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Nutrition for the whole family is a topic often discussed with most of my clients.  I often encourage my clients to take advantage and use the family dinner hour as not only the opportunity to nourish your family but to use it as a time to teach healthy eating habits while improving your children’s cognitive ability with good nutrition.  Dining together provides that much needed time to connect with each other and catch up on the week.  Lastly, it provides time to prepare dinner together.  Giving younger children little tasks like picking which vegetable they would like to enjoy and retrieving it from the fridge are some of the little tasks that begin to instill these good habits.  Thinking of dinner with those objectives in mind will also help guide you as you prepare meals for the week ahead.

Do family dinners have any scientific benefits?
 Over the past 15 years researchers have confirmed what parents have known for a long time: sharing a family meal is good for the spirit, the brain and the health of all family members. Recent studies link regular family dinners with many behaviors that parents pray for: lower rates of substance abuse, higher grade-point averages and self-esteem as well as teenage anxiety and depression Studies also indicate that dinner conversation is a more potent vocabulary-booster than reading, and the stories told around the kitchen table help our children build resilience. The icing on the cake is that regular family meals also lower the rates of obesity and eating disorders in children and adolescents. What else can families do that takes only about an hour a day and packs such a punch?

Attached is an article that I wrote for one of our South Florida Publications.  The article will help you find ways to pack in that extra good nutrition as well as arm you with life long strategies that will set you and your family up for success.

Enjoy and best in health,

Meryl

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