Download Better Together BC

Presented by Sydney Massey, MPH, R.D.
B.C. Dairy Foundation
Frequency of family meals in OECD
Percentage of 15 year-olds who say they
eat family meals several times a week:
Mean
79.4%
(25 countries)
Italy
93.8%
(1st out of 25)
Iceland
90.8%
(2nd out of 25)
France
90.4%
(3rd out of 25)
Canada 71.8%
(18th out of 25)
US
(23rd out of 25)
65.7%
UNICEF, Innocenti Report Card 7, 2007.
Are family dinners disappearing?
• Family meals are not
extinct BUT
• 1/4 to 1/3 never or
seldom eat together as
a family
• 14% NEVER eat a
family meal
• Family meals decrease
as children get older
Neumark-Sztainer et al. JADA 2003; 103:317-322.
Woodruff Atkinson SJ. Waterloo ON, 2007.
Benefit #1: Better nutrition
Benefit #1: Better nutrition
• Better food choices
-
increased intake of fruits, vegetables, calcium rich foods
decreased intake of pop, fat
more fiber, calcium, folate, iron, vitamins B6, B12, C and E
• May be associated with less obesity,
overweight
• May be associated with lower rates of
eating disorders
Benefit #2: Better adjustment
Teens who eat with family
•
•
•
•
•
Cigarette smoking
Use or tried cannabis
Serious fights
Sexual activity by age 16
Suicide attempts
5x/week
≤4x/week
25%
12%
< 30%
32%
34%
20%
40%
>50%
twice as many
White House Conference on Teenagers, 2000
Family Day
4th Monday in September
www.casacolumbia.org
“We are relinquishing the social
dimension of eating.”
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
Enrique Jacoby, Pan American Health Organization
Benefit #3:
Better school performance
• 63% of teens who eat family meals 5+ times a
week
- get all A’s or mostly A’s and B’s
• 49% of teens who have less frequent family
meals can report the same
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Sept 2006.
Family-style meals are important
• Family-style meals benefit
older adults in residential
settings
• Congregate meals benefit
older adults living in the
community
Nijs KA et al. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, 2006;
Nijs KA et al. BMJ 2006.
US Dept. of Health and Human Services. National Evaluation of the Elderly
Nutrition Program, 1993-1995.
Family meals are important
• 80% rank eating dinner together with
children as one of the most important
activities they do with children or as
very important
Mellman and Lazarus Inc. Family values survey. Roper Center
at University of Connecticut. Public Opinion Online, 1991.
Family meals are important
• Canadians say mealtime is the
favourite time of day for family
members to interact and talk about
their day
Turcotte M. Statistics Canada catalogue no. 11008, Canadian Social Trends, 2007
Is this a family meal?
What does eating together mean?
• Does everyone have to be eating the
same thing?
• Does the food have to be prepared at
home?
• Does the meal have to be at home?
Obstacles to eating together
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Too busy
Parents’ work schedule
Kids’ sport and activity schedules
Parents’ schedules for meetings, exercise
No time to shop or cook
Don’t know how to cook
Family doesn’t like the same foods
Healthy food takes longer to prepare and can
create hostile reactions
• Shared meals are unpleasant, so avoided
• Eating together is idealized, so unattainable
Research underlying motivations
• in-depth interviews
• follow-up focus groups
© BC Dairy Foundation and Concerto Marketing Group, 2009
Clear directions
• Guilt paralyzes. Focusing on phrases
like ‘eating together’ or ‘family meals’
provokes guilt
• Need to encourage families to ‘recreate’ together in the kitchen.
• Children may be better custodians of
the family meal.
• Take baby steps. Make pizza on Friday
night. Mix together a ‘random salad’.
By helping families re-create
together in the kitchen, we’ll
reconnect food and fun.
Better Together
• www.bettertogetherbc.ca
• Hub for resources, tools stories and
background information
How can you encourage
people to eat together?