If you want your kids to grow up into health-eating adults, encourage them to get cooking. Data was studied from the Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and published by the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior earlier this year.
During the study, the participants ranging in age from 30 to 35 showed a direct correlation to their current healthy eating habits and their knowledge of and ability to cook when they were between 18 and 23 years old. The study also found that participants who with stronger cooking skills ate less fast and processed foods because they were more likely to prepare meals with vegetables as well as sit down for these meals.
So parents, take note: providing an environment that allows adolescents to hone their cooking skills may improve nutritional awareness and healthy eating as they enter adulthood and become responsible for preparing their own meals. Perhaps the public education system should bring back all those high school home economics classes.
—
Photo Credit: George Rudy / Shutterstock.com