Lose weight, save money, cook
RESEARCH shows people who cook more have healthier eating patterns, spend less money on takeaways and have indicators of better health.
Cooking makes you happy
A study of 160 adults examined whether eating healthy foods prepared at home affects your emotions. Researchers found people who cooked more reported more intense positive feelings and worried less compared with those who had more meals away from home. They were also more likely to then choose healthier foods at their next meal compared with people who ate more food away from home.
It is not only cooking, but sharing meals that is associated with greater feelings of happiness as found in an eight-year follow-up of 39 000 people in a cohort from Thailand.
Cooking saves money In the US Cooking Matters six-week programme, low income adults were taught how to shop for and prepare healthy meals within a tight budget using hands-on meal preparation techniques.
Six months after the programme was completed individuals still showed significant improvements in confidence about being able to maximise their food dollars and management techniques associated with choosing healthy foods. They were also less worried about running out of food before they had money to buy more.
A survey of 437 adults in the US looked at the relationship between frequency of home-cooked dinners or eating out with overall diet quality and money spent on food.
As you could guess, cooking at home more frequently was associated with higher diet quality and spending less per person on food away from home and on food overall, while eating out more often was associated with lower diet quality and spending more per person on takeaways) and food overall. Importantly the frequent and infrequent home cookers spent about the same on food prepared at home.
People who cook more have healthier eating habits
Ultra-processed food tends to be higher in total kilojoules, salt, sugar and saturated fat. In a 2008 survey of 509 adults in the UK, the average percentage of energy from ultra-processed foods was 51%.
Those more confident with cooking or who cooked a main meal at least five days a week consumed 3%-4% less total daily energy from ultra-processed foods.
Cooking is associated with a lower risk for Type 2 diabetes
In a US study, 58 000 women and 41 000 men were followed for 25 years. Every four years they were asked how many of their lunch and dinner meals were prepared at home. Among those having five to seven home-prepared evening meals there was a 15% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared with those having two or less, while among those who had five to seven midday meals at home there was a 9% lower risk.
This higher risk was partly attributed to those eating more meals at home experiencing significantly less weight gain.
For those consuming 11 to 14 meals a week prepared at home, women gained 3.02kg and men gained 2.62kg during follow-up. This was significantly less than the weight gained by those having zero to six meals a week prepared at home – 3.36kg for women and 3.85kg for men.
Cooking interventions help
In studies where people actively sought to cook more they improved nutrient intakes, diversity of food groups, and ate better foods.
Across all studies of this type there were some positive impacts on health outcomes such as blood cholesterol, blood pressure, markers of rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease and quality of life for patients with prostate cancer.
Who teaches you to cook? A 2015 survey found about one in five Australians wanted to cook more at home. In an Irish survey, 1 000 adults were asked about their cooking skills, including preparation such as chopping, skills like budgeting, practices including safety, cooking attitudes, diet quality and health.
They were also asked when they learnt to cook and who taught them.
Results showed adults who had learnt to cook as children or teens were significantly more confident, had a greater number of skills and practices and better overall diet quality and health.
Mothers had been the main person who taught them to cook. Learning to cook from an early age is important. This means the health of the whole family could potentially be improved by helping the main carers to improve their skills.
Clare Collins, professor of nutrition and dietetics, University of Newcastle. Tamara Bucher, senior researcher, University of Newcastle
This article was first published in The Conversation