In the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, Sunday, August 11, 2013 was an article entitled, “Bad Habits That Can Actually Be Good For You.” This Grandma was shocked to see that the bad habits she has been encouraging for grandchildren are actually good for them!
The first bad habit listed was “chewing gum.” All the stores we frequent seem to put chewing gum at the cash register. When we are with grandchildren, invariably one asks if he or she can get chewing gum. See, this is not a bad habit this Grandma encourages. It is a bad habit that comes from shopping with grandchildren! So as not to totally freak out the parents of my grandchildren, because I never say no, I say yes to sugarless gum. It seems that we Grandmas should be chewing sugarless gum as well:
It boosts thinking and alertness in part by increasing blood flow to the brain, a new study finds. Previous research has also found that people who chewed sugarless gum before eating had fewer sweet cravings and ate 36 fewer calories.
The problem is that the big commercial sugar free gums (Orbit and Extra) use aspartame, which studies show may have bad health effects. There is a aspartame free gum called Pur. Click here to learn more and buy. I have now added keeping this sugarless gum with me when I am with grandchildren. Remember to teach them to chew with their mouths closed! I can encourage bad habits in grandchildren and still try to make it not so bad.
The second bad habit in the article was “not making the bed. “ This grandma does make the bed when she gets up but does not care if grandchildren make theirs. Now it seems that this is a bad habit to encourage:
Not being a total neat freak may ease allergies and help you breathe more easily. A study found that dust mites – which can cause hay-fever-like symptoms—were less able to survive in messy, unmade beds because conditions were too warm and dry for them.
Now the third, this Grandma claims that Prevention Magazine, the source of the “good bad habit” information, copied from grandmas everywhere: “having dessert with breakfast.” We know we offer dessert first whenever we can as a special grandma treat. Now we find out that dessert with breakfast is a bad habit to encourage:
Having a small treat, such as a cookie, along with a high protein, high carb breakfast (think eggs and whole wheat toast) helped participants stick to their diets better and lose more weight than a low carb, low calorie breakfast did, a recent study found. The reason: Carbs and protein help keep you full, while a shot of sweet may quell later cravings for treats.
This Grandma has a different theory as this applies to children. Children think they must leave room for dessert, so seem to leave food they would ordinarily eat on their plates anticipating the dessert. With dessert first, there is no need to leave food on their plates.
Dessert first is now for everyone! Grandmas know best what brings
Joy,
Mema
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