October National Eat Better
En octobre, c'est le mois national Eat Better, Eat Together. Il est bien connu que lorsque les familles partagent un repas, il est très probable qu'elles consomment des repas sains. De plus, les enfants qui consomment des repas avec leurs familles à un âge approprié ont tendance à adopter une alimentation plus saine en limitant leur consommation de junk food et en consommant davantage de fruits, de végétaux et de grains complets. Family meals, however, go beyond basic health and nutrition. Family meals are also a time when the parents and children also get a chance to interact with each other.
Research shows that when adults and children and teenagers eat in one setting, the children perform better in their academic work and also have reduced rate of behavioral issues, and communication among them is also enhanced. How long have you gone without eating with your family? If you cannot recall, then should we say that having a meal with the family very often is a very good idea to implement in the month of October? The following tips will help you get family meals into your home.
Tips on How to Make Family Meals Happen:
Plan Family Mealtimes. In order to increase the number of family meals enjoyed together, look to the calendar and find a suitable place within it where everyone will be present. Determine what challenges are preventing family meals and see if there are alternatives to overcome them. Even if it is just once a week, building family meals into the weekly routine, is an excellent starting point as you can build towards 2 to 3 meals in a week. Keep in mind also that breakfast and lunch are meals as well; there are no stipulations that family meals have to in the evening only.
Cook for Later. Always remember to prepare a grocery list and, where possible, go to the grocery store to have foodstuff to prepare meals. For the upcoming week, for instance, try weekend meal prep activities to ease the process during the weekdays.
On a relatively busier day, you can aim to prepare twice the food, keeping one in the freezer for those days when the time constraint is extreme. Do not forget that having lunch or dinner at home can be simple, easy and not time-consuming.
Make Everyone Participate at Family Mealtime. Family mealtimes can be enjoyable and encourage children’s participation. This season of National Eat Better, Eat Together Month is an opportunity to let children take part in the activities surrounding mealtime. Smaller kids may not be able to help much but some of the things they can do is put plates or drinks on the table or fold the cloth napkins.
Big kids can get the ingredients out, get the vegetables and fruits ready, as well as combine and rotate them in bowls. In some cases, you can assign the cooking duties to your teenagers and take the role of an assisting parent in the kitchen.
When it comes to meal times, it is important to enjoy that time together as family while at the table. I hope that everyone will grateful to one another while seated at the table. Inquire from the children on how their day has been, while also sharing yours. Allow everyone to have a say.
Another thing to talk about will be upcoming family meals and which dishes will be best suited for those. If you cant evne recall the last time you as a family had a meal together, this October, set out time to make sure everyone sits together as a family for meals and that meals are healthy.