Reviving the Family Meal: It’s Good For Your Health

Time is a precious commodity nowadays. Our schedules aren’t getting any less crammed, anytime soon, and many times one of the things that gets bumped to the bottom of the priority list is the family meal. In my recent US News “Eat + Run” blog I talked about the importance of family mealtime, and the many benefits that result from more meals eaten together. Benefits like improved grades in school, healthier eating patterns and greater emotional well-being have all been reported. Who wouldn’t want those things, right? If you’re looking to make family meals a priority in your home, here are a few of my ideas to help make the “revival” a little easier: 1. Talk to your “significant other.” This means talking to whoever else shares in the decision-making and must agree that this is an important and necessary change. Decide together that you want to make family meals a priority. 2. Come up with a realistic plan. How often can you sit down together? And how can the family divide responsibility between planning, shopping, prep and clean up? This should not all fall on mom’s to-do list. 3. Make “the food” the easy part. There are plenty of ways to get quick, healthy meals on the table. Not everything has to be made from scratch, so don’t feel like you need to chain yourself to your stove all day if you simply don’t have that kind of time. Here a few fast meal tips and ideas that you can try: Keep...
Source: Balanced Health and Nutrition Rebecca Scritchfield's Blog - Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Tags: children eating healthy life nutrition eat and run family meal US news Source Type: blogs