Why You Should Cook Your Own Meals
It’s super common for people in the midst of their busy schedules to neglect cooking at home. Grocery shopping usually consists of buying processed food for snacks that have a high shelf life. Home cooked meals are pretty much non-existent because fast food restaurants exist.
Then there becomes this dilemma where people are eating out for at least one meal a day and sometimes up to three meals a day. For someone that likes to cook all her meals (hey, it me), I cannot FATHOM eating out that much. Pretty much my insides would come out and slap me.
What are some of the benefits of cooking your own food?
YOU KNOW THE INGREDIENTS - no real shocker here, but you know how much is going into your meal if you’re in control of cooking it.
IT’S FRESH - I’ve heard rumors that some restaurants keep things pre-cooked and frozen before serving.. that’s just gross.
PORTION CONTROL - because you are in control of cooking the meal, you can make sure the portions are on point. If you track your macros, the macros listed on some of these restaurant entries are just estimations. I guarantee the chefs in the back aren’t weighing out the oil that they’re slathering all over your food. I’m sure some things are pre-portioned, but there are errors in the estimated nutrition information for sure just as there are errors in regular nutrition facts.
IT’S CHEAPER - despite popular belief, buying nutrient dense food from the grocery store is not expensive. Your frilly little $10 pecan salad from Panera is quite expensive, though. I could make salads for a family of 5 with $10. Stop making excuses to yourself for why you can’t be disciplined to make your own food. You can even take meal inspiration from certain dishes that you like and create your own “healthier” version of it that provides more nutrients.
Take control of your health and what you’re putting into your body and cook your own food. Not only will you feel better but you’ll probably end up enjoying the act of cooking! For me, it’s super relaxing to cook because my brain gets a break from everything else but the task (cooking) at hand.
I guarantee if you feel like your progress is stalled or if you feel like you’re not progressing as fast as you’d like (considering all things are normal), yet you’re eating out 1-2x a day/5+ times per week, there’s probably some calculation errors within what you’re tracking. If you’re eating out that many times per week, that leaves a lot of room for calorie miscalculation and could easily be taking you out of your deficit if you’re trying to lose body fat.
Would love to know your thoughts!
xoxo