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    Homemade Food vs. Fast Food Recipes: Which Is Good For Your Health?

    Homemade Food vs. Fast Food Recipes: Which Is Good For Your Health?

    People have no time to cook meals at home nowadays.

    Everyone is busy chasing work goals and we are paying minimum attention to our health. A lot of us prefer eating out or seek take-out meals to save time and to satisfy fast food cravings. We all know the importance of cooking and eating homemade meals and how it impacts our sleep and it becomes hard to fall asleep but none of us seem to be ready to put in the effort or time.

    If you’re not good at cooking, you can learn by trying every day to eat healthier. You can find a number of healthy and delicious vegetable or chicken recipes online that are easy and quick to prepare. The recipes usually specify the quantity of the ingredients and instruct you with a step-by-step preparation procedure to make it easier. You can also purchase appliances such as an instant pot to reduce the effort and time in cooking and putting together delicious meals. But the question is, how healthy is homemade food? Let’s take a look at the benefits of eating homemade food as compared to fast food meals to determine why it’s a better option for you.

     Benefits of Homemade Food

    1.  It is Nutritious

    There’s no doubt about the fact that homemade food includes a lot of nutrients as compared to fast food. You buy fresh ingredients that are cut and cooked right before eating time, unlike in restaurants. You have the choice of using healthier ingredients that are high in nutrition and low in sodium and carbohydrate count. Not only are you blessing your body with better choices, but your family is also getting the benefit from them.

    In most of the restaurants and fast-food chains, most of the meal prep and major cooking is done before the opening hours. When you sit to order, the chef either adds some necessary ingredients to revamp the precooked meal or simply heat it up. This can be extremely unhealthy, especially for children. When you cut and store vegetables and fruits beforehand, it oxidizes and loses all major nutrients such as essential vitamins and antioxidants.

    2.  Helps Combat Allergies

    A lot of people are allergic to certain food ingredients such as peanuts or eggplants. Buying takeout meals can often have these hidden ingredients that you’d be completely unaware of. People often end up experiencing rashes, swelling or redness after eating food outside, and it’s difficult to determine the cause. At times, it can also be life-threatening, and you’d wish that you had eaten at home instead. If you or your family members are suffering from any allergy that’s severe, it’s always a better option to cook and eat homemade food. For cooking your own food, you can check the best cookware for healthy dishes here.

    3.  Helps in Controlling the Quantity and Portion Sizes

    Cheap takeout meals often come in huge quantities that are extremely bad for your health. A lot of people tend to overeat when they order fast food. This is specifically unhealthy for your stomach. Your stomach takes around 20 minutes to send a signal to your brain that it is full. And when you don’t realize that you’re full, you tend to finish whatever is on your plate. However, when you cook at home, you can control the portion size of your meal and give your stomach the advised quantity of food according to your body type. Cooking and eating at home can help in controlling your meal quantity and portion sizes, which is better for your body and your weight.

    4.  You Can Watch Your Weight

    If you’re trying to lose or watch your weight, you know that fast food is completely off the charts. You need to prepare meals at home to excessively shed the pounds. Your diet plays 80% of the role in losing weight and thus can determine the importance of eating healthy food that’s made at home. Preparing healthy food at home helps in avoiding excessive calories and counting your carb, protein, and fat intake. Plus, it’s less expensive too. If you’re still craving fast food while dieting, you can prepare a healthier version of your favorite meal at home. It’ll have much fewer calories and, with a little twist, you can make it more delicious as well.

    Fast-food chains use ingredients that are heavier in calories and more expensive. Just try preparing a meal at home that’s inspired by fast food and compare both versions yourself. You’ll feel lighter and less bloated after the meal. It’ll also be less in calorie count.

    5.  The Ingredients Are Fresher

    When you’re cooking at home, you know what’s going to go inside your meals. You have the freedom of choosing your own ingredients and choosing the products that’ll be used. You get the option of using fresh and organically grown vegetables and meat, which is the best kind of product to ensure maximum health benefits. Also, natural ingredients are often minimally processed, which can give you the benefit of avoiding artificial preservatives such as flavorings, sweeteners, potassium chloride, fructose, and sodium acid pyrophosphate, among many others.

    Fast food meals often use stale ingredients that aren’t locally produced or are much cheaper compared to fresher ingredients. Fast food chains don’t usually care about the choice of ingredients as long as the food is delicious, and that seems to be working for the consumers. You need to be aware of this fact and to try reducing fast-food consumption as much as possible. Stale ingredients can also lead to certain diseases that can take a major toll on your health.

    So, as we can see, homemade food outdoes fast food in almost every aspect. It’s healthier, and with some effort, it can be tastier too. It has also been proven that eating homemade meals can help in reducing childhood obesity. If you’re a beginner, you can access tons of recipes online to make matters easier for you. Cooking meals at home can also help you spend some quality time with your family, and help in keeping their health better.

    Show your guests that eating healthy has never been fancier and tastier. If you’ve been eating unhealthy lately, switch back to preparing homemade food to eat healthier, save money, and improve your overall well-being.

    1 Comment

    • Shirin
      August 24, 2022

      I love your post
      Thank you

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