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Find Time to Eat Together |
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Written by Elizabeth Marcotte
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Sunday, 09 December 2007 |
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Eating together is more important than ever, recent studies show. A report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University recently found that teens who eat dinner with their family frequently (five or more per week) are less likely to smoke, drink, abuse prescription drugs or use illegal drugs than those who don’t.
The report, The Importance of Family Dinners IV, found that that teens who have fewer than three dinners per week with their families are more than twice as likely to do poorly in school. What’s more, the report found 84% of teens said they’d prefer to have dinner with their families than alone. With after school activities, business events, and errands to run, however, eating together is more challenging than ever. Certainly fast food will save time but is it the healthiest option? For years, researchers have said that American’s huge increase in fast-food consumption has played a big role in the national obesity epidemic. After all, fast food meals tend to be higher in calories and fat than meals cooked at home. Fortunately, the meal assembly industry has come into the forefront for parents looking to increase family dinners in their households with over 1,000 outlets throughout the U.S and around the world – and a handful right here in Loudoun County. Customers can typically get 4, 8, or 12 family-sized, homemade meals at an affordable price that can be taken home and frozen. Meals that are low calorie, low fat, heart healthy and made with fresh ingredients don’t require hours spent grocery shopping or in the kitchen. With all the time saved, thousands of families in Loudoun County are now finding the time to sit down together.
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