FAMILY MEALS: FEEDING BODY AND SOUL

1. FAMILY MEALS:FEEDING BODY AND SOUL

2. What do you think? Family Meals can… • Improve family eating habits • Develop family traditions • Strengthen family traditions • Develop cooking skills • Prevent children from taking drugs • Prevent children from starting to smoke

3. Objectives: Participants will: • Understand the benefits of eating together as identified in current research. • Plan to use family mealtimes as a way to strengthen the family. • Understand the components of planning and be able to plan a nutritious meal • Be able to identify strategies to incorporate family meals into busy lifestyles.

4. Are families eating together? • Studies show 40-43% of families eat most meals together. • Most families place a high importance on family meals.

5. Barriers to family meals

6. What does research tell us about the benefits of family meals?

7. Improving family eating habits • More fruits, vegetables and grains • Less fried foods • Less soda • Less saturated fats • Less trans fats • More fiber and calcium • More macronutrients

8. Developing cooking skills • Greater confidence in meal preparation • More cooking skills • Healthier food choices

9. Promoting Social skills and family belonging • Parents teach table manners and social skills • Family values • Sense of community • Family rituals • Family traditions • Parents as role models

10. Staying connected Family meals allow parents to stay involved with their children’s lives, friends and activities.

11. Avoiding substance abuse Children who ate with adult family members at least 5 times a week are less likely to use drugs than adolescents who ate with parents only 3 times a week. The more often a teen eats dinner with his or her family, the less likely that teen is to: • Smoke • Drink • Use illegal drugs

12. FAMILY MEALS:FEEDING THE SOUL

13. “The dinner table is not only a place of sustenance and family business, but also a place for the teaching and passing on of our values.” -Dr. Kevin Ryan Center of Advancement of Ethics and Character

14. Strong families have routines • rou·tinen. 1. A prescribed and detailed course of action to be followed regularly; standard procedure. 2. A set of customary and often mechanically performed procedures or activities. (The American Heritage Dictionary)

15. Enriching family life • Relating: communicating, caring, problem solving, time alone and together balance • Changing: adapting to stages, crisis or events

16. More on Enriching… • Healing: acts of forgiveness and recovery from loss • Believing: affirming family values, faith, life experiences • Celebrating: special events, holidays, accomplishments

17. Feeding the soul • Reconnect after a busy day • Carry on a conversation and expand vocabulary • Provide feelings of safety and security • Share in chores and responsibilities • Teach thankfulness • Teach manners and social graces • Improve eating habits

18. FAMILY MEALS:FEEDING THE BODY http://www. MyPyramid.gov

19. Starting with the basics… Web site: www.MyPyramid.gov

20. Building-a-breakfast Pyramid • Peanut butter • Low-fat yogurt parfait with granola and fruit • Whole grain bread

21. Building-a-lunch… • Reduced fat ranch dressing • Turkey • Glass of low-fat milk • Low-fat cheese • Side of fruit • Tomatoes, lettuce, tortilla wrap

22. Building-a-dinner…

23. Eating out? You can still build a healthy meal when eating out…by choosing carefully. It is easy to overeat and occasionally one can choose less healthy foods.

24. Incorporating snacks Healthy snacking is important to plan too! Purchase healthy foods to snack on and have them ready to eat.

25. Portion distortion Just because we are eating healthy, doesn’t mean we can eat all we want. Portions add up! Did you know that restaurant portions are often 2 or 3 times the recommended serving!

26. Portion recommendations: 1 tablespoon 3 ounces 8 ounces 1/2 cup 1 cup -West Virginia Universtiy, “Dining with Diabetes”

27. Making home recipes healthier • Reduce sugar by 1/3rd • Reduce fats by 1/3rd • Change solid fats to oils whenever possible • Use whole grain flours or substitute part whole grain flour for regular flour • Make substitutions when possible

28. STRONG BODY AND SOULYOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN~

29. Parents as role models • Meal time practices • A “do as I say” parenting style is not as effective as a “do as I do” style.

30. More about parents as role models Meal Time Practices • Quantities of food • Types of food • Milk • Fruits and vegetables • Snacks • Social skills • Food preparation skills • Manners

31. Your personal picnic basket promise Make family mealtimes a priority

32. Strategies • Set habits when children are young. • Get rid of distractions. • Television • Computer • Telephone • Newspapers, magazines, mail

33. Strategies • Encourage pleasant mealtime conversations. • Conversation jar or cards • Placemats • Involve family members in meal planning, preparation and cleanup.

34. Eating together • At least five meals a week May be any meal • Eating away from home • Relative’s or friend’s home • Restaurant • Car • Picnic at sports practice or event

35. You can make it happen! FAMILY MEALS:FEEDING BODY AND SOUL

36. Credits • Pat Brinkman, Extension Educator, Fayette County • Shari Gallup, Extension Educator, Licking County • Linnette Goard, Extension Educator, Lorain County • Melinda Hill, Extension Educator, Wayne County • Cindy Oliveri, Extension Educator, Regional Office • Cheryle Jones Syracuse, Extension Educator, Ashtabula County OSU Extension embraces human diversity and is committed to ensuring that all educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, age, gender identity or expression, disability, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, or veteran status. Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Agricultural Administration and Director, OSU Extension TDD No.800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868.