There are a number of reasons why you should cook and eat at home as opposed to eating out. The biggest reason is that it’s cheaper and you get to spend more time with the people you love. It also gives you an opportunity to catch up on your favorite television shows. The other major reason is it gives you the opportunity to control how nutritious the food is. By using organic foods you can ensure that every member of your household gets the best nourishment they can from the food they eat. Also by slow cooking your meals you help you preserve the food’s own natural flavor and nutrition.
Rely less on meat
So why should you eat less red meat? Well for one eating lower down the food chain will help to clean up the environment. Consider if the whole world simply stopped driving cars, various SUVs, tractor trailers, planes, and shipping goods across the world it would probably not have as big an effect as just ceasing your beef intake. You need to consider the fact that livestock easily accounts for 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases according to the UN. This includes clearing land for their grazing, also raising grains to feed them, fertilizer, and the burping cows that roam the land. Then you need to take into account all the pesticides and fertilizer that is used to grow the grains, hormones that are used to fatten the livestock and various other methods to maximize meat production adversely affects your health. If you are going to eat meat make sure it comes for ethically raised animals, those raised naturally on natural organic diets.
Always eat real foods
Today, we eat less so called real foods and more processed, manufactured and artificially prepared foods. Our kids are literally growing up on Twinkies, hot dogs, and patties. Real foods are in fact the basis of a common sense diet, so the only processing they need is the cooking involved at home. Foods that are less processed require less energy and so fewer resources to make it possible for it to reach your stomach. Also because real foods haven’t had all the natural nutrients and vitamins sucked out of them they end up being healthier and allow you to live longer.
Always read labels and buy foods that have the shortest and most direct list of understandable ingredients. Better yet choose foods that don’t have labels just stick to items sold in the organic produce aisle.
Seasonal foods
This means you should eat foods that are grown during that particular season. Eating vegetables and fruits that are harvested at that particular time means that you will be eating them very fresh and they would have travelled less to get to where you are. This means that the tastier foods require very little resources to get to your cooking pot. For instance, you should eat blueberries in April to September.
Summer is the best food time of the year because this is when most of it is being harvested. An online farmers’ calendar is the best guide to buying and eating what is in season.
Grow your own organic foods
You can always buy organic fruits and vegetables from the supermarket but if you have the space and time you can save money and guarantee that your produce is fresh if grown at home. Many fruits and vegetables can be grown in large pots while others will require that you grow them outside in your yard. You can grow things like apples, oranges, mushrooms, cherries, bananas, lemons etc. all in your backyard. You will not only be ensuring that your fruit and vegetables are always fresh but you’ll also ensure that they are available when you need them.
Most people don’t think twice about what they eat and how they eat until it’s too late. If you want to live a long and healthy life always eat organic and watch what you are eating. The more you know about nutrition and the foods available around you the better your chances of ensuring that you and your family is healthy. Cooking at home should be seen as a first major step towards a healthy household.
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Mark has over two decades of experience as an organic farmer. He is the author of various books and guides detailing organic farming to the layperson.
