Cooking at home can boost your health

Q: I’m sick of cooking all the time! Why shouldn’t I go back to eating out and ordering in more often? — Leslie J., Lafayette, Indiana

A: If you follow guidelines, it may be OK. But if you’re like most Americans, at least four to five of your weekly meals are already from drive-thrus, diners, pizza joints and chain restaurants.

A 15-year study found people who regularly ate two or more commercially prepared meals a day were 67 percent more likely to die from cancer and 18 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than folks who rarely ate commercially prepared food.

So here are some tricks to make cooking at home easier:

■ Cook once, eat three times. Soups, casseroles, stews, pasta sauces, whole chickens and poached salmon can be cooked once and then divided into multimeals or frozen for later enjoyment.

■ Cook with the greats: Create wonderful meals as you follow online video instructions from chefs such as Daphne Oz and Lidia Bastianich.

Q: I want to eat a more plant-based diet, but how can anyone eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day? I still want animal protein too. — Steph F., Lexington, Kentucky

A: We have two words for you. Slowly. Affectionately.

Slowly. You don’t have to go from two servings of fruits and veggies a day — what the average American gets — to five or more overnight. Also, don’t fret about what a serving is; eat a heaping handful’s worth to start.

■ Your initial goal: To slowly work up to two servings of fruit and three of non-starchy vegetables a day.

■ If you make your lean protein (salmon or skinless chicken) a side of 3 to 6 ounces instead of the centerpiece, you will eat more veggies and fruit to fill up!

Affectionately. Start with what you like. Write out a list of five of your favorite vegetables and five of your favorite fruits. For today, choose one fruit and one veggie from the list that you don’t have in the house and go buy them.

■ Eat the fruit (that’s the easiest).

■ Look up a recipe for that one veggie favorite and add it to your dinner menu.

■ Tomorrow have fruit with your breakfast. Add another veggie on your list to lunch and to dinner.

■ The next day for dinner, stir-fry a lean protein plus three veggies from your list. Have fruit for dessert.

■ In a week or two, aim to be eating five or more items from your list of favorite fruits and vegetables each day.