Dining together for better health

Family meals boost nutrition and are linked to lower risks of drug use and eating disorders

Date published: 2/27/2005

FAMILY MEALS provide more than just nutrition for kids: Studies show family meals are linked to higher grades and lower rates of drug use, depression, suicide and eating disorders in children and adolescents. This may be because families who eat together check in regularly and stay closer, allowing parents to counteract some negative peer pressure.

And family meals can be a time to laugh and to bond. Eating together can be a challenge, though, as parents try to balance work schedules with children's school and extracurricular activities, not to mention taste preferences. But sharing some family meals is critical if you want your child to learn to eat a variety of foods and to learn table manners they will need at school and friends' houses.

If you plan, you can avoid desperate, unappetizing meals. You don't have to be an elaborate cook and can even eat out. The point is to have a daily plan of roughly what and where you will eat. Try to pick one meal a day to eat as a family: Usually breakfast or dinner are the easiest.

If you're eating at home, plan a meal that includes at least four to five foods, according to Ellyn Satter, a dietitian and family therapist. She suggests a protein source, two grains or starchy foods, a fruit or vegetable or both, milk, and butter or margarine. For example, grilled chicken for protein, sweet potatoes for a starch, whole wheat bread with margarine for a second starch, a tossed salad with dressing for a vegetable, and milk. You might offer fresh peaches for dessert, or perhaps an apple cobbler, or perhaps no dessert at all.

"Be considerate without catering," Satter writes in her new book, "Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming," to be released this May.

Include in the meal at least one food your children have eaten in the past, such as bread, for them to fall back on if they dislike the main dish.

Do feel free to include things your children have disliked in the past--it's the only way they will learn to try new things.

Follow us on

Date published: 2/27/2005