Resetting the American Table

Research highlights the health benefits of making family fare a daily eventnnAn eat-alone dining scene plays out daily for millions of people across the country: Children reach for a piece of pre-packaged pizza, then eat it at the computer; single working women heat up their frozen meal in the microwave, then dine solo while watching TV; or traveling salesmen are driven to dashboard dining in their cars while en route to yet another meeting.nn Eating alone is a way of life with which many of us are all too familiar. It is so common, in fact, that the French coined the term “vagabond eating” (manager n’porte de quand) to describe our often isolated, mindless munching. Americans are paying a big price for their secluded eating, for what San Francisco Chronicle food columnist and cookbook author Marion Cunningham describes as “a motel life,” meaning going in, going out, then grabbing something to eat alone. “When you eat this way, you don’t create deep connections,” says Cunningham, “and you miss the opportunity to get to know about the people you’re living with when you don’t sit around the table and share yourself around food.”nn Back in the 1970s, aware of the trend of the disappearing family meal in America, the American Institute of Wine and Food created a group called “Resetting the American Table.” Its mission: to alert parents to start cooking for their families. As an early member of this group, Cunningham, now an eighty-one year old national treasure, feels strongly about the need for what she calls “social nourishment.”nn “We’re fed more than food when we eat with others,” she says. “Instead of taking a solitary trip through life, when you dine with family you learn to share and care for others, as well as social skills, tradition and ritual. Talk begins to flow, feelings are expressed, and a sense of well-being takes over.” Such is the nourishment that beckons when we reset the American table.nn What We Pay for Eating Alone The disappearing family dinner brings more than disconnection: it encourages obesity. My own research (published in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing) shows that the more often people dine alone, the higher their Body Mass Index (BMI), the measure for weight levels. Conversely, normal weight people typically eat with others; indeed, they are also more likely to eat wholesome fresh food and less fast, processed and prepared food.nn These findings are in line with a study by Harvard researchers published in Archives of Family Medicine. When they looked at the eating habits of more than 16,000 boys and girls aged 9 to 14, those who ate dinner with their families all or most days were more likely to consume more fruits and vegetables and less soda, artery-clogging fried and high-fat food, and sugar-laden food. Not surprisingly, the study also revealed that while 43 percent ate dinner with their families daily, the older the child, the less often s/he was likely to share family fare.nn The Social Solution Richard Strauss, M.D. director of the Childhood Weight Control Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, agrees that not getting together at dinnertime is contributing greatly to our epidemic of childhood obesity. Indeed, with one in five American kids being overweight and still more suffering from obesity, the growing girth of adolescents has become an urgent national health problem. Sure, limited physical activity plays a part. So does consuming high-fat, large portions of food and excessively sweet sodas. Merge inactivity with mostly high calorie meals eaten outside the home and you have a recipe for a way of life that contributes to obesity and ensuing medical complications of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and orthopedic problems; a lifetime of low self-esteem is also often part of the obesity package.nn Dr. Strauss believes that the solution lies in the problem. His antidote: Get together regularly as a family for meals filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains (such as brown rice, oatmeal, and so on) and legumes and increase physical activity together. Without making healthful eating and activity a family affair, the obesity epidemic will continue.nn To interpret this to mean that only family fare counts is to miss the point. For those who live in the 26 million-plus single households in America, there are lots of other ways to reap the rewards of social nourishment. For instance, consider joining the Singles Supper Club or Vegetarian Singles. Or, in the spirit of the Jewish Sabbath or taking the Eucharist in communion with others, invite friends over for a Friday night potluck or an after-church Sunday brunch. Whatever your preference, you’ll release the healing “nutrients” of dining with others and turn meals into balm for body, heart, and soul. Copyright © 2009 by Deborah Kesten.nn Deborah Kesten, MPH, an international lifestyle and health researcher and Certified Health and Wellness Coach, was the nutritionist on Dean Ornish, MD’s first clinical trial for reversing heart disease through lifestyle changes—without drugs or surgery, and Director of Nutrition on similar research in Europe. She also is the award-winning author of The Enlightened Diet, Feeding the Body, Nourishing the Soul, and The Healing Secrets of Food. Call her at 415.810.7874 or visit her at www.Enlightened-Diet.com to take her FREE What’s Your Eating Style? Quiz, and to learn more about her Whole Person Nutrition Program for wellness, weight loss, coaching, and books.