The Importance of the Family Meal

You’ve probably heard about the importance of the family meal since you were a kid. And, yes, IT IS important for many reasons — some of which might surprise you!

With the busy schedule life often brings, it can be difficult to sit down together as a family.

However, doing so is more important for your overall health and emotional wellness than you may think.

Looking for ways to end mealtime battles, deal with picky eaters, model healthy habits, set expectations, plan menus, and make family meals a priority?

Eating together as a family offers numerous social, health, and emotional benefits for you and your loved ones.

Eating family meals allows you to spend quality time together during the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Furthermore, scheduling regular meals at specific times is the best way to avoid hunger and overeating because of skipped meals.

Cooking meals at home is ideal for managing a healthy weight, as studies show dining out at fast food or sit-down restaurants increases your risk of obesity.

Therefore, properly planning healthy family meals is a must!

Let’s learn more about the importance of the family meal … and how to do it right!

Avoid fast-food weekends with these Sunday breakfast ideas!

The Importance of the Family Meal and How to Make it Happen

To make family meal time a success, consider the following tips and tricks!

End Mealtime Battles

If your kids battle you at mealtime, set expectations for healthy eating.

Develop a few simple family mealtime rules, which might include:

• Try at least one bite of each nutritious food on your plate
• Eat vegetables during lunch and dinner
• Drink water, milk, or 100% juice with meals
• Eat a protein-rich food at each meal
• Clear your dishes after meals
• Offer to help clean the dishes
• No phone, tablet, or TV during meal time

Having a few simple rules at home is the best way to encourage healthy habits for yourself, your spouse, and your kids!

Deal with Picky Eaters

Many kids go though a phase where they are picky about the foods they eat.

While this is normal and not necessarily cause for concern, it’s important for children to consume the nutrients needed to grow and develop at a healthy pace.

To get a handle on picky eating, consider the following strategies:

Give Kids Healthy Food Options

Everyone, especially kids, has food preferences, which is why it’s important to give kids options during family meals.

When giving your kids choices, let them choose between different healthy foods.

For example, have your kids choose their favorite foods from each of the different food groups.

Allow them to pick their favorite vegetables, fruits, whole grains, protein foods, dairy foods (or plant-based equivalents), and healthy fats.

Even the pickiest eaters appreciate having a say in which healthy foods and snacks they consume.

Try Hidden Fruit and Veggie Recipes

If you have a child who doesn’t like fruits or vegetables, consider hidden veggie recipes.

Mix hidden vegetables in with pasta, rice dishes, quinoa, casseroles, soups, sandwiches, wraps, scrambled eggs, or other favorite recipes.

Try zucchini noodles in place of traditional pasta, cauliflower-crusted pizza, cauliflower “rice,” or veggie burgers.

Offer your picky eater vegetable juice, which they may prefer over fresh or cooked veggies.

Blend fruits and veggies to mask them as needed for picky eaters.

Add fruits or powdered veggies to protein shakes, breakfast smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, muffins, waffles, pancakes, cereals, and more!

Mix in Protein or Milk Powder

If you have kids who don’t like protein foods, or who are underweight, consider mixing dry milk powder or protein powder in with some of their favorite foods and drinks!

You can mix protein powder or milk powder with oatmeal, protein shakes, yogurt, casseroles, or even soups to help your picky eater consume extra protein and calories.

Season Healthy Foods

Make nutritious foods more palatable for picky eaters by using flavorful seasonings.

Flavor foods with you and your kids’ favorite herbs, spices, salt, pepper, oil-based tub butter, onions, or fresh garlic!

Model Healthy Habits

Modeling healthy habits is one of the best things you can do to set a good example for your kids.

Consume the same nutritious foods you offer your children and eat at regular meal times.

Keep healthy foods in the house, throw away junk foods, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and drink a lot of water.

Limit your intake of diet soda, regular soda, sweet tea, other sugary drinks, sweets, fried foods, processed meats (regular bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, deli meats, etc.) and many types of fast foods.

Choose whole grains over refined grains cook at home for family meals as often as you can, rather than dining out.

Examples of foods to choose and those to avoid when possible include:

• Whole-grain bread instead of white bread
• Brown rice or quinoa instead of white rice
• Oatmeal or whole-grain cereal instead of sugary cereal
• Whole-grain pasta or zucchini noodles instead of regular pasta
• Water, coffee, tea, milk, or 100% fruit juice instead of soda and diet soda
• Fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned fruits and veggies
• Unbreaded chicken, turkey, fish, shrimp, or other seafood instead of fried foods and processed meats
• Very lean, organic red meat instead of fatty cuts of meat
• Fresh or frozen organic meat instead of ham, hot dogs, brats, deli meats, sausage, regular bacon, and other processed meats
• Canned light tuna or baked fish instead of deli meats and fried fish
• Turkey burgers or veggie burgers instead of regular hamburgers
• Uncured turkey bacon instead of regular bacon
• Oil-based dressings instead of white gravies and sauces
• Broth-based soups instead of cream-based soups
• Fresh fruit instead of sweet treats

Making simple changes to your meal plan is the best way to make family meals nutritious for you and your loved ones!

Plan Healthy Menus for Family Meals

Make mealtime a priority for you and your family by planning out meals and snacks ahead of time each week.

Keep your refrigerator stocked with all of your favorite foods.

