#HEALTHTALK 11: Why Home-made food is better and healthier

Food can also be poisonous when it is not well prepared. Cooking your food by yourself has a lot of advantages.

Most people, especially the working class, prefer buying already cooked food than self made food which is healthier.

In this article, I'm going to talk about some of the reasons why you should prepare your food more often, than eat outside.

Reasons

1.   The need to eat nutritious and healthy food: Cooking can be time consuming and stressful too, but it's necessary for healthy living. When you cook by yourself, you'll be able to adequately provide, measure and account for any ingredient used by you for the preparation. Food vendors and eateries do not often have your health at heart but your money, which is their profit. So, they're more willing to add as much ingredients as possible in order to make the food salacious, not necessarily healthy. But, when you cook by yourself, you tend to think more about your and other eaters' health.

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2.   You have greater chances of removing anti-nutrients in food during processing. But, food cooked by some food vendors, though tasty, often have less nutrients and more anti-nutrients. Some family members may be allergic to some food. Home cooking also takes notice of that.

3.   Home-cooking helps you saves more money: You save more money when you eat at home than from vendors. Sometimes, the amount of money used to buy your ingredients and do the cooking is less than the cost of a meal at a restaurant. Young adults who are still building themselves up financially will find this point helpful for their financial flexibility goals.

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4.   Cooking at home is a great way to teach your children cooking skills. I can't remember ever taking organized cooking lessons from my parents, but I learnt from assisting them in meal preparation. Can you imagine what would have been if they weren't cooking that much for me to see? Also your children can save themselves the cost of hiring a cook or eating outside always, while in higher institutions of learning and during their years of living alone as bachelors and spinsters.

5.   Eating at home can also help you to know your actual portion sizes. You tend to eat more or less than you really want or need when you eat outside.

6.   For the married, home cooking brings the family together. It offers awesome family moments for bonding, for both newly weds and larger families.

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7.   Food safety: Food borne illnesses occur more in an eatery than at home kitchens, because commercial eateries prepare their food in large-scale. So, they can produce  thousands of meals a day with more or less ingredients than required. Apart from this, because of the large volume of food being prepared, something could go wrong  and the foods would be contaminated.
Food is often prepared in a more hygienic way at home.

8.   Home-made foods use natural ingredients. Simple recipes that include fresh vegetables, and minimally processed foods are often used. Most highly processed foods contain artificial preservatives which are not healthy for the body.

9.   Eating out can make you gain unnecessary weight but home made foods help you regulate your calorie intake better. Those who have weight loss goals will find this information helpful.


Lilian Eze is a Nutritionist-Dietitian and teacher in Lagos, Nigeria. She is also a Lead Content Creator at The Paul Anunaso Blog, and can be reached at lilian.thepaulanunasoblog@gmail.com