The Importance of Family Meals

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here's another piece of evidence that even a bad family tends to be better than none at all: eating together improves diet regardless of the family's level of functionality. 

Comments

[technoshaman]

This says at least as much about the availability of decent take-away as it does about any woo-woo shit about sitting down together. I know several people - including at least one mutual friend - for whom at some point shared mealtime was actively *dangerous*. I'll skip the salad and take my Flintstones to avoid getting something thrown at me, thanks.

[witchka]

The researchers found that when families sit down together, adolescents and young adults eat more fruits and veggies and consume fewer fast-food and takeout items.

I wonder if anyone like my mother was in this study. I was lucky if we got mashed potato, tinned peas and devon (like bologna? I think. but less smoked.) on few but lucky occasions I got some minced beef and gravy, too. Often we had chips because she couldn't be bothered to make even potatoes. Somedays, seemingly to spite me, she mashed pumpkin in the mash which was about the only vegetable I wouldn't eat. that and beans (green beans) I hate pumpkin and beans... We didn't really eat any other kind of vege unless it was in a burger or in a stew my nan sent over or something.

There was also a lot of days when it was just devon and sauce or cheese...

By the time I was twelve if I wanted more than noodles I had to cook it myself generally unless mum was in a very good mood.

I know antedotes don't entirely disprove anything ever but still...

[satsuma]

This seems more of an argument for meal planning, which has the bonus of being a much more easily teachable skill than say, “how to diffuse your parents arguments long enough for them to sit at the same table” would be.

I often eat better on days when I’m cooking for a group but thats just because I’m actually thinking about creating a balanced meal, instead of just grabbing things out of the fridge. But when I was living alone, planning my meals before I shopped & cooking in advance for the days I wouldn’t have time to do more than reheat food was just as effective, so