Making Meals at Home = Avoiding Obesity?

This is a little off the beaten path of our usual post content, but we think it's fascinating. The New York Times' Catherine Rampell plotted the average time each day that an average citizen of a country spends eating against the national obesity rates. The result is fascinating. Check out where the U.S. is hanging out!

Meanwhile, personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary noted in this past Wednesday's Washington Post article that making and eating your meals at home and eating out less is a great way to reclaim a chunk of your budget.

Singletary says,

"Because I write The Post's Color of Money personal finance column, I've seen the high cost of eating out. Dozens of readers regularly tell me that their budgets get busted by frequent restaurant visits.

If you shop well, you can cook at home for less money. But there's another important benefit and blessing that is priceless: Having family meals at the same time, at the same table is a way to keep the family healthy and close. I just wish I had understood that earlier in my marriage and motherhood.

Some of the best times I've had in my home with my kids and husband have occurred around the preparation or consumption of a meal. We have to teach our children how to cook, so they can cook for their families and minister to their needs. "

Amen to that.

If economic pressure makes us reinvestigate thrifty grocery shopping and old fashioned family dinners at home, maybe we'll take a little more time at the dinner table to to savor the fruits of our efforts in the supermarket and kitchen...and bonus: we just might buck an American obesity trend along the way.
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