Get Healthy this Year!

If you are trying to change your family's diet and eat healthier, then checking labels and asking what’s in the food on the menu is a great start. But there’s a simple, healthy habit that many Americans are forgetting about when it comes to eating better.

Food and health journalist and author of Food Matters, Mark Bittman, brings up a good point in his recent New York Times article which looks at the eating habits of Americans. It turns out that we hardly cook for ourselves at all! In his words, “Real food is cooked by real people!”. Somehow, it doesn’t seem surprising that real people are cooking less than ever before.

Cooking is becoming a skill of the past, and many Americans barely know where to begin. Not knowing the basics of cooking sets us up to perpetuate the “convenience” habit of getting take-out, eating fast food and, in general, relying on heavily processed foods.

The easiest way to eat healthfully and control your diet is to make or prepare the food you eat for yourself (and/or your family). This way you know what you are putting into your body, and you also can focus on eating combinations of whole foods (items with the least amount of processing).

The average American clocks in 35 hours of television a week -- ironically much of it spent watching cooking shows -- so it doesn’t appear that a lack of time is the real reason that people don’t cook.

If you don’t feel confident about cooking in your kitchen or living space, try to figure out how you can increase your cooking habits. You might even find that you get great satisfaction and that you actually enjoy preparing your own food. If you need support or recipes check out my website for in home cooking classes or see my blog for recipes.

2011 is the perfect time to get healthy.