One of the biggest reasons why people are eating so unhealthy is that they “don’t know how to cook.” Instead of making easy, healthy meals from scratch, they either go out to eat or grab some prepackaged food product out of the freezer or pantry.
Unfortunately, most of these items are loaded with preservatives and all sorts of other garbage our bodies can’t handle. Going out to eat isn’t much better. You’re just as likely to get a meal that is covertly loaded with unhealthy ingredients such as processed vegetable oil, trans fats, and high fructose corn syrup.
Men and Cooking
In my experience, guys in particular are hesitant to learn how to cook and tend to rely more on fast food and prepackaged meals. Even though the days of wives slaving away in the kitchen all day so their husbands come home to a hot meal every night are long gone, women still seem to be more interested than men in nutrition and learning how to cook.
Another big problem with men’s attitude toward food is that when they decide to “get in shape,” only some of that processed junk gets the boot. In their place is a cornucopia of supplements, powders, and shakes. I tried this for a while years ago. Lots of fish oil and whey protein shakes, yuck. I never dreaded the thought of eating as much as I did in those days.
Here’s the deal: the healthiest, most nutritious food is that which is fresh, whole and unprocessed. The best part? I truly believe that you can create a “diet” that will taste delicious, give you energy, and promote overall health without a huge time, money, or energy commitment.
Your mission: learn how to cook.
“But I don’t know how to cook!”
When people find out that 80% of my diet is food I prepared myself, this is the most common response. When I ask them if they have ever tried, and if so, how many times they have tried, they tend to look at the floor and start mumbling.
Like anything else, learning how to cook takes a bit of experience before you “can cook.” Fortunately, it doesn’t take as long as you think. There are just a few basic skills, methods, and tools you need before all your friends and family start calling you “chef.”
“But I don’t have time!”
Perhaps not. Although many health writers will try to show you how cooking something takes less time than getting it taken out or thawing and reheating it in the oven, the honest truth is that it does take a bit more time.
But if great health is your goal, you will need to make it a priority to devote more time to food prep and cleanup. Fortunately, I know some “hacks” that will save you a tremendous amount of time on food preparation and I guarantee that once you get the hang of it, you will realize that it’s not taking nearly as much time as you imagined. (I figure 1 – 2 hours extra each week is all it takes.)
“But it costs more money!”
Depends. Unfortunately, all the processed garbage is heavily subsidized by the government, which means you are only paying a fraction of what it actually costs to produce. With fresh, natural, whole foods, you will be bearing 100% of the cost. But compared to going out, where you have to cover the costs of the staff as well? You will actually be SAVING money. I’ll show you how to get the most bang for your buck.
The Many Benefits of Learning How to Cook
Despite the slightly increased time, energy, and money commitment, learning how to cook has one of the greatest ROIs of anything else you can do to improve your health.
I can tell you from experience that people love The Guy Who Can Cook. There aren’t too many of us, but when others find out, they are quite “wowed.” Think of basic cooking skills as an instant “status boost” in most people’s eyes.
For one, having friends over for a meal is one of the cheapest and most fun things to do when you’re hanging out. And if you’re trying to impress your date, there is nothing that’s gonna work better than having her over for a dinner of baked salmon and asparagus. (Trust me!)
Make the Commitment
The world of nutrition is a complicated place with very few people agreeing on anything. But any diet that has proved itself to be more than just a “fad” does have ONE thing in common: an emphasis on fresh, whole, natural foods instead of processed and industrial food products.
Unlike these boxed, bagged, canned, and frozen monstrosities that are omnipresent in supermarkets and restaurants, real food needs to be prepared. In short, learning how to cook is one of the highest-leverage skills you can have in improving your health, whether your goal is to lose fat, gain muscle, or anything else.
Make the commitment to yourself that you are going to learn this. It may take some work at first, but I guarantee what you get in return will be massive.
In the next post in this series, I will go over some of the “tools of the trade” that you will need for your kitchen to make easy, healthy meals. If you are committed to learning how to cook, shout at me in the comments!
I'm a science geek, food lover, and wannabe surfer.
{ 8 comments }
Darrin,
Eating at home is one of the best ways to stay healthy. Even if you try to eat healthy at restaurants, it’s nearly impossible to do. In my opinion, one huge challenge is that it costs more to eat healthy. A carton of strawberries is the same price as a full meal at McDonalds. The convenience and price of fast food tempt people to use the drive-thru rather than cook on their own. As you mentioned, the first (and best) step is to simply try to cook and eat at home.
Dave
I definitely agree that it is a bit more expensive. That’s why I’m not advocating going the whole “organic, free-range, grass-fed” route. They may be a little bit healthier, but for most people starting out it’s not worth it. I will be doing a post in the future on “hacks” you can use to eat healthy on the cheap, but I’ll give you a quick one right now. Most people buy their chicken already cut up, but if you buy a whole chicken, it will set you back less than $8 and you will get 4 – 5 meals out of it.
Darrin, you hit a painful spot man – I’m in the proces of learning proper cooking… I mean – most chefs and top notch cooks are men – so it shouldn’t be that hard, right 🙂
Y.
Yavor: Exactly! One thing I hope to make clear over my cooking posts is that you don’t have to go all “Julia Child” and make everything very complex with weird techniques and exotic ingredients. With a couple simple “blueprints” you can make lots of simple tasty meals. Let me know if there’s anything in particular you are looking to learn, otherwise hope some of my posts can help you!
Personally, I don’t find cooking to be all that more expensive, especially when you concentrate on just eating less. Less food bought means less money spent. Just find a butcher with a good source of meats and you can save a lot of money by buying large cuts of meat. The butcher will even cut them for you!
I’ve also found that a Foreman grill severely cuts down on the need to learn how to cook meat. Just some kosher salt and fresh pepper is all you need for the meat. Just roll the meat in it and slap it on the grill. Done! Even throw the veggies on. Always tastes great.
-Drew
@FitXcel:
Yeah, buying in bulk is key to saving money on food. If I had a big freezer, I’d go cowpooling, which is basically when you and a few other people buy an entire cow and split the meat. It’s supposed to save a ton of money.
Darrin, I know from my own experience that being “The Guy Who Can Cook” really impresses people. I started learning to cook for myself when I was 19 – 20 years old, I wanted to be healthy and I wanted to know what was going into what I was eating. It also helps that I find nutrition extremely interesting, plus I really enjoy it, it has a calming effect.
@David:
Sounds almost exactly like me. When I was still in high school, dinner was mostly “every man for himself,” and my parents rarely cooked. As a result, I started doing all my own grocery shopping from a young age. For whatever reason, I was more interested in the produce and meat sections that I was in the frozen pizza and mac and cheese sections and it hasn’t stopped since. Even if I were a billionaire and could outsource all chores and errands, I would still cook. Fortunately, I do know many people who are adverse to cooking and know how to relate to them. I hope that my cooking posts will convince people that it’s much easier and more enjoyable than they would have imagined.
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