It's official. According to a report compiled by Newcastle University's Human Nutrition Research Centre, moving in with a boyfriend (or husband) causes women to alter their eating habits (for the worse) and start putting on the pounds. Men, however, tend to reap the benefits of co-habitation - they eat more nutritious foods, thus improving their long-term health (in other words, they actually have a refrigerator full of food options above and beyond beer, salsa, and two-week-old take-out). A recent article explained:

Dieticians at Newcastle University said both partners try to please and impress one another during the "honeymoon period", and so change their dietary habits to suit their other half. It leads men to eat more light meals, such as salads, fruit and vegetables, while women chose to make creamier, heavier dishes like curry or rich pasta sauces, which may please their partner.

I'm sorry, but I can't help but kind of laugh. It all just sounds so strange. The idea that we, women, try to please our men by preparing heavy, meat-and-potatoes-style dishes (insert pre-historic ::grunt:: here) is pretty amusing. At the same time, envisioning some unhappy boyfriend attempting to stuff himself with lettuce leaves and smiling while doing it results in a few chuckles as well.

I may be wrong, but something tells me the whole change-in-diet is not necessarily a result of consciously trying to please the other person. It seems more likely that it is the simple result of blending together pre-existing eating habits, nothing more.

Say I genuinely enjoy peaches and strawberries and so decide to buy them from the local grocery store. Chances are, my hypothetical live-in boyfriend will have a few, even if he never went out of his way to buy them while on his own. I doubt he is trying to "please" me by eating more fruits and vegetables. He was probably just hungry, and as it happens, I enjoy certain healthy foods. At the same time, maybe my boyfriend enjoys grilling steaks or eating a bowl of fettucine alfredo. Who am I to argue? Personally, I love pasta dishes, but I doubt I'd start eating them four nights a week simply to win his affection (sounds like a pretty lame way to do so, if you ask me).

So what conclusions can we reach? As far as I'm concerned, there is no conscious alteration of eating habits on either side; however, the unintended diet change impacts the health of both partners. Unfortunately for women, though, moving in with your true love may result in an unexpected increase in waist size. Seems just a bit unfair, doesn't it?