Make your own food – lose weight – guarenteed.
According to eDiets.com the average American eats at a restaurant 159 times a year!
That is an amazing statistic if it is accurate. I looked up how many calories it takes to cook a meal and for me it is about 140 cal, for 1 hours worth of food preparation. If I made just one complex meal a day (typically I do two), then I will have burned enough calories to just changing from eating out, to making my own, to peel off about 14 lbs of fat a year.
For some this will be the difference between obesity, and health, for others it will be the difference between stabilized weight and gaining each year – like most of us do. Just looking at it on the surface makes makes a good case that we should try to make all the food that we can. But that is only half the story. Eating out is only part of the problem. Cooking with whole foods is another step we need to make.
Over the last 50 years the average diet, according to FAO, has changed significantly – and it is not because of all of the eating out alone.
Here is just a quick run down.
We consume almost 900 calories more a day than we did 60 years ago.
Most of increase has come from refined foods and vegetable oils.
We are eating few complex carbohydrates
We are drinking alcohol slightly more (well – not me anyway – so that is a "we" that really means just you:) )
We eat 2x as much chicken and a little less beef.
Anyway, the list goes on, but the bottom line is that we are consuming more, and more of those things that hurt our bodies worse – all the refined pre-packaged foods. Basically what it amounts to is that we really did not eliminate anything out of our diets, we just added to them all "healthy" stuff that we buy in boxes at stores and snack on all week long. Sure it is low in fat, but it is HIGH in sugar (to try and make it taste good) and that has lead to many of our current health problems according to several government, and intergovernmental groups.
Here is just an example. When I eat at McDonalds I typically order a Double Cheese Burger, a McChicken, a medium fry, and a medium drink. That will fill me up nicely for less than $5 – and 1400 Calories! I will have take at least 1 hour to drive and get it and get back to my home/office.
Whereas if I fix my salad at home – and I make a mean salad – I can put anything that I want on it practically (My typical salad will have the following; spinach, sprouts, cottage cheese, tomatoes, celery, jalapeños, avocado, coconut, raisins, rice noodles, red onions, green onions, carrots, mushrooms, paremsean cheese, almonds and a vinaigrette) and it will not even top 400 calories. Plus, it will have taken me about 1 hour to make and eat (I cut it all from scratch), which burns about 140 calories by itself.
Now, I will be full for hours because there’s over 12 grams of fiber and protein in that salad. It will have taken the same amount of time to go to McDonalds and get fat – as it did to make a really healthy meal and works towards being skinner. I’d have to work out on my elliptical for about 1-2 hours to simply catch up.
So how much time did I save? I thought it was supposed to be more convenient. When we factor in the whole cost there is not really anything convenient about restaurant food.
A commitment to cook more of our own foods from their natural state means that we will not only burn more calories to begin with, but the foods that we chose to cook with will be much more filling and healthy for us.
Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!
Matthew Stearmer
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Comments
In a lot of ways it comes to choice I suppose. I do love to cook, but
@ like losing weight even more. I feel so good right now that I would
imagine cooking much more often – even if it was not one of my
favorite things to do.
Thanks for the post and support.
Be health – Enjoy life!
Matthew Stearmer
Matthew
Great information. I did not realize we had increased our intake by so much. You are right cooking at home is so much better.
Thanks
Robert
It is almost grotesque to see the changes in American eating culture. Much
of it has been pushed on us from incorrect sources of information, but we
also have to take personal responsibility for not moving as much as we
should.
But the good news is we can make a change now and get back on track.
Thanks for the post.
Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!
Matthew Stearmer
Now a days i'm really getting extra fat and my bear belly looks ugly and i've started consuming much food. the “making food by yourself” guide would transfer my extra fats as i think it would burn my energy as well as will serve as a good roughage content.
Yes it's really a best way to lose extra weight because now a days every one getting extra fat,by following this idea we can reduce fat and bear belly it results in healthy body
I like this system very much but some people couldn't enjoy this work but they have interested in loose their wait I supported this system
Oh That's interesting! Good Idea! Although I like to cook but don't get the time to do it regularly. But your idea of cooking food and losing weight is really one of the best ways among other tips for 'Weight Loss'. Thanks for sharing!
Since I have semi-retired I have been preparing and eating more meal at home. I agree with you. When you prepare your own meal at least you know what you are eating. And it is amazing how many more vegetables I eat when I am home that when I go out to eat. Eating at home used to be a treat, now eating out has become one.
This is a great article by which we can prepare our own food by following this article by which we can also reduce the weight
Yes this is a great article,It is best way to reduce the extra weight and also cook their likely food.And home food is best food.This is the easy way to loss our weight.Thanks to stearmer for providing good post.
I know some people don't really enjoy cooking but we have found that many dishes served at restaurants can be prepared just as well at home, sometimes even better. There are only a few restaurants that we will even go to anymore because we haven't learned to cook food the way they do yet (Red Lobster, PF Changs), but most of the time, we like what we prepare better anyway, plus there is less time wasted in traffic, no crowds and noise, no gratuity, and we generally prepare it healthier.