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"Today I want to comment on the buzz this week about the study printed in The New England Journal of Medicine that says that you&amp;#039;re 37% more likely to be obese if your friends are obese. If you&amp;#039;ve been reading my blog, you already know that much of my social life revolves around eating with friends. I admit that when I dine out with skinny friends who watch every little morsel they consume, I don&amp;#039;t pig out when I&amp;#039;m with them. It&amp;#039;s just no fun to dine on a yummy meal when you&amp;#039;re sitting across from someone eating dry lettuce leaves.  But when I&amp;#039;m with friends who are on the heavier side, well, let&amp;#039;s just say the menu is more lively. It usually involves a shared appetizer, two main dishes and dessert. Often two desserts. And maybe an extra side to share. There&amp;#039;s no doubt I eat differently, and more, when I&amp;#039;m with those friends. So there just may be something to this study in terms of friends enabling each other to eat more -- or worse -- when they&amp;#039;re together. There&amp;#039;s sort of a camaraderie that forms when you know you shouldn&amp;#039;t be eating that way but you are anyway. That said, what exactly does this study expect us to do? I&amp;#039;m not going to choose new friends based on how much they weigh. That&amp;#039;d be ridiculous! And what about my current friends who happen to be overweight? I can hear it now:  &amp;quot;Sorry, Jane, we can&amp;#039;t be friends anymore because you&amp;#039;re making me fat.&amp;quot;  Give me a break. As if Jane&amp;#039;s forcing me to eat the third cookie of the day. It&amp;#039;s like the excuse that kids try -- &amp;quot;Jane made me do it, I swear!&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;ve read other suggestions that say to bring your own salad when you&amp;#039;re dining with overweight friends so that you don&amp;#039;t feel tempted when they want to splurge. (Yeah, right. Give me a carrot while they&amp;#039;re eating fried mozzarella sticks. I don&amp;#039;t think so.) And others have suggested taking a walk with your friends instead of going out to eat. C&amp;#039;mon, people! This stuff just isn&amp;#039;t realistic.  So let&amp;#039;s not blow this study out of proportion. If we do, the next thing we&amp;#039;ll have are studies that tell us to stay away from friends who have big feet, bad skin and thinning hair for fear that by mere friendship we&amp;#039;ll have big feet, bad skin and thin hair, too.  Yuck. I think I&amp;#039;ll call my (overweight) friend Jen and see if she can have dinner this weekend. ;) How I was good today: Mostly stuck to the Fat Smash detox. Ate oatmeal, fruits, veggies, beans and popcorn. (Not at the same time.) How I was bad today: Had a glass of wine, as well as a slice of cheese in my egg white omelette. What I avoided today: I really wanted toast with my omelette today. Ugh. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a2039/fat-friends-constant-dieter-072707/>