Your parents taught you how to eat; literally. They taught you how to use a spoon, knife and fork of course but they also taught you what foods to eat, how much, how little and everything inbetween. But they don’t always practice what they preach.

All too often parents are sending mixed signals to their kids when it comes to eating behavior, nutritionists recently told The Stamford (Conn.) Times. Unhealthy food habits and attitudes to strikingly high numbers of kids with eating disorders, especially teen girls who account for almost half of newly diagnosed anorexia and bulimia cases, according to The Stamford Times.

So the experts say parents need to start putting their money where their, err, mouth is when it comes to food stuff. If parents are saying one thing (“Eat your veggies!”) but doing another (only cooking unhealthy grub), it can end up confusing kids.

Blog it out… When it comes to eating, do your parents’ actions mirror their words?