Eating together – a dietitian’s responsibility? with guest expert Nabeelah Khan APD

Clean your plate.  You MUST eat your broccoli. No dessert unless dinner.  No Tv on.  Did you grow up with a defined set of meal rules, guidelines or unwritten expectations?  Did they help or hinder you becoming a healthy, balanced adult eater? Are you passing these “rules” on or have you changed your parenting style?  And more importantly, would you be open to expert advice in this area?   This week Accredited Practising Dietitian, Nabeelah Khan shares some latest research and raises the important issue of family meals.

About our expert:

Nabeelah Khan is a dietitian (APD) and qualified journalist who believes simple, good quality, whole food, made with local ingredients is best enjoyed with family and friends. You can follow her on Twitter

 Food, glorious food

I’ve always had a great relationship with food – inspired entirely by my parents who, for as long as I can remember have always had a vegetable garden, cooked almost every meal we ate as kids from scratch and had a wicked sense of adventure when experimenting with unusual ingredients and flavours.

Like most people, I think my Mum is the best cook in the world. The way she takes all day to shop for each item on her list and blends her own spices from scratch to ensure each meal is made with the specific aim to honour the ingredients, fills my heart.

For her, feeding her family is an act of love – not only for the people it will nourish but also for the ingredients that have been combined in delicate synergy to ensure every flavour has its moment in the spotlight.

Though, for many years I thought it was what she put on the table that gave me my appreciation for good food. But new research published in the July issue of Journal of American Dietetic Association says that perhaps how we ate also played an important role.

Were your parents too strict with family meals?

It didn’t seem very important at the time, but when we were all living under the same roof, we always ate together at the dinner table and we never ate in front of the television. We knew that it would take an event of Krakatoic proportions for Mum to let us park our bottoms along-side the box. It was the simply the way it was and my brother and I knew these were the rules.

The research, conducted at the University of Minnesota, found that an authoritative parenting style that was empathetic and respectful, but still maintained clear boundaries and expectations resulted in greater frequency of meals eaten together. And, we know from previous studies that when families eat together they are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables, have lower levels of yo-yo dieting and experience better psychosocial health.

So, what does this mean for dietitians? Well, it got me thinking. If we know that eating as a family improves nutrition and other elements of health but what is required from parents are clear boundaries around meal time, where the food is eaten and how – should this be a part of nutrition counselling or our community health messages? It’s a tough question because it’s looking at the area of parenting rather than our core area of expertise: nutrition.

Some may argue that it’s not a dietitian’s role to reinforce parenting style. But if we don’t do it – who will?

Editor’s note:

Thanks Nabeelah, I often have discussions with my girlfriends about parenting styles.  One believes modern day parents have become better negotiators than top lawyers in our bid to stay best friends with our children.  “Just say no”, she tells me and there’s no need for an explanation.  But when it comes to family meals I’m the enforcer and a stickler for no TV and good manners.  But I don’t bribe with foods or force feed, rather focus on the eating occasion.  After years working in paediatrics and experience of children with special needs that have food adversions and distorted sensory perceptions of food, I’m adamant that individual approaches are needed.  And there are already some amazing dietitians working successfully with families in this area, along with speech pathologists and others too.  So, yes I believe that dietitians should guide on how to eat, not just what to eat.  How about you?  Love to hear your thoughts, childhood horror or hero stories and current approaches in our comments below. 

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