I was just reading a great article on Zen and Fitness about portion control that really laid out to me about the size that meals should be and it got me to thinking about our own eating habits at home.
I eat a good meal in the morning of Oatmeal or a bagel with Nutella and then I just kind of eat all day. I will have a structured lunch but I have fruit and granola bars and stuff that I will eat until I run our of food in the afternoon. Then I do not eat until dinner.
Our family eats dinner at our dinner table every day and we tend to have our best family time at dinner talking about the day and having good protions. I would tend to eat really fast but my kids sometimes need help cutting food and my wife will nag me to slow down if I am eating too quickly. So I really enjoy my food at dinner and a well thought out portion of food at that time as well.
We have always eaten dinner as a family at our kitchen table. This was a decision that my wife and I made when our daughter was born. It was too easy in our teens and twenties to eat on the couch and watch TV but you miss so much about your life as a family and the individuals as we all grow up so we thought this would be a family time, and it is.
It does drive the rest of the family crazy. My mom and sister have not ever gotten used to the fact that we don’t answer the phone during dinner and after dinner cleanup.
Also because we are used to dinner at the kitchen table it also carrys over to weekends for breakfast and lunch if we are at home. My wife also has a strict policy for the kids that they eat breakfast at the table during the week. The real upside to this is that we do not eat haphazardly and have structured portions.
All is not lost on random eating though. We do have a pantry and a fridge that both get opened in the evening for snacks as we are watching TV. I love to eat fruit in the evening and when my wife is not looking I can sneak a few chocolate chips out of the container 🙂