The Family Meal

For most Americans, it’s easier to eat on the go. After a long day of working, driving kids from one activity to another, and running from place to place, it can be tempting to pick up a to-go order from your favorite restaurant and eat it on the sofa. 

But what most people ignore is that when sharing a home cooked meal, we don’t just eat together, we talk, we share, and we bond. For young children, eating meals with their family is integral to learning healthy eating patterns, like how to slow down and enjoy our food. 

According to Stanford’s Center for Children’s Health, family meals can aid in helping with weight loss by subconsciously training your body to listen to your hunger cues, and be more intentional with what you put in your body. Other studies show that teenagers that eat a family meal more than twice a week are four times less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, using drugs, and drinking alcohol. It’s clear that the benefits are immeasurable, but I am not immune to the difficulty of how creating a family meal routine can actually be. So, how do you start?

I love to encourage my clients to begin with one night each week and let each family member be a part of the preparation. Whether they are helping to select the meal, setting the table, or helping prepare the food, this will help your family slowly engage in building this routine.

When starting to engage your family in meals, it’s vital to include meal planning on the weekend, to ensure that the meals will actually happen. If you have picky eaters, meal planning can help the process of integrating new foods slowly into your young one’s diet without the pressure of deciding what to eat an hour before meal time. 

This week, I encourage you to try just one shared family meal. If you can learn to share the joy of eating nutritious home cooked meals with the ones you love most, you may begin to see your physical and emotional health improve drastically.