Cook More, Weigh Less
November 9, 2009
What happens when Harvard economists crunch decades worth of numbers to try to understand how Americans have gained so much weight? They talk about cream cakes, French fries, and the time cost of food.
Americans have made tremendous progress in food preparation technology. Although we have, for generations, eaten foods like cream-filled cakes and French fries, somebody (usually the housewife) had to spend a lot of time and effort making those treats. Now, these foods are cheap and available: the fries are sold in drive-thrus on every corner, the packaged cream cakes call out to us from every vending machine.
Our caloric increase has increased most in the category of snacks, which are most likely to be highly processed. Around the world, the countries which process their food the most, show the greatest weight gain.
So, cooking meals with and for our families begins to look like the healthier option. Eating regular, sociable meals limits our intake of snacks. Preparing food ourselves gives us more control.
We don’t have to go back to the days when cooks were “chained” to the stove. But we can be aware of the pitfalls, as well as the pleasures, of our all-foods-all-the-time world.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today.