Healthy Hometown, Was Home Cooking

Michael Pollan’s article The Cooking Animal, describes the decline of home cooked meals and its effects. Cooking, he says, is what separates us from animals. It’s how we became civilized. By making us come together and share food, we learn about each other and ourselves. Although its importance, cooking is rapidly declining in modern times. What was once a daily ritual is now becoming a special occasion. Replacing cooking is convenient, yet horribly unhealthy, processed foods thus worsening the already increasing obesity problem. ”The more time a nation devotes to food preparation at home, the lower its rate of obesity” (Pollan 583). Pollan explains the importance of home cooked meals and it’s correlation with obesity and how we have

The majority of Americans give the argument that healthy food takes up too much time. They state that they do not have enough time to prepare healthy meals with a busy schedule, whereas convenience foods are easily squeezed into a day. This common misconception often

from McDonalds than a home cooked meal of baked fish with a Caesar salad on the side. A Big Mac cheeseburger alone is 550 calories and with French fries, that’s an extra 365 calories, compared to the baked fish and a salad which is only 324 calories combined. Mostly because they are too lazy to actually take out the time to prepare the meal for themselves. When cooking you have to keep checking to see if the foods done, take out certain supplies, and you have to stand up to cook, while at the drive-through you come in hungry and leave out full in less than ten minutes. After a long day of work, most people want to take the easy way out by going through the drive thru and ordering a combo. Take the easy road one night then slowly but surely it starts to become a habit, and that’s when lots of Americans find themselves in a fast food restaurant line almost every day. For example, my cousin works long hours as a nurse and when she gets off from work, she’s usually exhausted. She has a ten year old son who’s never had a home cooked meal from his mother. Nutrition experts have long identified the lack of home cooking as one of the factors contributing to the ongoing obesity crisis, including childhood obesity. My family always question my cousin about why she doesn’t cook and she always give us the same answer.

A major reason I agree with the thesis is because of the cost of food with junk food being higher than store bought food. Working as an overnight stocker at a grocery store, I personally see all the different prices of all of the food. Being able to see the prices of everything gives me an idea of how much it would actually cost to eat at home and make a home cooked meal. Another reason I agree is because of the difference in nutrition in junk food and home cooked meals. As a child my mom would bring home MacDonald’s as a dinner just to feed us. The result of this was me being an overweight child and having many health issues. The nutrition in chicken and vegetables would have been healthier than hyperprocessed foods such as MacDonald’s. The finale reason is with the amount of food received from a home cooked meal and fast food. If my mom would’ve taken the time to shop at a grocery store for home cooked meals instead of fast food the portion and nutrition of the meals could’ve been more for less as bittman proves in his article. As a child I didn’t really understand portion size and limiting myself on bad foods all the time. If I was shown the difference in portions and nutrition when I was younger my physical health could have been a lot

Authors Alice Waters and Katrina Heron, proposed an idea that more money being put into the food would help the poor nutrition that cheap food gives . This cheap and unhealthy food has shown its way over the last decades. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention mentions that childhood obesity has doubled in the last 30 years, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled. My idea, is that lunches could be five dollars a day. Instead of pizza, chicken sandwiches, and cheeseburgers; each day of the week can have a certain day where cultured food is served. For example; on Mondays, Italian food would be served, on Tuesdays, Chinese food would be served, etc. This is a much more appealing food option than the two dollar lunches students currently eat. This would also benefit the students because they would look forward to the certain day where their favorite food is served, while also being healthy. Another poll I created asked whether my idea of cultured food days would be better than the everyday pizza, chicken sandwich, and cheeseburgers. Ninety-nine percent of the students agreed that my idea was

Fast food critics have revealed that fast food patrons are more indolent and slothful in handling home chores, while the other individuals who prefer healthy home-cooked meals are more energetic, active and willing to deal with chores better. They also pointed out several reasons why fast food eateries may be less healthy than other types of restaurant, these include time, costs and signatory dishes (Spurlock and Schlosser). But in the actual context, this may not be so for all fast food restaurants as more restaurants are digging into improving their meals’ healthiness for the sake of their customers and the public on the whole. Hence, whether fast food should be blamed to be the main trigger to obesity is still disputable. Though research has demonstrated that people that eat fast food inclined to be obese compared to those who do not (Paeratakul et al.), will a greasy home-made stir-fry dish do a better job to enhance the consumers’ health than a pair of roasted chicken sandwiches in a fast-food

Having a meal cooked at home is a lot healthier, and it can help people lose weight. With a home cooked meal, you can have healthy things like chicken, broccoli, vegetables, fruits etc.

