Eat Better, Eat Together is a blog series by registered dietitians and parents whose stories and advice help families start or strengthen a commitment to balanced family meals and create healthy, successful families. Take the Eat Better, Eat Together Family Meal Pledge at Facebook.com/MealsMatter.org

While the benefits of family meals are numerous — better nutrition, improved academics closer family relationships to name a few—so too are  the barriers that can  come between families and shared  meals. Between conflicting work, school and activity schedules, individual food preferences and tight-rope-thin food budgets, Cirque de Soleil’s got nothing on a mom during mealtime.

 

We want to know how you balance your family’s needs, activities and preferences to get a well-balanced family meal with all the food groups on the table at least three times per week. On Wednesday, October 12 we’re celebrating moms everywhere who put their families’ health first with the Eat Better, Eat Together Balancing Act Blog Carnival.

If you are passionate about parenting and healthy eating, we invite you to join the Meals Matter Moms and other bloggers in this carnival. Read the guidelines and suggestions below, and send us an email (commngr@dairycouncilofca.org) letting us know you’ll participate and any questions you have.

Carnival Details and Scope

1. Open to all bloggers known for their expertise in nutrition, parenting, family meals, health and related fields. We request that all blog carnival participants take the Eat Better, Eat Together Family Meal Pledge.

2. We reserve the right to accept or reject all entries.

3. The day of the carnival is Wednesday, October 12. Please plan to publish your post on your own blog on Wednesday, October 12 (anytime after midnight PDT). Email the permalink of your post by 10 am PDT on Wednesday, October 12 to (commngr@dairycouncilofca.org).

4. Completing your blog post and scheduling it in advance is highly recommended. Send us the permalink as soon as it is ready. On Wednesday, October 12 at noon, PDT, we will send you code to add to your blog post that includes links to all participating bloggers.

5. Your post should be focused on the topic of  balancing busy schedules and food groups to make mealtime healthy family time – share how you  Eat Better, Eat Together by serving balanced meals with foods from all the food groups. It is a very broad topic; feel free to focus on an aspect of family meals and healthy, balanced eating that most interests you.

Here are a few ideas:

• What are your “go-to” menus that to ensure all five food groups are on the table?

• How do you balance adult and child food preferences without being a short order cook?

• Do you get your children involved in planning and preparing meals? How do you encourage your junior chefs to assist with planning and preparing balanced meals?

• Research shows that families who eat together have higher intakes of key nutrients. How do you make sure your family meals pack the most punch nutritionally?

• How do you balance your busy schedule to make time for healthy family meals? What times during the week do you dedicate to family meals?

• Do you and your family members, maybe older children, take turns planning and preparing meals? Do you share the load so each family member has a different mealtime responsibility? For example, you  make the entrée, your child sets the table, and your husband pours the milk?

• Which foods or food groups do you rely on to be easy to serve and likely to please?

Note: These ideas are meant to spark your creative thoughts. Please do not feel limited by them. You also do not need to address all of them in your article.

Format and Content Guidelines

1. Your blog post should be original and unpublished. If you have written on this topic in the past and would like to re-publish, please try your best to give a new twist to your content.

2. A picture tells a thousand words. Show us your family meal balancing act in video, photos or art.

3. As soon as we receive your blog carnival “RSVP” we will send you an introduction  and  badge you can add to your blog. At noon PDT on Wednesday, October 12, we’ll send you the links to all participating blogs to post, so please be ready to update that afternoon.

Please email commngr@dairycouncilofca.org or send a tweet to @MealsMatter with the hashtag #EatBetter2Gether to indicate your plans to participate in the blog carnival.

Subscribe to the Meals Matter blog, follow @MealsMatter and #EatBetter2Gether on Twitter for more tips, recipes and family meal inspiration.