Health Gem

IF YOU DO ONE THING THIS WEEK. . . Encourage the family to dine together

In an ideal world, families would sit together at the table at least once a day and share their conversation as well as their food.

In real life though, the notion of such regular family dine-ins can often get swept aside by busy lives or a lack of interest.

But a recent analysis of the literature by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that it may be worth making the effort.

“Children and adolescents who share family meals three or more times per week are more likely to be in a normal weight range, and have healthier dietary and

eating patterns than those who share fewer than three family meals together," write the authors in the June edition of the journal Paediatrics.

“In addition, they are less likely to engage in disordered eating.”