I grew up in the 50′s and sitting around the dinner table for breakfast and dinner with all of the family was just what we did. So, of course when I had my own family, (which by the way began shortly after I turned 19!) that is what my family did as well. I loved all the family chats and everyone’s daily  adventures  spilling out as we shared our food.

Most of my own children, now grown, are sharing this tradition as well with their own families.  I just came upon a book recently that really addresses this important family time by Laurie David called, The Family Dinner:  Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time. I loved her approach to bringing the family together for this one meaningful event each day.

Raising families in these times can be very challenging with the issues of too much technology, worrisome things such as drugs to alcohol, promiscuity, obesity, and even how well the children are doing academically  Laurie approaches all of these dilemmas with the simple approach of eating and talking together around the table.  It truly is a way of connecting.

Another way of  helping families connect is by actually growing a garden as a family project.  Just as sitting around the dinner table each night can be memorable, planting seeds and actually growing a garden filled with colorful vegetables and flowers can be a very enjoyable family time.  Jamie Oliver, a British chef and author of Jamie’s Food Revolution, believes that by counterbalancing the pull of fast-food chicken nuggets and sugary drinks, children who learn to nurture a seed from sprout to maturity will build a well rounded relationship to food.

I loved this video by Laura David describing the 5 rules for dinnertime. I hope you take the time to watch it.  She has some pretty powerful suggestions for making that evening meal a wonderful event.

My daughter just recently remarked to me that our teen grandson no longer wanted to eat in the school cafeteria.  Curious, she asked him why.  His answer revealed what is being said throughout the country regarding children and school food.  “It’s making me fat, Mom!”  His decision is not about the food but the calories.  In fact he enjoys the food.

When she told me this, it brought me back to my days as a cafeteria manager, serving chicken nuggets, hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries and horrible canned vegetables that the children always threw away. I knew these foods were high in calories (the average cafeteria meal is said to be 800 calories and 1479 milligrams sodium!)    I would have loved to change the menu but most of the food came to us in USDA  boxes quickly stored away in freezers.  We simply heated them up.  This food leads to the same villains that afflict American adults:  too much fat, cholesterol, sugar, and salt.

Watching Jamie Oliver’s show, The Food Revolution,  a show about making changes in our nation’s school cafeterias, made me realize how, as parents and grandparents, we all need to do our part to make a difference.     It all begins with each family committing to helping our children make healthier choices and recognizing the connection between childhood diet and disease.  Kid’s food habits usually are in place by kindergarten, so education about better food choices definitely begin in the home.  David Levitsky, a Cornell University nutritionist, found that children who had learned about relatively unusal and healthy foods such as bulgur, couscous, greens, etc. ate between two and nine times more than their classmates when offered such food choices in school.

The picture on this post could be me as a child. As I stated in my first post I was very overweight as a child.  And I did not get this way by watching too much TV (we did not even get a TV until I was in the 5th grade!)  or going to McDonalds too many times.  I do not remember any fast food restaurants as a child.  (The first McDonalds opened in 1950).   My parents, both raised during the Depression, insisted on heaping our plates with food, good homemade food, but too much food.  They did not want to deprive us as they were deprived.  As a result, I simply became overweight from overeating.  Exercise literally saved me from becoming an obese teen.

Michelle Obama, featured on the cover of Newsweek this week, has begun a program called Let’s Move. a nationwide campaign with a single goal:  to help children born today reach adulthood at a healthy weight.  Focusing on things that families can do such as providing more nutritious, fresh food, and finding new ways to help  kids be more physically active is part of the campaign.   I am encouraged by so much media about this subject.   I would love to hear what your  family is doing to promote healthy living.