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In a previous life, I worked as a reporter and editor at a small city daily in central Ontario.
We were a close-knit group, so when a reporter there slowly but dramatically lost a serious amount of weight, perhaps 20 pounds in a span of months, people asked — had she shifted to a low-carb diet? Scarsdale? Was it a health issue?
No, she said. “I stopped eating lunch at restaurants.” That was it. Nothing more. By eating brown bag lunches and ditching daily, high-calorie, high-sodium restaurant fare, this woman in her early 30s made a lifestyle change that resulted in lasting health benefits. Not that body weight is the be-all, but it was fascinating to see how a simple change of food venue could alter a body type.
This came to mind while reading a local blog a while ago that featured this catchy headline: You’ll gladly die for your children; why won’t you cook for them?
The author was Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a family doctor, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and founder of the weight management centre known as the Bariatric Medical Institute.
Freedhoff believes that cooking for and with our children are among the greatest gifts we can give them, more important than teaching them to play soccer or hockey. The healthy habits, and health impacts, are lasting.
Freedhoff estimates his average patient eats out three to four times a week. And that is reflected in statistics showing that in North America more than half of all food dollars are spent on food prepared elsewhere.
Years ago, families were larger and parents had no option to eat in restaurants. I come from a family of eight children and can’t actually recall a restaurant meal as a family.
There weren’t the plethora of takeout options or meal service options – Skip the Dishes! – that are trending upward today, available with the click of an app. (On the flip side, good recipes are also a click away and whole foods can be ordered in.)
How did this happen? When did parents stop cooking for their children?
Food experts point to numerous factors, including the loss of home economics classes in school where the basics of food preparation and cooking were taught.
For some children, their last link to regular home-cooked meals is their grandmother or great-grandmother. How does a student away from home learn how to cook if his or her parents didn’t cook for them?
Are today’s jobs more important, our time demands more onerous than 30 or 40 years ago? That is debatable.
This fact is not: Somewhere along the line, convenience and cheap takeout trumped cooking.
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a family doctor, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and founder of the weight management centre known as the Bariatric Medical Institute, estimates his average patient eats out three to four times a week.
Ottawa is fortunate to have a group of talented cooks who write and talk about whole foods and cooking at home. They include Korey Kealey, who appears regularly on CTV, and Paula Roy, a Rogers TV food host. Both write about food in Ottawa at Home magazine. Both live in the Westboro area.
A mother of three, Kealey has always loved cooking for children. Full disclosure, for years my youngest son regularly “happened” to be around the Kealey’s kitchen when Korey was looking for someone to sample a recipe. My youngest son and the Kealey’s oldest boy were hockey teammates and classmates.
Kealey feels the shift away from home cooking is appalling and unhealthy.
“It has become socially acceptable to buy our meals in place of our time spent in the kitchen,” Kealey says. “People are pressed for time and food marketing companies do a very good job selling convenience.”
Children don’t learn to cook because they don’t see their parents cook.
Food writer Korey Kealey says it’s important for everyone to take food seriously and make it a priority.
“Do they know what a squash looks like? A sweet potato? How do they grow and how do you store them, let alone what are the options for eating them — raw, baked, boiled, steamed, barbecued, in smoothies or in soup?” — Kealey poses.
“It’s important for everyone to take food seriously and make it a priority because it is the foundation of health and wellness,” Kealey says. “When you prepare your own foods, you understand and choose what is going into your family’s bodies, until such time as children are educated and able to make those decisions for themselves.
“It is your obligation as a parent to do the very best for your kids with the resources you have,” Kealey says.
It’s in the kitchen, mid-recipe, that discussions can take place about reducing sugar from what is called for, or what kind of cooking oil is healthiest.
Kealey agrees with Freedhoff that a return to home economics as part of the school curriculum would familiarize young adults with cooking and help make up for the lack of home instruction.
Freedhoff wants to see families reclaim control of their eating habits from the food industry (produce, not products) — and put it back in the loving hands of the mothers and fathers who would gladly die for their children.
“If empowered to do so,” Freedhoff adds, “I’ve no doubt they would cook for them, too.”
Wayne Scanlan writes a regular column on fitness, health and wellness.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
查看原文...
