Dr. Dodge: Passion for Health

Home is the best place to launch good eating habits. When people commit themselves to good nutrition, home-prepared meals are best. Unfortunately, there are two catches to this plan. Americans eat out often and this can pose serious pitfalls, especially at fast-food places. Secondly, people can and often do eat many health-sabotaging foods at home. 

In the past fifty years, quick service restaurants, commonly known as fast-food places, have multiplied like rabbits. Americans reported eating out about five times a week in 2006, with fast-food restaurants being the most popular. 

Nutritional content of foods from most fast-food establishments is far from ideal. Fat, total calories, and salt are high for most foods. Fiber content is very low. Veggie and fruit choices are low. These trends are opposite to what’s best for health, so it’s not surprising to find that excessive weight gain is common among frequent fast-food eaters. 

Does the blame for our obesity epidemic and its related health problems fall on the fast-food industry? No. Many other factors are also involved. Yet, the correlation between the growth of the industry and the growth of our obesity problem is striking. 

Most people who eat fast foods recognize that they are not great for health, but they choose them anyway. Why? The main reasons are that these meals are fast, easy to get, inexpensive, filling, and tasty. Changing these habits isn’t easy. Yet, as long as fast foods are a large part of one’s food intake, they will undermine the goal of exceptional health. 

To make awesome foods the focus of your eating habits, and to avoid health-sabotaging foods at the same time, decide to prepare and eat most nutritious meals at home. Once you make that basic decision, it is not difficult to launch into home cooking at its best! 

Here are a few key pointers for enjoying good nourishing meals at home. Do not keep tempting, but health-sabotaging foods at home. Any food that may sabotage your efforts to build healthy eating habits is not worth buying or keeping at home. 

Keep veggies, fruit, nuts, beans, brown rice, and other whole grain products well stocked at home. Use them generously in all meals as well as for snacks. The goal of eating six to ten servings of fruits and veggies daily is much easier to achieve at home than elsewhere. 

Eat nutritious breakfasts, lunches and suppers. A nourishing breakfast is a major help for daily performance as well as for long-term health. Nutritious lunches and suppers are not hard to plan. A guide like The Full Plate Diet offers many healthful recipes that are good.

A veggie-steamer is a major help in preparing nutritious suppers at home every night. Most steamed veggies can be ready to eat in fifteen minutes, and go well with brown rice and many other basic dishes. Fresh fruits offer a variety of many delicious desserts. 

Home cooking at its best provides ideal nutrition. That’s why it’s health secret # 4!