Cooking together and healthy

Time for conversations in the kitchen

Text last updated: 2024-01-04

A healthy diet prevents obesity

Cutting your favorite vegetables together with your teenager, preparing a healthy casserole or trying out a new family dish has many positive effects. What you cook yourself with fresh ingredients not only tastes better - it's above all the time spent together in the kitchen that enables relaxed conversations and strengthens the sense of togetherness in the family.

Why is a balanced diet important for adolescents?

A healthy and conscious diet plays an important role in your child's physical and mental development. A sufficient supply of valuable nutrients is particularly important during the growth phases of puberty. Given the preference for fast food, burgers and kebabs at this age, the influence of parents is all the more important. If you involve your child in decisions about the menu and joint preparation, you can encourage even difficult eaters to adopt a healthy diet in the long term.

Families eat healthier together: why is that?

Work, all-day school, hobbies and normal everyday routines don't always make it easy for families to find time to eat together. During the week, family lunches are often canceled. The children eat at nursery or school and the parents eat at work, for example. So it can be quite a challenge to get everyone around the table regularly. But the effort is worth it. After all, families who eat together have been proven to live healthier lives. When fresh food is cooked (together) at home, healthy food is on the table more often. And what is at least as important: these are often the precious moments at the dining table when family members can exchange ideas and talk to each other undisturbed.

What are the benefits of a family meal cooked together?

Cooking and eating together is much more than just food intake, it connects and strengthens a sense of togetherness. The kitchen becomes a cozy meeting place for the whole family and mealtimes become a shared experience:

Eating habits later in life are already shaped in childhood. Habits and rituals determine whether food is associated with enjoyment or not.

Children learn by example, even when it comes to eating. If you eat fruit and vegetables regularly yourself, try unknown foods more often and invite your child to try them again and again, they will imitate you and be less picky later on.

Communal mealtimes give structure to the sometimes hectic family routine

Your own preferences and favorite dishes can be taken into account in turn and thus ensure variety on the menu.

Your child learns to cook step by step when cooking family meals together. Taking part also teaches them how to handle food consciously.

How do you turn mealtimes into family time?

Create a pleasant atmosphere

No distractions please

Eating habits and rituals

Cultivate a family dining culture

No hectic rush

Good atmosphere at the table

Germany's initiative for healthy eating and more exercise offers lots of tips on the topic of "young people and conscious eating" on the in-form internet portal

You can find a nutrition guide for families at www.in-form.de for free download

Information on nutrition for children and young people can be found at the German Nutrition Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung e. V. DGE)

The Federal Center for Nutrition provides tips on how parents can organize family meals together with their children.