Centralight

The Most family prepares for dinner, with children Rodney and Sabrina dishing out the rice and peas. Anna Most plans a monthly schedule of meals and posts it on the refrigerator, shown below right. together Eating BY BARBARA SUTHERLAND CHOVANEC Anna Most, '95 MS '05, treasures the time she spends with her husband The nutrition professor practiced as a dietician for eight years before returning to CMU to teach. Most says family mealtimes provide structure, routine and a sense of belonging, and she points to a national survey that showed more than 80 percent of teens preferred having dinner with their families to eating alone. The study and children at the dinner table each evening as special time to connect and talk about school, work and interests. by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse also found that nearly half of the 1,000 teens surveyed thought dinnertime was the best time to talk to their parents about something important. "Family dinner time is a good opportunity to spend time together, talk about whatever is going on in your lives and just simply connect as a family," she says. "The emotional and social benefi ts are invaluable." But for Most, family dinner time also is the perfect time to reinforce healthy eating habits and teach valuable life skills such as meal planning and food preparation. 14 centralight spring '10

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