Too much Christmas dinner? Science says blame it on the family

We’ve all been guilty of it at one time or another.  The Christmas lunch or dinner comes out, and there are so many delicious things that it’s hard not to over indulge.  Besides, everyone at the table is digging in.  According to new research, the combination of half peer pressure and half mob mentality can cause us to over do it.

The side effects of overeating range from heartburn to nausea, yet we continue to do it.  Research from the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that your eating habits are socially transmitted

It can be a direct or indirect suggestion.  It comes down to the difference between your parents telling you to “eat your veggies” and them enjoying the eating of their vegetables in front of you.  The social behaviour can also originate from the group mentality that you are supposed to overdo it on big holidays because it’s what “everyone does.”

According to Medical News Today, “When we eat with others, we tend to conform to their ways. Even when eating alone, it seems food choice is influenced by the attitudes and habits that have evolved from interacting with others.”

The key factors to this behaviour are your attitude towards the moment, the perception of social behaviour and the pressure to perform, and your perceived control over it.  So at the end of the day, make sure that if you want that mince pie, it’s because you want it and not because a family member is telling to “go on!”

Do you have any tricks to ensure that you don’t “over do it” on the holidays?  Do you think that this behaviour is dictated socially?