As we start the New Year, I am in the process of writing a speech I will be presenting at my next Toastmaster meeting, “Inspiration Through Visualization.” Wouldn’t it be nice if we would be able to visualize our meals and they would magically and instantaneously appear. Well, we aren’t at that point yet, so we still have to shop and cook. At this time, I’m involved in a Family Meal Challenge, sponsored by Shelle from http://rockinwhomestead.com. This challenge is encouraging people to eat together. This is one of the major goals of my blog, to encourage but especially inspire people to cook and eat together. I admit, I have struggled with this in the past and this is why I feel it is important to help and guide those who want to take the steps to keep their families eating together.

Medical Benefits of Family Dinner

A study published in the medical journal of Pediatrics stated that families that ate three or more meals a week together resulted in healthier children. This was an analysis of more than 180,000 children. I understand that serving a healthy meal in between your families extra-curricular activities could be a challenge and that is why I want to help you. Keeping children healthy is so important and here are 5 ways that family meals can do that:

• Family meals prevent excessive weight gain: Eating 3 or more family meals together with at least one parent present and the meal being prepared at home results in a lower likelihood of children being overweight.
• Family meals together teach healthy choices: There was a 20 percent decrease in children making unhealthy food choices when they ate three or more meals with their families. When you teach your children to make healthy choices this will lead them into adulthood with good habits. An example is providing healthy snacks such as fruits and vegetables when they arrive home from school or activities until food is prepared.
• Family meals prevent eating disorders: There was a 35 percent reduction in disordered eating habits such as anorexia and bulimia for children that ate three or more family meals per week.
• Family dinner improves social-emotional health: The children who ate family dinner regularly and talked about their day, shared stories, etc., had a higher social-emotional health. They were able to understand emotions, express empathy and form positive relationships with friends and adults. They also adapted well to their school environment and performed well academically.
• Family dinner can help children with cyberbullying: Teens that ate regular family dinners were able to handle cyberbullying better and are less likely to engage in substance abuse or develop psychiatric health concerns, according to a 2014 study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Tips

This blog will be filled with tips to help you put dinner on the table in between your and your families meetings, sports practices, tutoring and activities. Here are just 3 tips to help keep family dinners a regular habit in your household on busy days:

• Freezer cooking: When you plan to cook a big dinner, think a head and double it and freeze half or whatever leftovers there are. On the days you know are going to easier, shop and cook a double meal. This will save you a lot of time.
• Use a crock pot: Plan your cooking around your schedule. Learn to use your crock pot. Place the ingredients in your crock pot early in the day set it to cook and when you come home it will be ready.
• Use paper plates: If using paper plates makes your life easier then do that. A fast clean up will save you time. It’s better to eat healthy food on paper plates then buy fast food.