Home-Cooked and Healthy

November 28, 2001

You already know that cooking at home makes it easier to control what goes into your meals, allowing you to choose healthy and fresh ingredients to fuel your dancer’s body. And a new study published in Public Health Nutrition is ready to back that up, finding that people who frequently cook at home tend to have more nutritious diets overall.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analyzed data from over 9,000 participants in the the 2007-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were questioned about what they ate in a 24-hour period, and about their eating habits over a 30-day period. The results showed that people who cooked at home six to seven nights a week consumed less sugar and fat than those who cooked infrequently or not at all. The home-cookers were also more likely to make healthier choices when they did eat out, choosing fast food or packaged frozen options less often. 

So, even if you don’t always have time to whip up a homemade feast after rehearsal, all that cooking experience will help you make savvier choices when you decide to enjoy a meal out.