Listen Up Men…How You’re Hurting Your Kids and Grandkids
There is a vast array of research showing that a woman’s diet and lifestyle dramatically influences the health of her children.
Every expecting or soon-to-be-expecting mom is usually aware of this.
But the research and awareness is much sparser for men.
Guys, It Matters What You Eat and How You Live
Epigenetics has been a particularly popular topic lately (over the past couple years). If you’re not familiar with the concept, the general theory is that it’s not just genetics (genes) that get inherited by our kids. A lot of other information is also stored and passed by our bodies to our children.
The following article by Sarah Kimmins is an excellent introduction into the ways in which a father’s diet, exposure to chemicals, and life choices influence his future children:
Fathers’ lifestyles influence the health of generations to come
In this article – which I suggest clicking through and reading – Ms. Kimmins delves into a lot of the research and ways that lifestyle, diet, and other factors can potentially impact a man’s future children.
Eat Real Food and Don’t Get Fat
For instance, obesity, vitamin deficiencies, and other diet-related conditions can often lead to a child being more likely to develop certain conditions such as diabetes or abnormalities. (Most of this research has been done on rats or other lab animals, but there is little reason to believe that this doesn’t apply well to humans in this case.)
Also, Ms. Simmins is particularly fearful of the fact that men today are exposed to a much greater of amount of chemicals and pesticides than ever before, and this exposure may be radically affecting future children, although this research is still in the early stages.
Man or woman, if you’re planning on having kids, it probably behooves you to optimize your diet and lifestyle as soon as possible, even if you feel pretty good right now.
But then again, it’s hard to argue against optimizing your diet and lifestyle for a LOT of reasons.
Images: Copyright (c) liza5450 from Fotolia and bonninturina from Fotolia