Today is Child Health Day across America. We know it’s a priority of every parent to create a safe and healthy environment for their children to live, learn, and play in. That’s because an environment rich with love and support helps nurture happy memories and creates opportunities for our children to grow! Family dinners are a great place to start for a number of reasons:
• Adolescents who eat dinner with their family are 15% less likely to become obese.
• Family meals positively influence family communication and school performance.
• The more often teens have dinner with their families, the less likely they are to get depressed, develop eating disorders, smoke, drink, or use drugs.
• Family dinners help children learn to love their veggies, get comfortable trying new foods, and develop healthy eating patterns for life.
The Blue Zones Project has some easy tips to help you promote healthy habits at mealtime!
• Pre-plate your meals: Remove the temptation to take more than you’re hungry for. Research has shown that when people pre-plate their food before sitting down at the table, they consume about 14% less than when they take multiple, smaller servings as seen in family style dining.
• Use a tall, skinny glass: We visually measure our drinks by the height, not the width, of the glass. It’s far better to drink out of a narrow glass because we THINK we are drinking more than we are. Switching from the “Big Slurp” size glasses to more normal sizes will help you consume less.
• Eat from a smaller plate: Eating on 10-inch plates promotes eating smaller portions. Over the last 20 years, the average U.S. dinner plate has grown to over 12 inches. During the same time frame, we are eating 22% more calories. The easiest, mindless way to eat less is to eat from smaller plates.
• Say “Hara hachi bu”: This is the 2500 year-old Confucian mantra said before meals that reminds Okinawans to stop eating when their stomach is 80% full. This 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight and gaining it.
• Give your diet a plant slant: People in the Blue Zones® areas eat a rich array of fresh fruits and vegetables, which are packed with disease fighting nutrients.
Download this placemat to serve as a reminder of ways you can help your children develop healthy habits that will stick with them for a lifetime.
