NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A spouse or partner can often help keep your new diet on track, but in some cases they just put up roadblocks, a new study shows.
In interviews with 21 couples in which one partner was trying to make diet changes, Canadian researchers found that the non-dieting significant other was usually supportive. Some kept tabs on the partner's eating, for instance, while others changed their own shopping and eating habits.
In some cases, however, partners were a hindrance, the researchers report in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
A few dieters, for example, complained that their partners would eat junk food or other forbidden treats in front of them. In other cases, the non-dieting half of the couple overtly expressed skepticism about the new diet and the partner's ability to stick with it.
"Significant others who demonstrated strong support for their partner's dietary change typically described their relationship as very supportive and often saw their direct participation in the change as a natural extension of their relationship," lead researcher Dr. Judy Paisley, of Ryerson University in Toronto, said in a statement.
In contrast, partners who put up obstacles were typically unaware that their behavior was negative, the researchers found.
In some cases, the investigators found that partners might have believed they were being positive by simply not complaining about the diet change, for example. The dieting partner, however, might need more-obvious encouragement, the researchers note.
The findings, according to Paisley's team, suggest that diet changes need to be seen as a "shared activity" between partners. This is important, they note, because one partner's diet makeover necessarily changes food buying and mealtime for both.
SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, March/April, 2008.
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