉).
