Are your friends and family making you fat?

Do you always end up ordering extra chips or giving in to that second slice of cake when a certain friend or family member is present?

It’s been proven that how much you weigh can depend on who you eat and hang out with. The World Health Organisation lists friends and family alongside genetics and income as some of the most important factors influencing your overall health, but this doesn’t have to condemn you to the plus-sized clothing rails for life.

Diet and fitness writer Alex Atkinson seeks out the pitfalls so you don’t fall into them.

Eating out with friends is one of life’s pleasures, but have you ever noticed how the food choices you make mirror your mates? You’ve ordered the salad and you’re feeling pretty good about it, then your friend orders a side of chips and before you know it you’ve done the same. What’s going on?

Sociology professors Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler believe that humans, in many ways, behave like schools of fish or flocks of birds, consciously or unconsciously reacting to the actions of the group as a whole.

It may sound a bit spooky, but try it. Next time you go to order pudding, stop and think, ‘am I ordering this because I really want that pudding, or am I being influenced by my chocolate brownie-loving best friend?’

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