Summary of "Making more of family mealtimes by VegPower Live Stream"

The VegPower Live Stream focused on enhancing family mealtimes to promote healthier eating habits, especially increasing vegetable consumption among children. The session combined survey insights, expert panel discussions, and practical strategies to support families, schools, and retailers.

Key Lifestyle and Family Mealtime Insights:

Frequency & Nature of Family Meals:
- Average families eat together about 5.2 times per week.
- Family meals are highly valued for togetherness and bonding, seen as a sacred daily moment.
- Contrary to assumptions, eating together does not necessarily mean healthier meals or more vegetable consumption.
- 24% of children rarely experience family meals.
- 73% of family meal occasions involve home-cooked meals, but definitions vary widely (some consider reheated processed food as home-cooked).
Barriers to Family Meals:
- Main barriers include conflicting work and school schedules.
- 13% of UK families lack a dining table, rising to 25% in lower-income households, but this has minimal impact on vegetable intake.
- Stress and desire to maintain harmony often lead parents to prioritize peace over nutrition during meals.
Parental Attitudes & Behavior:
- 84% of words associated with family meals were positive, emphasizing bonding.
- Only 14% of parents actively seek advice on increasing children’s vegetable intake.
- Parents often avoid conflict by opting for easier meal choices, sometimes at the expense of nutrition.

Understanding and Addressing Picky/Fussy Eating:

Definition & Causes:
- "Food fussiness" in research refers to children eating a limited variety of foods and refusing new or familiar foods.
- Parental perception of fussiness often reflects normal day-to-day fluctuations in appetite and willingness to try new foods.
- Evolutionarily, children are cautious about new foods around the time they gain mobility, which is natural but can be managed.
Strategies for Parents:
- Positive approaches include:
  - Role modeling healthy eating.
  - Offering rewards for trying new foods (not pressuring to finish plates).
  - Repeated exposure to new foods increases acceptance.
- Managing snacks to ensure children are hungry at mealtimes can increase willingness to try vegetables.
- Making mealtimes fun and low-pressure is crucial.
- Reframing language from "fussy" to "cautious" or "courageous" eaters helps reduce blame and stress.

School and Educational Interventions:

Schools are critical environments for influencing children’s eating habits.
Programs like VegPower and Taste Ed introduce fruits and vegetables through sensory, playful, and pressure-free experiences integrated into the curriculum.
Edible gardens and school-based activities engage both children and parents, reinforcing healthy eating habits.
Teacher confidence and enthusiasm are vital; many teachers lack food education but respond well to simple, fun resources.
Sustained, year-on-year programming is important to maintain momentum.
There is a need to extend focus beyond younger children to teenagers, who are harder to reach but highly influenced by social media and peer environments.

Retail and Policy Perspectives:

Retailers recognize the public’s desire to eat more healthily and are involved in behavior change initiatives.
Successful strategies include:
- Price reductions on fruits and vegetables (though effects can be short-term).
- Vouchers and loyalty card incentives linked to fruit and veg purchases.
Mandatory reporting on sales of healthy foods is supported as a tool to create transparency, accountability, and competition among supermarkets.
Mandatory targets for healthy food sales may follow reporting, but industry prefers phased approaches.
Retailers face challenges balancing commercial margins with promoting healthier options.

Additional Highlights and Recommendations:

Discounts alone may not increase vegetable consumption; saved money may be spent on less healthy items.
Family mealtime interventions should be designed to enhance joy, bonding, and fun rather than just making healthy eating “easy.”
Gamification and rewarding joint participation of parents and children can strengthen family bonds and improve outcomes.
There is a strong call for better parental support post-weaning, similar to antenatal programs, to normalize food fussiness and provide practical guidance.
School meals with set menus (e.g., French model) can transform children’s eating habits through routine exposure and peer influence.
Free school meals initiatives need accompanying data collection to assess impact and quality of meals served.

Notable Speakers and Contributors:

Dan (Moderator/Presenter) – Led the introduction and survey findings.
Bimpy (Benio) – Public health consultant, Lambeth; emphasized school-family connections and practical school interventions.
Claire Holly – Psychologist focusing on children’s eating behaviors and parental strategies.
Kirsty Sadler – Director of Sustainability and Health at IGD; discussed retail perspectives and mandatory reporting.
Glennice – From Association for Nutrition; highlighted parental stress and the need for supportive, positive nutrition advice.
France (Taste Ed) –