Relaxed And Healthy Dinners Help Kids Stay Fit

Family dinners can hold a share of important elements for children growing up. Not only does sitting at a table enjoying a meal give them the opportunity to spend some quality time with mom and dad, but it also helps them take time out to relax and focus on their food.

Now, recent findings published in the journal Pediatrics reveal that it's healthy practices like these that help keep kids fit and trim into young adulthood and beyond.

"In the households where kids were overweight, there was less of a positive atmosphere at the table," said lead study author Jerica Berge, a psychologist at the University of Minnesota, via Health Day. "It was a little more chaotic overall."

For the study, researchers asked 120 families to record their meals using iPads and then studied the video recordings. They also noted the length and type of meals served and how family members interacted during the meals and how these factors related to a child's weight.

Findings revealed that normal-weight children were much more likely to have family meals where parents offered encouraging sentiments.

Negativity at the table, on the other hand, was often associated with an increased risk of obesity.

"You don't want parents to use family meals as a chance to lecture about getting homework done, or other family problems," Berge added. "Children did better if meal time was more of a check-in time, connecting around the table with parents and with siblings."

Furthermore, researchers found that in general, kids who were overweight had shorter meal times and typically ate more in other rooms with some type of entertainment, such as a television or computer.

For example, 30 percent of meals for overweight kids occurred in the family room, compared to 17 percent for healthy-weight children. On the other hand, 80 percent of the meals of healthy-weight kids occurred in the kitchen, compared with 55 percent for overweight children.

Though the time differences were not incredibly significant between healthier children and less-healthy counterparts, the study authors reiterated parents' need to set healthy practices and dietary habits for their children starting at a young age.