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Generation Fast Food
Deficiencies in the American Teen Diet
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
Many families today require one or more likely, both parents to work outside the home. With deadlines, quotas and overtime, it is not uncommon for parents to pick up or order out dinner in an attempt to save time. "Another thing that contributes to a teen not eating a healthy diet is the whole phenomenon of the two working parent family," Burke says. "[The USDA] has done a lot of research showing that in the families of teens who eat together do end up eating a more nutritious, well-balanced meal. Less and less parents eat dinner with their kids. A lot of this has to do with the fact that there are so many latchkey kids in our society. Only 50 percent of American families eat dinner together nightly. It's not only the morning meals that the latchkey kids are getting on their own -- and the breakfast is usually chips and soda -- but it's the evening meals as well."
"It's tough to make sure kids are eating well when you have to leave the house before them every morning and after them every night," says Carrie Eichler, a nurse and mother of three from Ashland, Ohio. "They want the types of things that taste good but are easy for them to make. I try to get them what they want and what they need, but it's hard to find things that have both taste and nutrition and are still easy for them to prepare. It's a struggle -- for all of us."
