Family Meals Matter

I’ve always been an advocate of families eating meals together. Over the years I have written and been interviewed about the importance of family meals and tips for how families can eat together. Today I have two pieces of exciting news on this topic:

Firstly, I am proud to announce that I am a winner of the Welch’s Reward RD contest! The contest rewarded three dietitians who demonstrate leadership and innovation in family nutrition and are dedicated to family nutrition. I am so honored to have received this award as there are many dietitians who work hard every day to help families eat better and live healthier lifestyles. And the best reward is knowing that more families are meeting at the table to plan, cook, and eat meals together.

That brings me to the second piece of news. A few weeks ago I was thrilled to find out that family meals are happening more frequently than ever before!  The Welch’s Kitchen Table Report, which surveyed about 850 parents, found that 71 percent of respondents say their families eat dinner together as often as or more than their families did when they were children. Believe it or not, 75% of respondents said they eat dinner together four or more times per week and 34% eat together every night! That’s incredible in this day and age when kids are more scheduled than ever and there are more dual income households than before. And dinner isn’t the only family meal eaten together – 79% of those surveyed eat breakfast together, and 72% eat lunch. Here is a great infographic with more statistics from the Kitchen Table Report:

Fellow dietitians who are part of Welch’s Health & Nutrition Advisory Panel put together some great resources to help families find solutions to eating together, including meal plans, tips on making mealtime happen anywhere and how to make the most of mealtime. The Food Marketing Institute also recently launched a campaign, Let’s Put Our Plates Together, in which they too are helping families find ways to eat meals together. So now there are no excuses for not finding time to eat at least one meal per week (if not more) as a family together.

Does your family eat meals together? What’s your favorite family mealtime tip?

This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. As a winner of the Reward RDs contest I will receive $500 to help fund future nutrition education activities, but I was not compensated to write this post.