As most of you know, Lose Baby Weight and Bubhub.com.au recently conducted a survey about the eating and exercise habits of mums and the point was to try and see how healthy Australian mums’ diets were and to see where most were struggling.
Over 1200 mums filled out the survey (which we were delighted with so thank you!) and the results showed that due to a lack of time 1 in 2 mums were skipping breakfast, 75% found it hard to lose baby weight, 62% were having a takeaway at least once week, 87% ate badly when stressed, 53% ate more junk food as snacks post having children and 9 out of 10 were missing out on key nutrients such as those found in flaxseeds and fish oils (which is why we have now launched The Healthy Mummy Range)
The Sunday Telegraph has showcased some of the results today (see image) but we wanted to bring you more of the results here too so you can see what over 1200 mums with children under 5 said about finding the time to be healthy and exercise – which I think we all know can be tough!
A summary of the results are:
- Since having their first child, 9 out of 10 Aussie mums said they have noticed changes in their eating habits and alarmingly more than half
are not eating breakfast everyday. - 3 out of 5 agree that since having their first child they find it hard to find the time to eat healthy and nutritious meals and they are always thinking about their baby first so often grab the easy, unhealthy option.
- 1 in 2 find that they eat more junk food as snacks during the day than they did before they had children.
- Around 65% agreed they were hungrier when they were breastfeeding.
- 9 out of 10 occasionally or never incorporate flaxseed into their diet
- 8 out of 10 occasionally or never incorporate Fish Oil 7 out of 10 occasionally or never incorporate Vitamin C
- 6 out of 10 occasionally or never incorporate Calcium 5 out of 10 occasionally or never take a Multivitamin supplement
- 95% of Aussie mums say that if there was a quick and healthy option in the cupboard they would choose it over takeaway.
- 8 out of 10 Aussie mums tend to eat badly when they’ve had a tough or stressful day.
- 62% of Australian mums with children under 5 order takeaway for dinner at least once a week.
- Under 5% of Australian mums with children under 5 exercise everyday. Not having time (49%) is no surprise as the biggest contributing factor, don’t feel like it (21%), feel they exercise enough (17.9%), can’t afford a gym membership (9.1%) and worried they might hurt themselves (2.6%).
- Three quarters of Australian mums did or are currently finding it hard to lose weight post pregnancy and close to half feel that celebrities place pressure on them to lose weight but thankfully the other half are bothered at all or realize they have access to nannies, personal trainers etc.
I think the key learnings from this is that living and eating healthily can be hard as junk and convenience foods seem to be cheaper and easier but with a little effort we can all make small changes to improve our health. And this is a huge reason behind why we have launched our new Healthy Mummy Smoothie and range as it is quick and easy to make and will give your body all the nutrients it needs.
And I think an absolute key point to remember too is that if you are trying or wanting to lose pregnancy weight then we don’t recommend any mum trying to do so until they are 100% emotionally and physically ready – which for some mums isn’t for 12-24 months – and of course we always say that any weight loss should be done in a safe, steady and healthy way and that we should never cut out food groups when dieting and always focus on getting maximum nutrition from the food you eat. Plus we should all avoid the celeb post baby weight loss stories which in our opinion are just not realistic.
Thank you so much if you took part in the survey and we also have a 10% discount on our new range if you do want to try it – just use code LAUNCH at the checkout
