14 DAY TRIAL // Our society is moving at a markedly faster pace than it used to do years ago, so it’s only natural that most of us rarely find the time to stay indoors and cook a family dinner. Aside from the fact that this alters our life in ways we probably do not even acknowledge at the moment, it is also taking its toll on our health. This is why nutritionists advise us to try to make our dinner at least once a week, if it’s not possible to do so on a daily basis.
In her book “The Daily Fix,” nutritionist Alexa Fishback says that studies on the eating habits of young adults aged 18-23 clearly show that purchasing and cooking your own food makes it more likely that you meet dietary guidelines for fat, calcium, fruits, vegetables, and whole grain intake, than if you eat out. However, since most of us are too busy to fit cooking a meal in our daily schedule, she advises to at least try it once a week.
The easiest way to stick to this healthy resolution is, of course, by setting a day for the home-made dinner and holding to it no matter what. This, she says, is also one of the best ways to avoid processed foods and the intake of unhealthy fats usually found in fast food. It will also give us more freedom, both in terms of taste (since it’s us who make the food, therefore we can do as we wish) and in terms of quality, because it’s a well-known fact that there is no better food than a home-cooked meal.
Fishback also has a solution in case our lives are that busy that we don’t have the time even to go grocery shopping. With the popularity of the Internet, most companies have gone online, which means that we can simply order the items we want and have them delivered at our doorstep. There is, of course, the option of frozen and canned veggies as well, and we should make the best of it, the nutritionist says, since they’re just as good for our health as fresh ones.
With this in mind, there should be virtually nothing stopping us from enjoying the many benefits of a home-cooked meal at least once a week. It doesn’t take a cooking degree to make soup or rice with vegetables, to paraphrase the nutritionist.