Contents:
- Medical Video: Eating alone vs. together in Korea - Culture Talk
- Benefits of eating with family for health
- 1. Healthier food choices
- 2. Monitor children's diet
- 3. It's easier to control food portions
- 4. Preventing risky behavior in children
- 5. Relieve stress and prevent depression
Medical Video: Eating alone vs. together in Korea - Culture Talk
Do you and your family usually eat together? Or because of the variety of busy schedules and schedules, you can't eat with your family? Well, it turns out a number of studies prove that eating with your family members every day has a myriad of health benefits. What are the benefits? Check out the review below.
Benefits of eating with family for health
Try to take a moment to eat with your family. Whether it's in the morning or at dinner. Eating together can offer the following benefits.
1. Healthier food choices
If you eat more often yourself, you might choose to buy food outside. Whereas if you have to eat with family, usually you and your family will eat home cooking. Buying food outside is risky for health because you do not know whether the food processing is quite clean and healthy. Not to mention if the food purchased contains flavor enhancers, chemical dyes, or other additives.
Home cooking is much healthier because you can guarantee the processing itself. In addition you can also regulate how much salt, sugar, and chemicals that are in cooking.
2. Monitor children's diet
If the child eats alone or with his caregiver, who knows so far he has not used up vegetables or rice. Well, by eating with parents you can monitor your child's daily diet. You also have the opportunity to introduce different types of food every day. This can prevent picky food and overweight children.
A survey by a team of experts from Harvard Medical School in 2000 showed that children aged 9-14 who always eat with their families are more fond of vegetables and fruit. They are also less likely to consume unhealthy foods and drinks such as fried foods and soda.
3. It's easier to control food portions
When cooking for your family at home, you would have guessed how much the right portion of food is. If the food is not used up it can be directly put into the refrigerator. While if you eat out, the portion of food served is usually too much. Because you have to pay for the food, an urge to spend it appears, even though you have been satiated.
4. Preventing risky behavior in children
According to a 2010 study by the Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) in the United States, eating with children and parents can prevent risky behavior in children significantly. Unaccustomed children eat together 3.5 times more likely to try illegal drugs. They are also 2.5 times more likely to try smoking and 1.5 times more likely to try alcoholic beverages.
Experts believe that eating together can help parents detect the possibility of their sons and daughters getting bad influences early. In addition, research in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2011 revealed that children who always eat with their parents became 24% wiser in making decisions about their health.
5. Relieve stress and prevent depression
A study in the Journal of Marriage and Family in 2012 noted that families who often ate together showed lower symptoms of depression than families who almost never ate together. According to a team of experts who examined this phenomenon, indeed it is not the food that can help you overcome mental health problems. Quality time and the warmth of the family play an important role here.
