love how you eat.

This resource is part of our ‘Love what you eat‘ campaign for National Nutrition Week 2025.

Set the scene

Create a welcoming table with small, thoughtful touches that invite connection and take the pressure off mealtimes.

Tips for creating a comfortable and connected table:

Activity Prompt:
Pick one idea from the list above and bring it to life at your next meal. Reflect on how it changes the experience.

Why self-serving matters

Letting people serve themselves can boost awareness of portion sizes, encourage autonomy, and build mindful eating habits. (Robinson et al., 2014) For children, this independence helps them learn to trust hunger cues, increases willingness to try new foods, and reduces risk of disordered eating. (Birch & Fisher, 1998, DiSantis et al., 2011)

Activity prompt:
Try family-style dining: place dishes in the center of the table and let everyone serve themselves. Encourage kids to choose what they’d like and tune into their hunger and fullness cues.

Why mindful eating matters

When we eat with awareness, we give ourselves the chance to enjoy meals more fully and respond to what our body needs, rather than eating on autopilot. This simple shift can reduce overeating, support healthy weight regulation, and make food more satisfying.

How to practice mindful eating

Great mindful eating resources to explore!

Mindful Eating – Eating Disorders Victoria

This short factsheet by Eating Disorders Victoria covers the benefits of mindful eating, additional information about how to practice mindful eating, and a range of helpful activities and resources.

Mindful Eating – Headspace

Headspace has a 7-day plan to guide you through staying present at mealtimes.

Creating space for conversation

Use mealtimes as an opportunity to start meaningful conversations.

• Ask open-ended questions: Invite stories, imagination, and reflection. For example: “What’s something that made you smile today?”

• Practice active listening: Put away distractions, make eye contact, and show genuine curiosity.

• Include every voice: Encourage everyone, including kids, to join in not just during the meal, but in planning too.

Activity prompt:

Download our conversation starter cards (or create your own). Pick one question at each meal this week to help make mealtimes more connected and fun.

Extending the connection after the meal

Post-meal routines can reinforce positive mealtime experiences and support shared responsibility.

• Make clean-up a shared moment: Turn on a song and tidy up as a team.

• Reflect together: Talk about what everyone enjoyed most and what you’d love to try next time.

• Savor the memory: Take a photo of a meal you loved and journal why it felt good, whether it’s the flavours, the company or the conversation.

Activity prompt:
Thank the cook! Have everyone share one thing they appreciated about the meal or the effort behind it.

• Fiese, B. H., & Schwartz, M. (2008). Reclaiming the family table: Mealtimes and child health and wellbeing. Social Policy Report, 22(4).
• Robinson, E., Almiron-Roig, E., Rutters, F., et al. (2014). A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effect of eating rate on energy intake and hunger. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100(1), 123–151.
• Birch, L. L., & Fisher, J. O. (1998). Development of eating behaviors among children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 101(Supplement 2), 539–549.
• DiSantis, K. I., Hodges, E. A., Johnson, S. L., & Fisher, J. O. (2011). The role of responsive feeding in overweight during infancy and toddlerhood: A systematic review. International Journal of Obesity, 35(4), 480–492.
• Mason, A. E., Epel, E. S., Aschbacher, K., et al. (2016). Reduced reward-driven eating accounts for the impact of a mindfulness-based diet and exercise intervention on weight loss. Obesity, 24(2), 227–232.
• Hammons, A. J., & Fiese, B. H. (2011). Is frequency of shared family meals related to the nutritional health of children and adolescents? Pediatrics, 127(6), e1565–e1574.