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Current and Breaking News for Professionals, Consumers and Media |
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| Current and Breaking News for Professionals, Consumers and Media |
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Social scientists from UCLA have just completed an exhaustive study of what the typical two-income American family eats for dinner. Instead of relying extensively on take-out foods, families are making dinner at home. They aren’t cooking from scratch, but they are assembling a meal from numerous convenience products. Hamburger extender meals, pre-prepped entrees that only need to be heated and eaten, bagged salads, and frozen vegetables form the bulk of most dinner meals. Using these foods, however, doesn’t save time because Mom is often prepping different items for different family members. Kids, in particular, have turned Mom into a nightly short-order cook. Children frequently get entirely separate meals from the adults in the household. Gone are the days when you ate what Mom cooked. Not only do kids get a different menu but they rarely help with meal preparation. The researchers also observed that Mom still does most of the cooking and rarely uses a cookbook or printed recipe. What do all these observations mean? The American family has much to lose if it gives up family meals. Researchers have shown time and time again that eating together as a family is one of the most important things parents can do to help children develop emotionally and physically. Eating together, at least 3 to 4 times a week, should be a family priority. And, it doesn’t have to be a sit down dinner with cloth napkins and candles. A picnic in the car before a game or practice can be a family meal. Family meals allow you to build family solidarity, unity and identity by sharing values, attitudes, culture and heritage. Kids may groan and seem disinterested but structure and routine are important in a child’s life. So is communication. Use family meals to share your day, ask about theirs, tell jokes, discuss newspaper headlines and sporting events, but don’t fight. Turn off the TV, ipods and computer. Meals together provide parents a daily window to monitor a child’s mood, behavior and whereabouts. Teens that regularly eat with their family experience less substance abuse, have better academic achievement, and increased well-being. Use meals together to model good eating choices and behaviors. Keep the core of the family meal the same. If you’re making pasta, put the sauce on the side so the more finicky can have theirs buttered or sprinkled with grated cheese, but everyone should be eating pasta. Let kids help with cooking. Even little ones can rip up lettuce for a salad. Learning to cook is part of learning to be self-reliant. If you are a novice cook yourself, learn to cook with the kids. Grilled sandwiches plus fresh fruit is fast, healthy, simple and can be varied for individual preferences. Most of us love breakfast food, but few have time for a sit-down meal each morning. Turn the day around and serve breakfast meals for dinner. Simple omelets, french toast, and pancakes are all well liked, easy to make and good for you. Talk about food with the kids. Why are you using nonstick cooking spray instead of butter to fry the eggs? Why do you use lowfat salad dressing? If they won’t eat vegetables, provide a simple, no preparation substitute like a cut up banana, pear slices or applesauce. Some children will eat raw vegetables rather than cooked, so leave out a few carrots before you cook the rest. This teaches the foundation of good selection without making a fuss or taking on extra work. The message is: fruits and vegetables are important and we are all going to eat some at dinner. More than one-third of us decide what to make for dinner at the last minute and half say they serve certain foods because they require little or no planning. Make your life easier by keeping a core of simple ingredients in the house that allows you to easily make a quick meal: frozen vegetables, frozen meatballs, applesauce, jarred tomato sauce, pasta, quick-cooking rice, canned tuna, salmon or chicken, frozen burgers (meat, poultry or veggie), pancake mix, canned beans, eggs and cheese. Fewer and fewer families have a supply of foods in the cupboard or freezer that they can rely on when needed because fewer shop with a grocery list that reminds them to restock. Let the whole family get involved in planning the dinners for a week. It makes good dinner conversation, allows everyone to opt for a favorite, and encourages cooperation and participation. Have dinner together tonight. © NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc. Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales in excess of 5 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller. Current titles include: The Diabetes Carbohydrate and Calorie Counter, 3rd Ed., 2007 The Calorie Counter, 4th Ed., 2007 The Most Compete Food Counter, 2nd Ed., 2006 -- trade paperback The Complete Food Counter, 2nd Ed., 2006 Coming in 2008; The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed. The Healthy Wholefoods Counter For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to www.TheNutritionExperts.com. www.HealthNewsDigest.com Top of Page 
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