A recent survey shows that many American children spend dinnertime in front of a TV.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine looked at the eating habits of 287 schoolchildren from the Houston, Texas area and found that:
More than 42% of dinners eaten at home involved TV watching.
Overweight children consumed 50% of their dinners in front of the TV.
Lead author Dr. Karen Cullen, a behavioral nutritionist, states in comments to Reuters Health "From both a nutritional standpoint and a family interaction standpoint, it's probably not the ideal situation".
According to Dr. Cullen, this practice of watching TV while eating can have the following negative impacts:
Takes the focus of dinnertime off of food and family conversation
People tend to eat more when parked in front of the television because they stop paying attention to the internal signals that they are full.
Food commercials may contribute to eating too much or making poor food choices, since most commercials geared towards children are for junk foods.
"Active time is really important for health, and if the TV is on too much, that limits how much time you're outside," said Dr. Cullen.
Dr. Cullen advises families to evaluate their TV consumption, especially during meals. Families should enjoy a social meal together, and then plan time to get out and do something.
Meeting of the American Dietetic Association October, 2000
Yet one more reason to cut out the TV. Nearly 50% of kids eat dinner in front of the TV. What happened to interacting with the family? One of the best things that you can do for your family is to unplug your TV or even get rid of it completely.
It is nearly three years since I stopped mine and it has been a major benefit. I still have a home theater system for lectures I attend and review or to watch a good movie on DVD, but the TV connection is not there and it really makes a huge difference in my life.
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