Should food background be important to us? The article The Pleasures of Eating by Wendell Berry states that for us to eat responsibly, we need to be free, and for us to be free we must know about our food. He says that you should not let anybody control your food and its sources or at least know where your food comes from and know what you are eating. I agree with Wendell Berry because I feel that we cannot be manipulated by the big food companies and just look at food as just food. Many food consumers buy their food without knowing about it.

Furthermore, the idea of a quick meal that can be microwaved in minutes or handed over from a drive thru window are often more appealing than spending the time necessary to cook a well balanced meal. It is for this reason that one third of American children are classified as obese (Tovar et al., 2012). Other factors that play a role in this unfortunate situation include

24 Hour Recall Courtney Redburn Azusa Pacific University 24 Hour Recall The purpose of this essay is to analyze findings from a 24-hour recall interview that was initiated with a client. The 24-hour recall interview involves prompting the client to recall all food and beverages ingested in the last 24 hours. In addition to recording the foods the client has eaten, I will also reflect on how nutrient-dense his food choices were, discuss the findings from the SuperTracker, and give recommendations for nutritional improvement. Data Collection

In 1964 Fabry et al. randomly selected and surveyed a group of 179 males regarding their eating habits (3). Subjects were then divided into groups based upon the number of meals they consumed per day. Skinfold thickness measurements were taken to determine body fat percentage. Fabry et al. found that as meal frequency (MF) increased, the percentage of overweight subjects decreased within each study group (3). Since that time, the correlation between increased MF and weight loss has become a highly debated topic in weight loss or maintenance.

Women love when men cook them a homemade meal and men love when they can come home to work to dinner already ready. Also kids love has that sense of importance whenever one of their parents asked them for help in the kitchen. With how fast everyone is moving nowadays people do not want to take the time to cook a homemade meal so fast food or eating out seems more pleasing. Though eating out may seem more pleasing and easier there are complications that can occur due to eating out too much. Most fast food is place in boxes or handle with gloves that can a chemical called, Phthalates, this chemical is known to cause fertility issues, pregnancy complications and other health issues. In a study done by George Washington University and the University of California at Berkeley found that, “people who eat more fast-food or food prepared at restaurants or cafeterias had phthalate levels almost 35 percent higher than those who said they mostly cooked and ate their own food”(Allen Coe). This study just shows how harmful eating out can be for the human body and how its effects can take place before you even recognize it. Through cooking it not only allows you to bond but also allows for you to avoid chemicals like phthalates and many others that are harmful for your

To start off you’ll make better choices. Food at the grocery store would seem more appetizing if you cooked more yourself. Rather than being lead by hunger, like tasty cheeseburger photos, at a fast food restaurant with unhealthy processed foods, making healthier choices at the grocery store would lead to healthier meals. People who cooked meals at home for at least 6 days

In restaurants, meals come in bigger portions and in the grocery store you can find a huge selection of a variety of foods, most pre-packaged. Many Americans are not aware that eating like this everyday can add a large amount of calories to their diet. An increase in physical activity is needed to offset this large calorie intake, but in most cases it is not seen.

In today’s society, most people plan their daily meals around their busy schedules. Food plays an important role in our lives and most just rely on fast food because it is quicker and easier. However, devouring fast food is one of the worst choices you can make. In order to maintain proper health and prevent numerous illnesses and diseases, consuming healthy homemade meals is definitely a more ideal choice. According to a recent study, “when people cook most of their meals at home, they consume fewer carbohydrates, less sugar and less fat than those who cook less or not at all – even if they are not trying to lose weight” (Wolfson). Because many people work full time and get home very late, people continue to eat it without being aware of how unhealthy it is for you and the health risks that it can eventually bring on. Based on the demand for quality food choices of today’s generation, it is important to compare and contrast the effects of preparing healthy, homemade meals versus relying on fast food restaurants for daily eats.