While it's often a matter of preference, eating out would usually prevail over cooking at home, be it because of the practicality or taste preference. However, that was before this pandemic happened. Nowadays, people opt to order takeaway food or just simply cook their own food at home. There are certain health benefits that comes with doing so, as well as being able to save more money when you have more people in your family. On this week's journal, we will be explaining a number of benefits you can get from cooking at home. Read on!
1. Getting to choose your own ingredients
When going out to eat, you are bound to choose your meals based on the restaurant you choose and the range of menu they offer. This may cause some inconvenience, especially when you have a certain food preference. It wouldn't be any problem if you were to cook your own meal at home, where you are free to choose and control over your ingredients. For example, if you prefer to have less salty meals, putting less salt in your cooking can be a very easy thing to do. Or you can avoid using food additives that may be rampantly used in restaurants. You can also implement your own cooking methods, as well as experimenting with healthier alternatives through recipes you may have found online.
2. Tailoring your meal to your diet preference
For people with certain food sensitivities or allergy, cooking your own food can be an easy answer to avoid any possible allergens that might be inside your takeout food. Even ordering food with specialized request may be a bit too risky for some people, as they don't really know for sure which ingredients may make them react badly to. Therefore, it's a much safer alternative to cook your own food when you have certain diet preference or health condition.
3. Ensured hygiene
Cooking at home requires you to do grocery shopping in order to obtain ingredients needed for your meals. This gives you a chance to pick and choose the quality of your ingredients, as well as their cleanliness. For example, when you go to the wet market or supermarket, you can see for yourself which ingredients may appeal to you, as well as judging how clean the vicinity may be.
4. Portion control
A common problem when eating out is that sometimes the portion doesn't fit everyone, let it be too little or too much. Value wise, small portions for a high price may leave you feeling cheated, while physically feeling unsatisfied. However, eating too much may also cause some problem, like discomfort in your belly.
Cooking at home may help solve those problems, as you can take full control of how much you can or want to eat in one sitting. This habit can also help you if you're trying to lose some weight, as you can avoid overindulging in large portions of food, as well as reducing food waste at the same time.
5. More nutritional value
While you can benefit on the time-saving takeout food or simply eating outside, these habits aren't necessarily healthy in the long run. Some studies suggest that overconsumption of takeaway food may potentially heighten the risk of obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
Cooking at home helps you incorporate healthy eating habits by knowing how much nutritional value you are getting with each meal. Spare some time each day for meal prepping, and you'll be able to measure how much calories you want to consume that day. This includes keeping track of how much carbs, protein, fat, and sodium you may consume that day.
