If you think the dinner hour is going down the tubes, you're right. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the dinner hour is going to the tubes. A recent Tufts University study found that, in 50 of the 100 households surveyed, kids were eating two or more meals in front of the television each day. Trying to quantify the social impact of too many TV dinners would be difficult. The researchers identified a couple of explanations.
People tend to grab what's easy, grab what's quick.
Nutritionist Elizabeth Ward, local spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and a mother of three, takes it one step further. It lends itself to mindless eating, where you're not really mindful of the quantity or quality of what you're eating. Ward says the villain may not be television per se, but anything that takes the focus off the food in front of you. Ward says although it's theoretically possible to eat healthful meals in front of the television, the distraction makes it difficult. Eating provides more satisfaction when you do it mindfully. . . .