Stop cooking is killing us: seven benefits of making your own food
Due to lack of time, knowledge or desire, more and more people go from cooking . For some, cooking is a pleasure and they would not change it for anything, but for many, it is an obsolete activity thanks to restaurants, applications to order food at home and precooked foods.
In fact, this abandonment of the kitchen is becoming a trend to the point that it already raises the possibility of building and renting flats in which there is no kitchen and the task of food is relegated to external services.
But such comfort has a cost, and in this case that cost is our health. According to a study by Johns Hopkins University , cooking at home is better for our health than any other option. It does not matter if what you cook is simple or complicated, if you strive to make it healthy or not … The fact that you have done it at home already almost completely guarantees that they will be healthier and nutritious foods with less salt and sugar added.
In this study, the authors concluded that adults who eat home-cooked meals 6 to 7 times a week consume a total of 140 calories, 16 grams of sugar and 5 grams less fat per day than those who only eat homemade food once a week. week or less.
If those adults also strive to eat healthy, the benefits are even greater: people who eat home-cooked meals with the effort to eat healthy, consumed up to 320 fewer calories per day .
The benefits of cooking
1. More nutritious food
In many restaurants, but especially fast-food restaurants that deliver home, foods are high in sugars, fats, sodium and carbohydrates, including their healthier options.
When eating at home it is in your power to reduce what you consider unnecessary in your diet, especially sugars, fats or salt. You have a much more real control of what you eat.
2. Nutrition education and creativity
Food is much more than something that tastes good and fills your stomach. It is one of the pillars for a healthy life . Cooking your own food, if you also try to inform yourself about them, will help you learn which foods have more content in nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals among others.
In addition, cooking can be an art that helps you develop your creativity, trying recipes and combining ingredients to satisfy your palate.
3. Awareness of what you eat
If you prepare your meals yourself, you probably learn to enjoy them and savor them more intensely , which will help you eat less and satisfy you sooner.
This is important because eating in a hurry, simply gobbling whatever is put in front of us, and emotional feeding in which we eat anything just to feel better are two behaviors related to obesity and other metabolic diseases.
4. Portion control
In many restaurants the food rations are excessive , and that increases the risks of overweight because we tend to eat always what we put on the plate.
If you cook and serve your food, it is much easier to control the amounts of what you eat without being hungry, avoiding the risk of eating too much.
5. Adoption of better habits
Cooking at home is a good way to start taking better habits , making weekly meal plans, going to the market and choosing fresh products, trying recipes with seasonal foods and making sure you get all the nutrients you need.
6. Stronger family ties
Especially if you have children, the rituals involved in shopping, cooking and eating at home can be a good way to spend more time together and strengthen family relationships. In addition, it is an opportunity to teach your children good eating habits , a way to protect their health in the present and throughout their lives.
7. Considerable economic savings
Eating out or ordering food at home is much more convenient and faster, yes, but it also comes out considerably more expensive than eating at home. If you also organize in a way that prepares food to take you to work , and you learn to take advantage of the remains of a dish to make another without wasting anything, your piggy bank will notice it at the end of the month.
