The decline of home cooking and link to obesity

So much of what's in this clip went through my head this week as I was preparing dinner for one. Life with a shift worker means a lot of dinners alone, something I'm very familiar with having lived solo (except for my daughter when she was home) for over a decade. On some nights yes, I had toast or maybe a bowl of peas for dinner after a chronic case of CBF. But 99% of the time, I cooked a meal that I would have served had another adult been dining with me. So this week, I used my alone-time to try out a new salad recipe. Trying a new dish always increases the shopping and preparation time with unfamiliar ingredients. But once it's in the repertoire, the efficiency increases. There are times when I wonder why I put so much effort into food preparation and what a waste of time it is. Then I catch myself. Something like eating, which is absolutely vital to good health and survival, is now regarded as an annoyance. While I think the video is a bit simplistic in terms of suggesting home cooking would always be superior to eating out and that obesity isn't caused by at-home foods, it does highlight the disconnect between our fundamental life necessities - healthy food, exercise, relaxation - and our perceived necessities - a big house, expensive car, latest iPhone. When we sacrifice the fundamentals for the illusion of 'must haves', we lose. Sometimes we lose our lives.

My ex husband was a chef and there is a mistaken view that we had gourmet meals constantly. For one, when cooking all day it's the last thing you want to do at home. But the best thing he taught me was that cooking doesn't have to be complicated. Get a few good ingredients and some simple flavours. I rarely make a recipe that relies of specific vegetables because if capsicums are $12 a kilo, there's no way I'm buying them. I have no issue with 2-3 dishes on high rotation and using flavourings like pestos, dressings and simple sauces means I can serve almost the same vegetables and protein every night and it tastes like a totally different meal. The images of a couple dancing around the kitchen while cooking are probably far removed from the reality of one parent (usually mum) cooking after a full day at work while the other parent is either still out working or ferrying the kids from an activity. But is it the video that's wrong, or the reality? Having a healthier relationship with meals and seeing the preparation and consumption of them as a time for connection is something I really believe in. No screens, everyone sitting at the table and everyone getting a chance to talk about their day. Studies have found a link between eating at home as a family, without the TV on, and increased fibre and vegetable intake and reduced BMI in children. That's something worth taking time for.