Dinner Survival: The Most Uncomplicated Approachable Way to Get Dinner to Fit Your Life - Softcover

Sandi is the mother of seven children, and when eating became the enemy in her house she began searching for solutions. That was two decades ago and she never looked back.

In addition to being a regular on CBC radio, Sandi has been a featured guest on Food Network U.S. and a repeat guest on NBC's Today Show. She has contributed frequently to numerous magazines such as Reader's Digest, Eat Clean, Woman's World and First for Women.

Sandi has been involved in national campaigns with corporate giants such as ConAgra Foods, Starbucks, Rival Cookware, Whirlpool, S.C. Johnson and Ocean Spray. Sandi is the founder of the Eating Forward movement and co-owner of Cooking for the Rushed Inc.

If all families banded together they would be the most influential voice to change the eating habits of North America. Yet in many ways, both in the food business and in education, it's the most neglected group when it comes to catering to their health. Fad diets and their exercise programs usually don't include living life in the 21st century!

We (as a society) tell parents they should set aside time to cook a great dinner for their family each night. This should include more fish, more beans and lentils and more veggies. We also tell them to make sure they set aside time to eat together, to connect.

We tell parents, "Get your kids active. Keep their minds occupied with good activities so the kids don't go astray!"

We show parents and kids all the cool stuff they should have (through TV, magazines, books and so on). Parents want their kids to have all the cool stuff the other kids have: the digital box, the TVs and the iPods, so parents work longer hours.

We tell parents that they need to set quiet time aside in their day for themselves to regenerate and to function properly. Studies show that they should get 8 hours of sleep a night, no less than 7.

We tell parents to be a good example to their children, by instilling discipline and activity into their own lives, so their children can live by example.

We tell parents that having regular dates with their partners and being intimate at least a couple of times per week will ensure that the relationship stands on a solid foundation.

Are you tired yet? Let's do the math!

Parents work longer to get their kids stuff:

1 hour drive to work + 8 hours work + 1 hour drive home = 10 hours total

Parents rush home in a panic to get kids to activities which will keep their minds and bodies healthy:

15 to 45 minutes driving kids to activity (let's take an average 30 minutes each way) + length of activity 1 to 3 hours - let's take an average of 2 hours = 3 hours total

Parents make a healthy dinner for their kids: take out ingredients and equipment, prep, cook, clean up, eat, and get changed and organized to drive kids and so on.

30 to 60 minutes to take out stuff, prep and cook (let's say 45 minutes) + 15 minutes to clean up + 30 minutes to eat + 15 minutes to get changed = 1 hour and 45 minutes total

Now add 8 hours to sleep and get ready in the morning into this equation. Let's do the math to see what's left in the day.

24 hours - 10 (work) - 3 (driving) - 1.75 (prepping, making, eating, then cleaning up dinner) - 8 (sleep) = 1 hour and 15 minutes to split up the things you have left to do. "Well, I have too much to do in 1 hour and 15 minutes! What should I give up?" you ask - the sleep, the intimacy, the quiet time, the exercise - gee and then there are the forms to fill out for the kids' activities, homework corrections, the book I want to read to my kids at bedtime, the phone call I never made to my best friend or my brother, my sister, my mom - the laundry, grocery shopping -

Now just for the fun of it, let's plunk in a fad diet, or shall we call it "A New Lifestyle"? (Like giving it a new name changes anything!)

Are parents getting it all done? Suuuure they are! - NO they aren't! Most are plunking down on a sofa in sheer exhaustion, flipping the channels for any news show that won't tell them how inactive or obese they are! ( - and hoping the popcorn is low fat!) They are getting divorced and eating out! They are exhausted, broke, insecure, feel guilty, feel alone, and feel like failures that can never seem to do it right or catch up. And the bonus for most -- they're overweight! Great!

We hold the parent up high, with accolades, telling them they have the most important job on earth, but we lambaste them with unrealistic expectations of what it takes to be a great parent. Parents can't keep up with this pace, but we stand by and watch the entire western culture crumble in despair.

Well, you say, I'm single, so how does this affect me? Oh my lovey dovey - it does! You see, companies cater to the group that will make them the most money. So, if companies need to cater to The Family because it's the largest, most influential group with the greatest buying power, they are going to give the family what the family desperately needs. Time! Food companies are in a constant search for something that will be quick and easy, something that will save us time. Whom are they catering to? They can supply larger quantities of not-so-healthy food to the families who are buying them. The family buys that food with a hope and a prayer that it will give them more time. The law of supply and demand, sweet pea, is why many healthier foods are so darned expensive. That affects us all, including you!

If we can help The Family navigate their way through this chaos, I'm telling you, it will change everything for everyone. It can certainly change what's on TV, it can change what fast food restaurants serve, it can change how families spend time together, and it can change the yardstick to measure what's normal.

Copyright © 2008 by Cooking for the Rushed, Inc.