{"id":139,"date":"2010-05-17T14:00:32","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T21:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leanmeanvirilemachine.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2010-07-31T18:27:23","modified_gmt":"2010-08-01T01:27:23","slug":"easy-healthy-meals-an-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/17\/easy-healthy-meals-an-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy, Healthy Meals: An Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"easy<\/a>One of the biggest reasons why people are eating so unhealthy is that they \u201cdon\u2019t know how to cook.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t much better. You\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

Men and Cooking<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Another big problem with men\u2019s attitude toward food is that when they decide to \u201cget in shape,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s 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 \u201cdiet\u201d that will taste delicious, give you energy, and promote overall health without a huge time, money, or energy commitment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your mission: learn how to cook.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t know how to cook!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Like anything else, learning how to cook takes a bit of experience before you \u201ccan cook.\u201d Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t 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 \u201cchef.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t have time!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201chacks\u201d 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\u2019s not taking nearly as much time as you imagined. (I figure 1 \u2013 2 hours extra each week is all it takes.)<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it costs more money!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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?\u00a0 You will actually be SAVING money. I\u2019ll show you how to get the most bang for your buck.<\/p>\n

The Many Benefits of Learning How to Cook<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I can tell you from experience that people love The Guy Who Can Cook. There aren\u2019t too many of us, but when others find out, they are quite “wowed.” Think of basic cooking skills as an instant \u201cstatus boost\u201d in most people\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

For one, having friends over for a meal is one of the cheapest and most fun things to do when you\u2019re hanging out. And if you\u2019re trying to impress your date, there is nothing that\u2019s gonna work better than having her over for a dinner of baked salmon and asparagus. (Trust me!)<\/p>\n

Make the Commitment<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 \u201cfad\u201d does have ONE thing in common: an emphasis on fresh, whole, natural foods instead of processed and industrial food products.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In the next post in this series, I will go over some of the \u201ctools of the trade\u201d 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!<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest reasons why people are eating so unhealthy is that they \u201cdon\u2019t know how to cook.\u201d 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[39,8],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking","tag-basics","tag-real-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}