“…up to 15 percent of youth in the United States suffer from depression and approximately 80 percent of 10-year-old girls have been on a diet…”
The statistics above from this article sadden and alarm me greatly. As the mother of three, seeing children healthy and happy is one of the deepest desires of my heart. I was blessed to be able to be a stay-at-home mom when my children were small, so I was able to oversee their food choices during their most formative, early years. I guess it won’t surprise you that they did not drink soda except at birthday parties and they learned to love fruits and veggies very early on. We ate as a family as often as possible depending on my husband’s work schedule as we had a restaurant for several years and he worked some pretty crazy hours. Now that they are all 20-somethings, they are still very healthy eaters.
This article talks about the importance of not only eating together with family, but also of eating truly healthy foods and the impact it has been found to have on mental health and mood. That doesn’t surprise me. If you know your car only runs well on high octane fuel and your pet needs a specific type of food, how much less do these Intelligently-created bodies of our need real food to nourish them?
I shared 3 tips for improving children’s nutrition in last week’s blog post. It is not as difficult as you might think and as you can see, the benefits are far-reaching. Providing healthy, real food and having family dinners is a powerful combination.
If you have children, how often do you have family dinners?
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3-D Vitality 
Good stuff, Ann. When my kids were growing up we always had a nice table set for meals and we all ate together. It was a time to share the day’s events with each other, to laugh and to bond. And, yes, I did a lot of healthy meals for them. I baked everything from scratch, even our bread and canned and froze applesauce, veggies and fruits. I loved it. And so did they. One of their fond remembrances is coming home from school and smelling home-made bread or cookies in the oven. I tried to time it so they had that smell hit them when they came in the door. Ah, seems like a long time ago. Sweet memories.
Beautiful Joanne! I did very much the same thing and I am not sure who got more enjoyment from it – them or me! Those are wonderful memories and it’s such a blessing we both have them.
My daughter and I eat many meals together, especially breakfast and supper. My wife has a hard time sitting at the kitchen table with her back issues, but she makes an effort a lot.
That’s wonderful Michael. As I mentioned, often my husband wasn’t home or was home too late to eat with us – it still counts!!
Ann, it seems like a no-brainer to care as much for your personal health as you do for your car or pet, but maybe because there is not always an immediate result we think our choices don’t matter. I still love it when our adult children join us for a family meal. It enriches the soul as well as the body.
I think you’re absolutely right about that – it is a no-brainer and yes, I think most people feel if a choice doesn’t negatively impact them immediately – it’s ok! I also agree – I still love and enjoy having my kids here for a family meal whenever they can – it definitely enriches the soul!
I didn’t know you guys had a restaurant. That’s a lot of work. Mom always made breakfast before we went to school even though she worked outside the home. She also made dinner which we ate at the table together. We had a garden and had fresh veggies regularly. We didn’t eat a lot of meat.
Have a Victorious Day! Marianne
Sent via phone so please excuse typos and brevity.
Isn’t it amazing to look back at what our mothers and grandmothers were able to do despite all the work they had to do? You mom sounds like an amazing woman.
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That is a beautiful memory and a great way to build a strong, healthy family.