If the Food Network or Cooking Channel is your favorite television network, you may be sabotaging your efforts to reach — or maintain — a healthy weight.

A study recently published in the journal Appetite showed that, typically, women who watch such shows and also cook from scratch have higher body mass index than those who don’t engage in both activities.

Just watching such programs doesn’t seem to have an effect on B-M-I, the researchers found. Rather, the key correlation exists between frequently cooking from scratch and watching cooking shows for new recipes. The average weight of a woman who does both, according to this study, was nearly 12 pounds higher than that of a woman who merely watches the shows.

The researchers say cooking shows may steer women toward less healthful food prep and eating habits.

Another bad influence the scientists identified is social media. According to the survey results, getting new recipes from social media also was linked to a higher B-M-I.

Perhaps social media users tend to post their most sinful food photos and recipes online, the researchers suggested. They pointed to the ’round-the-clock availability of social media as another factor that may contribute to higher weight among those who turn there for food info.

When that recipe for seven-layer chocolate cake just keeps popping up in your Facebook feed over and over, all evening long… well, let’s just say it’s probably harder to resist the fifth time around.

Other sources of food information not linked to higher B-M-I include print sources, face-to-face interactions with other people and other online sources, aside from social media and cooking TV.

Maybe it’s time to rely again on some of the more traditional recipe sources: family, friends… and cookbooks.