Weekly Rhythms: Simplifying Healthy Family Dinners

If you’re the one who does the shopping and cooking in your family, then you can help your family achieve better health. Recently, there have been many books that teach moms and dads how to “sneak” healthy ingredients into meals, like pureed vegetables going into brownies, for instance. It is always worth it to find new ways of incorporating healthy food into your family’s diet.

There are many choices your family makes that won’t be left up to you.

Every time they choose something unhealthy, it may not be under your control – such as holidays and birthday parties. This is where we come in, as parents… the education in nutrition and making healthy food choices is down to us. What’s going to happen as your kids get older? They’ll just reach for something sweet – that is, if they haven’t been educated in how to choose healthy food options.

The problem for most families occurs when one member (usually the one who shops and cooks!) declares some sort of health-fest for the family, resulting in groans and backlash.

Instead of making this a punishment, help your family make smaller tweaks to their diet that build up into lifetime better nutritional habits.

For example, instead of having a platter of brownies on the counter, have a bowl of fresh, organic fruit – or some homemade energy bites made with nut butters and superfoods (such as chia seeds, hemp hearts, etc.)

If your kids want something fun, then find ways to make it fun, like creating a shish kebob with fresh fruit that they can dip into Greek yogurt, filled with probiotics. Or use special fruit-cutting tools to make shapes.

If your kids are used to eating a favorite meal, but you think it’s unhealthy, look for ways to improve the health of the meal instead of throwing it out for good permanently.

For example, if they love it when you make fried chicken, mashed potatoes and rolls, just make some basic swaps.

Take the skin off the chicken, drizzle it in olive oil and bake it instead with some fresh herbs and spices on it. For the mashed potatoes, try sweet potatoes instead. Or, if they still want the Russet variety, substitute the whole milk and butter you normally mash with for fat free sour cream or yogurt. If rolls or any type of bread are a mainstay at your dinner table, switch to hose made with whole grains.

It’s best if you bake it from scratch – a bread maker can even do the job for you! And add more to your meals, too. Add leafy greens to the mix so that your kids learn to enjoy the right kinds of vegetables. Sauté them in a little drizzle of olive oil and garlic and let the kids enjoy the flavor.

Remember, if it’s fun and healthy for the kiddies, then it’s joy for the grownups!

I love this article on establishing dinner rhythms from Amy Marotz:

[bctt tweet=”What’s for dinner? That’s easy: What day of the week is it?…I recommend the practice mainly because it is so deeply grounding and affirming for kids.”
– Kim John Payne, Simplicity Parenting”]

Earlier this summer I mentioned phasing in dinner scheduling to our weekly rhythms, and jokingly referenced my husband’s reluctance to adopt a ‘soup night’ schedule. About a month ago I came to the realization that if I wanted to commit to a simplified lifestyle I just needed to captain the darn ship.

The crew would follow suit (or I suppose if one was to extend the metaphor I might have some plank-walkers, but luckily that was not the case).

During the summer I’d been menu-planning and grocery shopping on Sundays, so that stayed the same. Coming up with a set menu was a bit more challenging. I still like trying out new recipes here and there, so most ‘themes’ are general, allowing for some recipe experimentation.

• Monday – Soup Night with Fresh Bread (Monday is also our baking day)
• Tuesday – Sloppy Joe Night
• Wednesday – Pasta Night
• Thursday – Leftovers!!
• Friday – Crock pot Night
• Saturday – (left open)
• Sunday – Sunday Dinner – either a roasted chicken or beef roast

I’ve already noticed that Alex (although only 3) has started to pick up on the rhythms. She looks forward not only to baking bread in the morning, but seeing it on the table alongside our soup on Monday nights.

As I started to plan dinners, I also got the urge to plan our lunches — not only does it make it sooo much easier to have a game-plan when a ravenous preschooler descends on the lunch table, but it’s a great way to save money. It’s much easier to keep track of inventories and make sure that we actually use the food we buy, instead of throwing away spoiled goods.

The most important point, however, is that we’re forming a foundation with our family dinners. It is one more way to cement our rhythms so that
their meaningful and solid presence can be felt throughout the day (and the rest our lives).

Amy Marotz holds her B.A. Degrees in English and Studio Art from
St. Olaf College and her M.A. in Education from Bethel University.
After teaching middle school English and Art for several years, she
is now enjoying life as a stay-at-home teacher of one. In February of
2010 she discovered Simplicity Parenting while taking a Waldorf
parent-toddler class, and has been hooked ever since.