"What ever happened to waiting your turn, doing it all by hand..."

"Automatic" - Miranda Lambert's new song delivers a touching and important message around keeping life simple and enjoying what really matters. 
TODAY, life and everything that tags along with it (career, balance, family time, health, etc.) is so packed full that the simple, loving things are often forgotten.  It's also a time in history when we are communicating more rapidly than ever – via texts, tweets and email volleys, one after the next.  Miranda Lambert's hit, "Automatic" brings us back to the slower-paced life...when things took more time. This goes hand and hand with overall health, wellness and nutrition.  Meal time should be a time of celebration!  Celebration of nourishing your body with home-cooked meals as well as spending quality time with the ones most important to you.  Conversations around the dinner table should be full of laughter and creating forever-lasting memories.

According to studies, healthy families make family time for talking and listening, accepting differences, showing affection and encouragement, sharing chores and decision making, keeping in touch, and making time for each other. "Why Family Time is Important" Aha Now. Web.

It is time to bring the "family" back to the dinner table. Sharing dinner together gives everyone a sense of identity. It can help ease day-to-day conflicts, as well as establish traditions and memories that can last a lifetime. 

The benefits of eating together: 

1. Communication & Well-Being
2. Model manners
3. Expand your world one food at a time
4. Nourish
   
5. Become Self-Sufficient
6. Prevent destructive behaviors
7. Improve grades
8. Save money

"The Benefits of Eating Together". Becky Hand, R.D., Spark People. Web.