Comments on: Is Home Cooking the Answer to the Obesity Epidemic?

By: My Kitchen Nutrition » Blog Archive » Mr. Pollan, People Need Cooking Lessons

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:02:41 +0000

[...] thrilled that Mr. Pollan has drawn attention to this issue, especially the fact that the more we cook, the healthier we are and the less we weigh – which is pretty much the entire focus of my career. However, I disagree with him that people are [...]

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:13:25 +0000

Cooking at home certainly does make a difference! When we moved to Sicily, we basically stopped eating out except for the occasional pizza (which are much much healthier in Italy) and the mandatory gelato and granita stops during the summer. I lost about 35 pounds in our first year without trying or even thinking about it. And I don’t cook ‘light’ meals! When we moved back to the states, we fell into the habit of eating out again quite a bit and it didn’t take long for all of those pounds to come back. I think a big part of it is portion control. At home we’re more apt to put ‘reasonable’ portions of food on our plates and stop eating when we get full, while at a restaurant we keep eating because the huge portion of food is sitting there on your plate.

The whole reason I started my blog was to convince people to start cooking again and nothing makes me happier than receiving an e-mail from someone who decided to stay home and cook after reading one of my posts!

By: Diane, Fit to the Finish

Diane, Fit to the Finish — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:39:05 +0000

Like so many things in the discussion on obesity, this one makes perfect sense. If you cook your meals at home you have control over what goes into your food – particuarly if you are using a lot of natural ingredients.

I gained a lot of weight (150 lbs) over my ten years of obesity, and 12 years ago I lost the weight. I did cook a lot more at home, and limited restaurant meals to special occasions.

By: Janet

Janet — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:43:28 +0000

It really all comes down to calories — not whether a food is processed, raw or natural. It’s not about pollution or preservatives. But I agree, home cooking is more economical.
Home cooking also means eating at HOME — and there are certainly multiple benefits (physical and emotional) of eating dinner together as a family.

By: John Wansor

John Wansor — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:34:49 +0000

One of the problems that lead to weight problems is processed goods rather than raw and natural foods. The second problem and the one that might be at the root is the effects of pollution in the body, which does alter it’s operation. Third the addition to perservatives can be in the store or in the home, it depends on what groceries your’re using.
One thing home cooking does is save money.