My trainer yelled at me for eating only two meals a day so I’m trying to do three.
I really think the 3 square meals contribute to obesity, thus good business for trainers.
I don’t think that’s true.
1 Like
That sounds like a new thread if we need to debate it! The “science” on that has widely varied over the years.
1 Like
I gave up breakfast when I made a concerted effort to get healthier. If 3meals work for you, you should do that. But I ignored advice about that ( one from a nutritionist who was insistent…I’d never lose/maintain weight loss without breakfast…”just eat something when you get up” was the rule. But if I did that I found myself starving all day long. I knew it was wrong for me.) For me only eating lunch and dinner is the only way I can maintain a healthy weight.
4 Likes
I think the answers here probably rely more on house layout than anything else.
We have a kitchen bar, a table, a couch all within a pretty short distance. I can sit at the bar and talk to everyone at a table. We can all see a TV across the room. We can all talk to one another.
But we “just us” do sit at the table a lot of times and just turn off distractions to focus on “us”.
Agree. Maybe we need a new thread. I just think the science is very unclear and what works for some does not for all.
Same here. We aren’t big TV watchers anyway. It would have to be something VERY special for us to leave our breakfast nook at mealtime to watch TV. We don’t have a TV in the kitchen. It’s sort of viewable from the breakfast area…but not on during meals.
Dinner was always together as were weekend breakfasts. All at the breakfast room table unless it was a holiday. On weekends, DH made pancakes or waffles, and bacon or something like that for breakfast. It was a great family time.
Now, the two of us eat dinner together every night…usually at the island, but sometimes at the breakfast room table.
1 Like
double post.
I think all these posts make for great Americana.
6 Likes
My husband eats pretty much the exact same thing for breakfast and lunch every.single.day. Mostly cereal for breakfast, and a ham sandwich for lunch, along with an apple, carrots, and maybe cookies. You know he’s feeling wild when he substitutes In Yogurt or PB&J.
I eat various things for breakfast (almost never cereal, unless it’s oatmeal) and don’t always eat lunch.
Always at a table together - either kitchen nook, dining room, enclosed porch, or deck/lanai. No TV. Happy hour before most evenings.
1 Like
Regarding TV, we normally don’t watch it during meals, but when the kids were younger we had a small TV in the kitchen and they were allowed to watch cartoons or whatever on the weekends while they ate breakfast.
We are a one TV household now, but had a couple more when kids were here (we actually paid for u used cable boxes for something like 10 years, but that’s for another thread). One was mostly for gaming, and the other was for cartoons.
For some things. But I we have never ever considered eating meals with the TV on, unless there is some earthshaking reason to do so. The closest we come to that is a cookie or a chocolate by way of dessert.
1 Like
Back to tables. We have 3 tables in this house: kitchen nook, “formal” table, and firetable. We gravitate to eating at the firetable whenever weather allows. Breakfast is usually eaten at the counter in the kitchen while watching Cramer’s ugly mug yakking about how much crypto tanked… 
Dinner is a toss up between “formal” and firetable. We rarely use the nook table.
2 Likes
Same here. We’ve never had the TV on at dinner unless there’s a playoff or championship sports game on.
@ChoatieMom - you and my mother in law would get along great! She loves cocktail hour. With her, it’s wine and cheese. I really enjoy it at her house. I may have to try it here.
However, at our house we are very casual. We eat most meals in front of the tv. Messy meals at the kitchen table. It is really the only time we watch a show together. The dining room table is mainly used for jigsaw puzzles and holding objects that are in transit to other places. If I was building a house again, I wouldn’t have a dining room although I really like my grandmother’s furniture in there.
3 Likes
Almost every night, in front of Jeopardy, @6 pm.
1 Like
In our old house, we had only a DR table. Not very comfortable stools at an island in the kitchen so we always at there. We also had a table in our very window-y great room, so we sometimes ate breakfast or lunch there.
In our new house, there was no DR. That is being remedied in our renovation. The DR table will be in a room that will have glass on four sides, overlooking the river and gardens. The kitchen counter will have a little peninsula with a couple of stools, but I think it will be hard to beat the DR.
During the construction, we are living in the in-law suite and bought a knockoff of an Eero Saarinen oval pedestal table. We eat there. There is no other dining space.
We do have a big teak outdoor dining table, which we used a lot but it is far from the in-law suite kitchen. We will eat there on nice nights when the renovation is finished.
I am moving into an apartment and just bought the kitchen table and chairs from the previous tenant, for $60. So now my answer on this thread can change
12 Likes