We were a close-knit group, so when a reporter there slowly but dramatically lost a serious amount of weight, perhaps 20 pounds in a span of months, people asked — had she shifted to a low-carb diet? Scarsdale? Was it a health issue?
No, she said. “I stopped eating lunch at restaurants.” That was it. Nothing more. By eating brown bag lunches and ditching daily, high-calorie, high-sodium restaurant fare, this woman in her early 30s made a lifestyle change that resulted in lasting health benefits. Not that body weight is the be-all, but it was fascinating to see how a simple change of food venue could alter a body type.
This came to mind while reading a local blog a while ago that featured this catchy headline: You’ll gladly die for your children; why won’t you cook for them?
The author was Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a family doctor, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and founder of the weight management centre known as the Bariatric Medical Institute.
Freedhoff believes that cooking for and with our children are among the greatest gifts we can give them, more important than teaching them to play soccer or hockey. The healthy habits, and health impacts, are lasting.
Freedhoff estimates his average patient eats out three to four times a week. And that is reflected in statistics showing that in North America more than half of all food dollars are spent on food prepared elsewhere.
Years ago, families were larger and parents had no option to eat in restaurants. I come from a family of eight children and can’t actually recall a restaurant meal as a family.
There weren’t the plethora of takeout options or meal service options – Skip the Dishes! – that are trending upward today, available with the click of an app. (On the flip side, good recipes are also a click away and whole foods can be ordered in.)
How did this happen? When did parents stop cooking for their children?
Food experts point to numerous factors, including the loss of home economics classes in school where the basics of food preparation and cooking were taught.
For some children, their last link to regular home-cooked meals is their grandmother or great-grandmother. How does a student away from home learn how to cook if his or her parents didn’t cook for them?
Are today’s jobs more important, our time demands more onerous than 30 or 40 years ago? That is debatable.
This fact is not: Somewhere along the line, convenience and cheap takeout trumped cooking.
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a family doctor, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and founder of the weight management centre known as the Bariatric Medical Institute, estimates his average patient eats out three to four times a week.
Ottawa is fortunate to have a group of talented cooks who write and talk about whole foods and cooking at home. They include Korey Kealey, who appears regularly on CTV, and Paula Roy, a Rogers TV food host. Both write about food in Ottawa at Home magazine. Both live in the Westboro area.
A mother of three, Kealey has always loved cooking for children. Full disclosure, for years my youngest son regularly “happened” to be around the Kealey’s kitchen when Korey was looking for someone to sample a recipe. My youngest son and the Kealey’s oldest boy were hockey teammates and classmates.
Kealey feels the shift away from home cooking is appalling and unhealthy.
“It has become socially acceptable to buy our meals in place of our time spent in the kitchen,” Kealey says. “People are pressed for time and food marketing companies do a very good job selling convenience.”
Children don’t learn to cook because they don’t see their parents cook.
Food writer Korey Kealey says it’s important for everyone to take food seriously and make it a priority.
“Do they know what a squash looks like? A sweet potato? How do they grow and how do you store them, let alone what are the options for eating them — raw, baked, boiled, steamed, barbecued, in smoothies or in soup?” — Kealey poses.
“It’s important for everyone to take food seriously and make it a priority because it is the foundation of health and wellness,” Kealey says. “When you prepare your own foods, you understand and choose what is going into your family’s bodies, until such time as children are educated and able to make those decisions for themselves.
“It is your obligation as a parent to do the very best for your kids with the resources you have,” Kealey says.
It’s in the kitchen, mid-recipe, that discussions can take place about reducing sugar from what is called for, or what kind of cooking oil is healthiest.
Kealey agrees with Freedhoff that a return to home economics as part of the school curriculum would familiarize young adults with cooking and help make up for the lack of home instruction.
Freedhoff wants to see families reclaim control of their eating habits from the food industry (produce, not products) — and put it back in the loving hands of the mothers and fathers who would gladly die for their children.
“If empowered to do so,” Freedhoff adds, “I’ve no doubt they would cook for them, too.”
Wayne Scanlan writes a regular column on fitness, health and wellness.
wscanlan@postmedia.com
查看原文...
