Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Three additional sources

How Eating at Home can save your life - by Mark Hyman, MD
This is an interesting article I found by the Huffington Post that I think could be very valuable to my experience. It first focuses on the fast food industry and how it’s stripped away certain experiences and opportunities from families by the food and services it offers. They have great logos appeal in the statistical information and facts that they use to support their statements. The article states “more meals are eaten in a minivan than a kitchen”. The article also compares the percent of people that eat out in 1900 to the percent of people that eat out in 2010. This article has up to date information while still being able to compare information from a long time ago. One of the articles main points is that family dinners have been hijacked by the food industry. They delve farther into this by saying that food-science has changed our diet, and that it’s not always for the better. Mainly it addressed health issues and changes with our diet and lifestyles as it relates to the food industry.
I really enjoyed this article with the hard hitting facts and the straightforward attitude. I will definitely be using and keeping in mind a lot of the statistical information and facts as I immerse myself in my experience in May. I mostly agree with what the article says about the food industry destroying family dinners. Also, with the influence of technology and social media, it rings true that the traditional family dinner no longer exists. Luckily for me growing up I got to experience those real family dinners where you could spend quality time with your families. That is to go without saying that there were the occasional unpleasant dinners with arguments or unwanted discussion, but for the most part I am highly satisfied with those family dinners. My mom would always take suggestions on health foods we wanted for the next day’s dinner and as long as moderation was involved, factor in a great tasting dessert as well. It wasn’t till I got busier in high school and was able to drive that these dinners because less and less. However, I applaud my mother for still making it happen efficiently when so many events were going on.


8 Benefits of eating at home – other than saving money - by John S.
This resource comes from Passivefamilyliving.com. It’s a narrative type informative story of John’s own family and why they prefer eating at home to dining out. The biggest thing it claims with proof from their budgets and savings is how much money they limit dining out to because of the expensiveness of it. Saving money by not eating out is able to put cash back into one’s pocket, but besides saving money, there are a few other benefits one should be aware of before they dine out. The article goes on to highlight and describe each of these benefits to their audience. These benefits are a healthy lifestyle, lower health care costs, family time, knowing what you eat, reducing temptation, increase of energy, education, and making money. By eating at home one is subject to a healthier lifestyle. Because restaurants have limited healthy choices and bigger portions size it is likely that the meals you can create at home will far exceed in the health portion. An additional step to eating healthy is that you won’t develop things like diabetes and other similar diseases, which will maintain the price of your health care costs. Family time at the dinner table as the article suggests is great for the whole family to catch up about their day and interact on a relaxed level. Knowing what you eat talks about the importance of knowing what ingredients make up the food in the case of food allergy concerns. Reducing temptation discusses how hard it is to bypass the unhealthy choices when eating out. When you’re at home, one has more control over it. The other three items are also important to my research so I feel as if I will be using this article a lot for this project.
         I really liked this article and the layout of the information was really organized and made it easier to understand. These are all great benefits when one is looking to cut the amount of times they eat out a month. One of the cool benefits of not eating out that I have never thought about was that you could make money off of the money you save from not eating out by investing it or putting into a savings account.
How To Start Saving Money on Food Expenses – John S.
Another article by John S. of Passive family income, the reader is able to take away how to save money when grocery shopping and buying all the ingredients for meals. First off it claims that purchasing unprocessed and natural foods are not only healthier, but also cheaper. Once again John compares his budget to the steps he is taking so readers can see how much money is really being saved. The first way he shows to save money is to loose the addiction to soft drinks. John’s family will save 12.50 a month, which came out to $150 a year that their family could be saving. Next the importance of avoiding prepackaged foods is breached. Switching to things like tap water and instant tea instead of things like pop, sports drinks, or bottled water helped his family save even more. Another point he makes is to spend more time preparing food and spend less on food by buying more whole-grain and natural foods, which will also increase healthier choices into their diets.
I chose this article because it takes a different approach to my project. Because I will not be spending money at restaurants and instead making my own food, then I need to spend money on ingredients for that food. That’s where this article will help me get the most value out of the money I spend on ingredients and groceries in general to save even more money. It will steer me away from prepackaged items and things like pop and junk food that are not only expensive but really unhealthy as well. 

No comments:

Post a Comment