Thanksgiving brings many thoughts to mind. Turkey,
pumpkin pie, and eating together as a family would certainly be my top three. Instead
of talking about how to trim calories, and ‘holiday what not to eat’ (as many
articles will feature on Thanksgiving I’m sure), I want to focus on one simple thing
we need and can do more of. Take the time to sit down and eat together with
family and friends. Family meals are deep rooted in our culture, but with lives
getting busier and the days feeling like minutes, it’s something that has made
its way far from our dinner plates. So why is eating together so important you
ask? Eating with others has been shown to have huge benefits in terms of
nutrition for all involved.
It
used to be that families sat down at mealtimes, talked about their day and ate
without the distraction of TV or the internet. Today that picture paints a
different story. About 43% of families eat together every day, 60% of us
sometimes or always have the TV on, and another 15% of us are sometimes or
always guilty of emailing, texting or using our phones during supper time. With
the expanding waistlines of childhood obesity there has been a fair amount of research
targeted on family and social influences and how these might make a difference
on the eating patterns of kids. Put it this way, families who eat together eat better, nuff said. Kids
who sit down to eat dinner together with family on average eat more vegetables
and fruits, and consume more fibre, calcium, folate, iron, and vitamins B6,
B12, C and E. They also eat less fried foods, sweets, salty snacks, soft drinks,
and less of the so-called ‘bad’ saturated and trans fats.
Adolescents having frequent and shared meals promotes greater
intakes of fruit among males and females, and vegetables and milk products among
females as well. If you consider average intakes of some of those
healthful nutrients mentioned above, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we can
certainly do better in increasing our intakes in the nutrition department. According
to 2012 data from Stats Canada, 29% of us consume fruits and veggies five times
a day or more. Earlier data also tells us that as a province our fiber intakes
are about half of what they should be and calcium intakes are also under par. All
in all, a lot of these nutrients we tend to be lacking in collectively as a
province have been shown to have greater intakes when people eat together.
The chances of kids developing an eating disorder, being
overweight or obese are also reduced when kids eat together with others. So take
a moment and ask yourself how often you eat fruits and veggies a day? How often
do you sit down with others to enjoy food?
There
are other big benefits aside from nutrition and healthy weights, when people
practice eating together. According to
studies from Columbia University, children who eat five times a week or more
with family in comparison to peers eating meals alone or outside the home, are
at a lower risk for developing poor eating habits, alcohol and substance
dependencies, and performing better in school.
As
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we are deep rooted in tradition. During this
Thanksgiving weekend spend time together with your family, eat good nutritious
food, and give thanks. Give thanks that your family is happy and healthy and
let this be
the time your family decides to bring back the tradition on eating together and
making mealtime a nightly family affair.
As seen in The Telegram October 3, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment