{"id":2090,"date":"2012-03-14T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2012-03-14T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=2090"},"modified":"2012-03-14T08:30:13","modified_gmt":"2012-03-14T12:30:13","slug":"huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html","title":{"rendered":"Huge Benefits to Having Family Meals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This week I did an interview for Telemundo Miami<\/em> on the importance of family meals. The benefits from sitting down to meals as a family are so compelling that I hope\u00a0 you think about making this a reality. Family meals have become a lost tradition in our culture. It is too easy to allow busy schedules to dictate our day, but making time for meals is definitely worth the effort. And even if you are a working mom, you can make this happen with my tips.<\/p>\n

Family meals….<\/p>\n

—Decrease teen risk of psychosocial problems– drug use, alcohol use, risky sexual behavior, suicidal intention and early sexual behavior.<\/p>\n

—Allow kids to eat healthier and have better nutrition.<\/p>\n

—Bring a sense of emotional connection among family members.<\/p>\n

—That are no stress zones create a relaxed atmosphere for great conversation and catch up on daily activities.<\/p>\n

—Provide a routine that help kids thrive.<\/p>\n

—Increase the chance of kids getting their fruits and vegetable servings needed for healthy development.<\/p>\n

—Are the single strongest predictor of better academic achievement (University of Michigan study).<\/p>\n

So with all these incredible benefits, how can you make this happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.Pre-plan for meals. This is the key. On the weekend, make up a menu and buy needed ingredients. Plan your daily meals.<\/p>\n

2. Pull out that Crock-Pot that is located somewhere in a cupboard. The night before or early a.m., fill it with tasty ingredients, plug it in and simmer all day and come home to a home cooked meal.<\/p>\n

3. Get on the net and find a number of 30 minute meal preparations. Rachel Ray and others have on-line recipes that are easy to make.<\/p>\n

4. Cook meals on weekends and freeze them. Then you simply thaw the day you need the meal.<\/p>\n

5. Accommodate schedules. When my kids were in ballet, soccer and other activities, I adjusted mealtime each night to fit the schedule. It can be done!<\/p>\n

This one change in your family life can make a huge difference!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more tips on how to raise healthy weight kids, click on the link to my book,\u00a0 Raising Healthy Kids<\/em><\/a>, winner of the Mom’s Choice Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I did an interview for Telemundo Miami on the importance of family meals. The benefits from sitting down to meals as a family are so compelling that I hope\u00a0 you think about making this a reality. Family meals have become a lost tradition in our culture. It is too easy to allow busy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914,918],"tags":[1065,1071,1070,1061,1067,1066,1069,1068,351,1063,447,644,1064,1062],"class_list":["post-2090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","category-relationship-to-food","tag-30-minute-meals","tag-academic-achievement","tag-better-nutrition","tag-busy-moms","tag-cooking-cooking-meals","tag-crock-pot","tag-decrease-risk-of-teen-problems","tag-eat-at-home","tag-eating","tag-eating-together","tag-family-meals","tag-family-relationships","tag-rachel-ray","tag-working-moms"],"yoast_head":"\nHuge Benefits to Having Family Meals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Huge Benefits to Having Family Meals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week I did an interview for Telemundo Miami on the importance of family meals. The benefits from sitting down to meals as a family are so compelling that I hope\u00a0 you think about making this a reality. Family meals have become a lost tradition in our culture. It is too easy to allow busy…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-14T12:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-14T12:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/Raising-Healthy-Kids1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Huge Benefits to Having Family Meals","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Huge Benefits to Having Family Meals","og_description":"This week I did an interview for Telemundo Miami on the importance of family meals. The benefits from sitting down to meals as a family are so compelling that I hope\u00a0 you think about making this a reality. Family meals have become a lost tradition in our culture. It is too easy to allow busy…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2012-03-14T12:00:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-03-14T12:30:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/Raising-Healthy-Kids1.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html","name":"Huge Benefits to Having Family Meals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/Raising-Healthy-Kids1.jpg","datePublished":"2012-03-14T12:00:13+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-14T12:30:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/Raising-Healthy-Kids1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/Raising-Healthy-Kids1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/huge-benefits-to-having-family-meals.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Huge Benefits to Having Family Meals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice & Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2090"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2096,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}