By Atwongyeire Alfred
Firstly, one has control over ingredients and can modify recipes to fit his or her own preferences or special dietary recommendations from dietitians. These may include; low-calorie diets, low salt diets and low-protein diets during dietary management of diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney diseases respectively. Dining out or buying pre-packaged foods will definitely not cater for this factor.
Portion size control is easier and food-related allergies are easily avoided because you can easily tailor recipes to fit your own preferences and dietary needs.
Thirdly, one has a chance to buy fresh and less processed foods from stalls since they buy the food materials themselves. Thus, home-cooked meals often retain more nutrients compared to other restaurant and store-bought foods.
Cooking food from home is generally cost-effective compared to dining out or buying ready to eat foods. Most victims, have always highlighted that its hard to get satisfied when you buy such foods. So, they end up spending more than what they had really planned at the end of the day.
Cooking is a creative activity and a valuable skill worth developing. It keeps one’s mind busy and makes the body physically active which will in turn help to reduce mental problems like depression and stress. Moreso, the cooking session burns a reasonable number of calories in the body which is important in weight management.
Lastly, compared to takeouts and restaurants, cooking from home creates more family time. Preparing meals together can be a bonding activity and perhaps initiates memorable experiences and this encourages healthy family dynamics.
The writer is a Nutritionist at Nutri-Safe Communities Organization (Uganda).
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