The Importance of Eating Together as a Family

In today’s busy world it is often hard to find time to spend together as a family. As studies have shown, dinner time might just be the perfect time to reconnect and bond with your loved ones. It should be a time to relax, share stories and reflect on the day that has been. The act of eating together has definitely changed within the last 50 years, with the introduction of fast food, electronic devices, increased working hours, a higher number of women entering the work force and a higher tendency to eat out at restaurants. Despite the ‘convenience’ that some of these factors may bring, it has been proven time and time again that finding the time to eat together as a family for at least two nights (the more the better) a week reaps quite a few important benefits:

The nutrition benefits

1. Healthier eating

Regular home cooking allows for the opportunity to discover new and interesting ways to cook and prepare food. It allows for the exploration of spices, herbs and different cuisines. In fact, a recent study highlighted the importance of home cooking when it found that people who frequently cook meals at home eat an overall healthier diet and consume fewer calories than people who do not cook at home (1).

 

2. More mindful eating

Taking the time to sit down and enjoy a home cooked meal with our loved ones allows for more mindful eating. This means taking the time to appreciate where your food came from, how it was cooked, why you are eating it and why your body needs it. When parents take the time to practice more mindful eating it can encourage their children to think more carefully about their food as well. This leads to more positive attitudes toward food and healthier eating habits.  Moreover, research has shown that if you eat your meal sitting around a table rather they in front of a TV or other electronic devices you are more “present” and therefore more connected to your eating experience, the taste, the smell and able to register fullness,  you eat more consciously and you are less likely to overeat.

3. An opportunity for parents to model healthy habits and create positive associations

If your children see you modelling healthy eating behavior, like sitting down and eating a healthy meal, they are more likely to accept that as a norm.  Also, if you are able to build happy memories around healthy meal times, children will grow up with positive associations to healthy food and healthy eating habits.  The more positive associations they have to healthy eating, the more likely they are to eat healthily, because it will be anchored as a positive experience and reinforced through repetition as a family norm.  Habits are easy to make, and harder to break, make sure you are creating good habits that you want to be reinforced.

 

There are more than just nutritional benefits to eating together as a family. There are also psychosocial benefits:

 

1. It builds more connected relationships within the family

Intentionally making the time to eat together creates opportunities to build relationships and develop community within the family. It helps to develop children’s social skills, communication skills and builds a sense of safety and security.

 

2. It helps foster an environment that nurtures your child’s social-emotional development

Frequent family meals (more than two per week) along with a positive eating atmosphere has been shown to decrease and prevent depressive symptoms in children, including antisocial behaviours, violence and extreme dieting (2). To help create a more positive eating environment for your family, ensure that you are eating at a table, with most distractions turned off and maybe even some soft music playing. Ensure that the table has been set and the lighting is not too bright (no harsh lights) or too dim. These factors help to create an atmosphere for strengthening family bonds, for better engagement with food and more positive experiences with healthy food.

 

Frequent family meals are an important way to celebrate being a family, build relationships and foster an environment for positive childhood development. Nourish, nurture and support your family by eating and sharing food with the people you love most!

 

If you are on the lookout for ways to provide healthy meals for your family without the time and struggle of cooking, Healthy Meals To Your Door has a range of nutritious meal plans to suit your family’s needs and budget.  Even though you might not be cooking from scratch you would still be creating a healthy eating experience of great tasting healthy food, that you could eat together as a family around the dinner table.  From there you could progress to cooking together once or twice a week as a family.

www.healthymealstoyourdoor.com.au

 

References:

[1] John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (2014). Study suggests home cooking is main ingredient in healthier diet. Retrieved from www.jhsph.edu

[2] Young-Seok, K., Min-Ji, L., Young-Sung, S., & Dae-Hyun, K. (2013). Relationship between family meals and depressive symptoms in children. Korean J Fam Med, 34(3): 206-212.