Reaping the Benefits of Home Cooking

REAPING THE BENEFITS OF HomeCookingBY MICHELE JACOBSON

The well-known adage “you are what you eat” could use some tweaking. Current research shows that significant health benefits are associated not only with what you eat, but also how you eat meals, and with whom.

Pre-pandemic, the average American ate about 70 percent of meals outside the home, and about 20 percent of those in the car.1. Then came Covid and life changed radically, beginning a prolonged period of every…single…meal…being prepared and eaten at home. Although all this cooking has been time-consuming and challenging, there is a silver lining.

What You Eat

Many of today’s health issues - such as obesity, coronary heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes - are a consequence of our diet. Indeed, the typical western diet has a more deleterious effect on health than does the aging process.2 However, by preparing our own food we have the opportunity to take charge of our health and well-being. People who eat at home have been found to eat a more nutrient-rich diet.3 Cooking allows us to choose wholesome ingredients and prepare them in healthy ways. Relinquishing these choices to others on a regular basis leaves your health up to chance.

When we eat food outside the home we generally eat more; 50% more calories on average, as well as more fat and sodium. (Unfortunately for many of us, take-out, even when eaten at home, also falls into this category.) This research is not merely anecdotal; studies show that people who frequently cook at home eat healthier food and consume fewer calories than those who cook less.They also rely less on frozen foods and are less likely to choose fastfood on the occasions when they do eat out.4 Good habits lead to more good habits when it comes to dietary choices.

In March of 2020, most of us hunkered down and began to cook our own meals. While social media displayed endless iterations of sourdough bread (Google’s top recipe search of 2020 5), supermarket sales reflected a different trend; what people were cooking at home was similar to what they ate in restaurants prior to the lockdown. Kroeger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, reported their top selling items of 2020 included diet soda (egad!), followed by wine and cheese (solid pandemic priorities). Other top ten sellers included both burger meat and buns.6. If Americans couldn’t get out to eat their favorite food - the classic burger - then they would just cook it up at home.

But here’s some food for thought: An Eating Well analysis shows burgers cooked at home have a far different nutritional profile than popular fast-food varieties.7 Preparing your own burger allows you to start with a superior - and often leaner -grade of meat than what you might get when eating out, especially at a fast-food restaurant. At least one fastfood chain embellishes their burger blend with a ‘signature seasoning mix,’ which includes additional fat and a lot of sodium. Moreover, the bun on which that burger sits contains a whopping sixteen ingredients including stabilizers, sodium and sugar 8; as opposed to a store-bought bun, which can be a lot healthier, especially if you opt for wholegrain. This single example demonstrates how preparing your own food can have a big impact on your health.

Take the stress out of at-home cooking:

Plan ahead by keeping your refrigerator and pantry stocked with essential ingredients and seasonings.

Set a time each day to begin preparing your meal, especially dinner. With forethought, food can cook during the workday and be ready to eat at mealtime.

Engage family members in mealtime decisions, such as what to eat.

Enforce a rule of no electronics at the table, for both your kids and you.

Have a dedicated area in which to eat. Has the dining room table become your makeshift desk? Take your computer and other work off the table! Clearing away the stress of work will help you enjoy your meal and eat in a calmer manner. And if you can, share your meal with family or friends. Both the health benefits and enjoyment you get will increase exponentially.

How You Eat

The mere action of sitting and eating in a calm setting encourages better portion control, digestion, and nutrient absorption.Once again, consider fastfood which, by definition, is mainly eaten quickly and on the run. Eating this way compels largersized bites, encouraging more food consumption in a shorter time frame. Large bites are also detrimental to digestion and nutrient absorption. The body wants to eat food slowly. (When mom told you to take small bites and chew your food, she was right!) Thorough chewing - up to 40 times per bite - makes nutrients more bioavailable as food passes through the digestive tract. Conversely, large food particles - those chewed only 10 to 25 times - are often expelled from the body, undigested.9

…And with Whom

Eating at home can have positive effects that have little to do with food, per se. About half of American families rarely have family dinner, according to Harvard University’s Family Dinner Project. But they should whenever possible, because regular family meals - any meal - are linked to lower rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy and depression, as well as higher grade-point averages and self-esteem in kids and teens. Wow! Studies also indicate that dinner conversation is a more potent vocabulary-booster than reading, when it comes to young children. Perhaps most surprisingly, 80% of kids, given the choice, say they’d rather eat a meal with their parents than with peers or alone, in front of a screen.10 Benefits come from even just one meal a week, shared.

Don’t stress; home-cooked meals don’t need to be a banquet every night. Starting with healthy ingredients is half the battle. Choose fresh and minimally processed foods, such as: - Seasonal fruits and vegetables, optimally pesticide and GMOfree, and organic whenever possible - A variety of minimally processed whole grains - Heart healthy fats - Hormone and antibiotic-free dairy and pastured meats - Fish and seafood from sustainable, unsullied sources - Antioxidant-rich herbs and spices and, most importantly, cook your own food.

The advent of Covid-19 forced, rather than inspired, many people to start cooking. And while some of us are tired of it (exhausted, actually), many others have discovered a new-found passion. Now that the food industry is re-opening its doors, what can be expected of the public? Research says that, even after pandemic-related restrictions lift, many people anticipate eating out less than before, or not at all.11. The main considerations are 1) saving money, and 2) ongoing concerns about Covid. Whatever the reason, those who continue to cook at home will reap the health benefits. Not only are these substantial, but they are also substantiated.

The real path to optimum health is to buy your own food and cook it at home. Those dishes that you’ll have to do. Let them soak. You’ve earned it.

1 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267720308_Of_Ketchup_ and_Kin_Dinnertime_Conversations_as_a_Major_Source_of_

Family_Knowledge_Family_Adjustment_and_Family_Resilience 2 The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization Pedro Carrera-

Bastos, Maelan Fontes-Villalba, James H O’Keefe, et al 3 http://www.medicaldaily.com/health-benefits-home-cookedmeals-242919 4 http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkinscenter-for-a-livable-future/news-room/News-Releases/2014/Study-

Suggests-Home-Cooking-Main-Ingredient-in-Healthier-Diet.html 5 https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2020/US/ 6 https://www.foodandwine.com/news/best-selling-foods-2020-kroger 7 https://www.eatingwell.com/article/17390/how-does-your-burgercompare-to-the-calories-in-a-mcdonalds-big-mac/ 8 https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca/product/hamburger.html 9 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-almond-study-findschewing-is-more-than-meets-the-mouth-thorough-chewing-mayinfluence-feelings-of-fullness-61790097.html 10 https://thefamilydinnerproject.org/resources/faq/ 11 https://www.acosta.com/news/new-acosta-report-details-how-covid19-is-reinventing-how-america-eats