Write down your menus each week. A sample 1-week menu might include something similar to this:

Day 1

• Breakfast: veggie omelets, oatmeal, milk, and coffee or tea
• Snack: fruit and Greek yogurt
• Lunch: tuna salad over leafy greens or whole-grain bread, plus sliced tomatoes and avocados
• Snack: fresh veggies dipped in hummus
• Dinner: stir fry with veggies, brown rice, and lean steak, chicken, shrimp, tofu, or seitan
• Snack: fruit and cottage cheese

Day 2

• Breakfast: protein smoothie made with protein powder, almond milk, nut butter, and oatmeal
• Snack: fruit and nuts or seeds
• Lunch: ground turkey (or shredded chicken), tomato, and bean chili with cheese
• Snack: high-protein (low-sugar) chocolate milk or Greek yogurt
• Dinner: Salmon, quinoa, and veggies cooked in olive oil
• Snack: plain kefir with fruit

Day 3

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs, uncured turkey bacon, roasted sweet potatoes, and vegetable juice
• Snack: low-sugar protein bar with plant milk
• Lunch: veggie salad topped with grilled chicken, hard-boiled eggs, avocados, and oil-based dressing plus whole-grain bread sticks or croutons
• Snack: sliced bananas topped with peanut butter
• Dinner: baked turkey, asparagus, and corn on the cob or brown rice
• Snack: fruit smoothie made with protein-enriched plant milk

Day 4

• Breakfast: whole-grain cereal topped with fruit, nuts, and protein-fortified milk
• Snack: cottage cheese topped with nuts or seeds
• Lunch: healthy egg salad on whole-grain bread (or leafy greens) topped with sliced veggies
• Snack: fresh fruit and Greek yogurt
• Dinner: tacos made with very lean ground turkey, diced tomatoes, and cheese or sliced avocados over whole-grain tortillas or leafy greens
• Snack: low-sugar protein bars

Day 5

• Breakfast: oatmeal mixed with high-protein milk, fruit, and nuts
• Snack: edamame or roasted chick peas
• Lunch: broth-based soup made with veggies, chicken, and wild rice
• Snack: tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese topped with basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar
• Dinner: very lean turkey burgers or veggie burgers on whole-grain buns or leafy greens, topped with avocados and sliced veggies
• Snack: Nuts or seeds with protein-fortified plant milk

Day 6

• Breakfast: uncured turkey bacon or meatless breakfast sausage, fruit, and Greek yogurt
• Snack: walnuts mixed with low-sugar granola or whole-grain cereal
• Lunch: grilled chicken (or tofu) with sliced veggies and cheese or avocados, wrapped in whole-grain tortillas or lettuce wraps
• Snack: apple slices dipped in almond butter
• Dinner: very lean pulled pork on whole-grain buns with green beans
• Snack: protein shake made with protein powder, ice, and plant milk

Day 7

• Breakfast: healthy muffins with scrambled eggs and vegetable juice
• Snack: cottage cheese with raisins
• Lunch: peanut butter and sliced banana sandwich on whole-grain bread plus sliced veggies
• Snack: whole-food protein bars made with fruit
• Dinner: very lean ground turkey and quinoa bowl with veggies
• Snack: plain kefir and cashews

Set Regular Mealtimes

Sticking with regular mealtimes can maximize your and your family’s overall health and wellness.

Eating every few hours keeps your metabolism high, helps prevent hunger, reduces your risk of overeating, and keeps energy levels high.

Consider eating breakfast within a few hours after waking up each morning.

Have a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner.

Eat a snack at night before bed if you and your family feel hungry.

Avoid going more than 4 hours without eating, especially if you have young kids.

Aim to eat a small meal or snack every few hours to feel your best and reduce the risk of nutritional deficiencies.

Say No to Electronics during Family Meals

Family mealtime isn’t the time for family members to look at their screens (phones, tablets, televisions, computers, etc.) for many reasons.

Screen time while eating makes you more likely to miss your body’s satiety cues and overeat.

Furthermore, mealtime is an excellent time for you, your spouse, and your kids to have meaningful conversations and enjoy each other’s company.

It’s an ideal time to learn table manners, have social interaction, and connect with family members and friends.

Make a Bedtime Routine

Set a regular bedtime routine for you and your kids to ensure you don’t go to bed hungry or too full.

Doing so helps you get a better night’s sleep. Have a bedtime snack if you or your kids feel hungry.

This might be as simple as drinking milk or having a light snack, such as yogurt, fruit, a whole-food protein bar, or a protein smoothie.

Take a warm shower or bath before bed, take vitamins or other dietary supplements, and drink water right before you go to sleep.

Brush and floss your teeth, read a book before bed if you’d like, and sleep in a cool, dark room.

Avoid looking at blue light right before bed.

Head to bed at the same time each night and allow yourself at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

For kids, use a sleep recommendation chart to determine how much sleep they need each night.

Plan your meals based on your bedtime routine and the time you and your family wake up.

Consider Meal Prepping with Family

Meal prepping is beneficial for many reasons, and you can make it a part of your weekly routine with loved ones.

Recruit your spouse and kids to help you prepare nutritious meals on the weekends or whenever you have extra time.

Allow cooked foods to cool, and place them in airtight containers in the refrigerator or freezer.

Store prepped meals in the refrigerator for up to four days or in the freezer for 1-6 months, depending on the type of food you’re storing.

When you’re ready to eat prepped meals, simply reheat them during the week when you’re on the go or tight on time, and enjoy family meals together with the ones you love!

*Please know that weight loss results and health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on the importance of the family meal.