How Cooking has been Marketed as an Inconvenience & Why You Can’t Afford Not to Eat Homemade Meals

How did cooking go from being one of the most crucial, top priority life tasks to being perceived as an annoying, exhausting time sink that people would prefer to outsource to the lowest bidder?

The molecules of our food become the molecular information systems of our bodies. So, why do we care so little about the quality of what we eat that we are willing to entrust it to businesses that use some of the most toxic, inflammatory and nutrient depleted ingredients to lower costs so they can turn a profit while competing in the marketplace that tries to accommodating people’s perceived food budgets? 

Why are we willing to poison and starve our cells – to make ourselves mentally and physically ill – for the sake of ideals like “convenience” and “productivity”?

Better put, since when is it “convenient” or “productive” to have:

Research shows that six out of ten Americans has been diagnosed with a debilitating chronic diseases, and four out of ten have two or more. Of industrialized countries like Canada, Japan and Europe, the US has both the shortest life expectancy AND the shortest disability free lifespan, meaning we are losing our vitality, independence and quality of life at younger and younger ages. 

Bad genes? Normal aging? Wrong! Health issues are only 10% genetically influenced and the other whopping 90% is lifestyle, one of the most crucial parts of which is diet. 

How did we get here? 

Starting during the world wars, processed food came on the scene, both to feed men in the military and to unburden housewives that were holding down the fort working and raising a family back home.

Marketing campaigns in the 1950s really kicked it up to a whole new level by repeatedly telling housewives in print and TV ads that cooking was drudgery, exhausting and a bore. “Slaving over a hot stove” doesn’t sound like much fun, now does it? 

Add the rise of US corporate culture that still to this day applauds working overtime and shames rest, recreation and self-care. Where do you get those extra hours? Restaurant meals, take out, junk food and less sleep, of course.

Even though productivity studies show that European models of shorter hours, longer vacations and preventative health care yield much more productive workers, we Americans are still enamored with martyring ourselves for our jobs with promise of future success and fulfillment that’s like a carrot on a stick (but probably not an organic one, because we’re saving for that big screen TV). We also have the issue of so very many people who are working longer hours for unsustainable pay, which is a whole other topic I will not get into here.

How do we move forward? 

One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that, while some people ate more junk, many others started cooking more homemade meals. Now, to be clear, by a homemade meal, I don’t mean Lean Cuisine or Annie’s mac and cheese. I mean buying high quality ingredients and cooking an honest to goodness balanced, nutritious homemade meal. 

When I work with clients, there are a lot of factors that shape whether someone will successfully reverse their health conditions, but two stand out. It’s not their profession, how much money they have or even necessarily their condition. One is how willing, or coachable, the person is. The other is how often they eat homemade, nourishing, balanced meals. People who eat out a lot tend to have significantly worse health than people who don’t, even in cases where they “try to make good restaurant choices.” 

Remember, even restaurants with very sweet, well-meaning owners tend to use some of the most toxic, inflammatory and nutrient depleted ingredients (that you cannot see with the naked eye) in order to lower overhead and increase profits. Think heavy duty mayonnaise with extra preservatives, antifoaming agents in refined inflammatory cooking oil, anemic produce slathered in pesticides and dyes, not to mention added sugars, artificial chemicals and MSG for cheap flavor.

Even health food stores and fancy restaurants rarely use the best. There are some ethics-based restaurants, such as the farm-to-table model, with much higher standards, that I love to visit on occasion. Most people cannot afford to eat every meal in one of these. Personally, I prefer to eat homemade food most of the time, then when I do eat out on occasion I can afford to splurge on supporting a higher quality restauraunt.

A lot of people come to me telling me they want to heal, but don’t cook, won’t cook, don’t have time to cook and don’t like to cook. When I hear any of that, I don’t hear facts. I hear beliefs, which are just thoughts that have been repeated over and over to the point they appear real.

I know that anyone who is coachable can practice new thoughts, take new actions, form new beliefs and create new, upgraded realities. 

For example, a recent client wrote this up for me to share with folks:

“Thank you, Traci, for encouraging me to cook for myself.  I have always had the ability to cook, but have never enjoyed it. I have a sign hanging up that says ‘My four food groups are dine-in, take-out, drive through and delivery.’ Been my motto for years!“

However, I really want to become healthier and have always felt if you aren’t going to follow a doctor or practitioner’s advice, then don’t go see them!  So, I decided to start cooking. I was cooking one day and realized that I was making really yummy (but simple) food that was going to taste delicious and help to heal my body. And, in that moment my attitude towards cooking completely changed!  Now I look forward to creating delicious meals for myself.”

If she can do it, so can you! 

The benefits of homemade meals:

• Your health and happiness are priceless! 
• If you don’t find the time, energy and money to be healthy, you will have to find the time, energy and money to be sick (don’t kid yourself, this is real!)
• Generally, the better you eat, the more energy you have. People who feel like they don’t have the energy to cook, after an initial push to get started eating better, find they have more energy to keep cooking, eating better and, thus, have more energy for everything in life!
• Like anything, cooking gets faster and easier the more you do it. 
• You control the quality of all ingredients, including supporting local and sustainable 
• You control the nutritional balance
• With the right ingredients, you can choose health and happiness over sadness and sickness
• In the long run, cooking, even organic food, is more affordable than eating out + buying medicines + paying medical bills + loss of income due to sickness, disability or failure to make better career choices due to feeling poorly
• It’s kinesthetic – it makes you use your body and brain in different ways
• It can be a moving meditation mindfulness practice if you choose to be present and fully in your senses as you cook
• You can listen to a podcast, a show you enjoy or catch up with a loved on the phone
• You can play fun music that makes you want to dance (and you can even dance around your kitchen and sing into a spatula)
• Cooking is a learning opportunity. Whether you can’t boil water or are an ace in the kitchen, you can always learn more! If you have no idea how to cook, remember that every great chef started out not knowing. Learn one new skill at a time or take cooking lessons. (If you’re on Oahu, click here to request more info about private cooking classes.) 
• Cooking is a form of creative expression that you can develop over time. You can blow yourself away by the deliciousness you are capable of creating. 
• With the abundance of internet recipes, YouTube videos and cookbooks available today, you can learn to make food from all over the world, giving your palate a world tour from your own kitchen. 
• You can make quick, easy meals that taste amazing in less time than it takes to get in your car, drive to a restaurant, order, get your food and drive home. 
• You can learn how to cook and eat Healthy Hedonism style, where pleasure is a doorway, not to self-destruction, but to healing. Health problems suck the pleasure right out of life. With healthy hedonism,  your meals give you pleasure when you eat them, and make you feel good minutes, hours, days, months and years later, so you experience more total life pleasure.
• With a healthy hedonism approach, you can use foods to help slow aging, boost moods and reverse disease, or as I like to say, heal yourself from cell to soul!

To me, it’s a no brainer. It may take a little time and energy investment up front, but the return on investment for cooking homemade nourishing meals is immeasurable!

Need a place to start? Click here to check out some Healthy Hedonism recipes. Happy cooking!