As a normal human being who has gone through lots of phases of the cooking more/cooking less continuum, I will always, always, always encourage you to try to cook your own food as much as possible. Good things happen when you cook. You get to control the quality and quantity of your ingredients, avoid the additives and extra sodium, become a better cook, and you just feel better. Consistently cooking your own food takes some planning, and this is a major focus of our nutrition counseling at RESTORE.
All of that said, there are times in life when it might make sense to plan to NOT cook. Again, planning is the key, because if you know that all of next week will be crazy with one spouse traveling and the other in late meetings and the kids with a multitude of weeknight activities, there is a good chance you will have cleaned out the leftovers and the freezer and are calling for pizza delivery by Wednesday (we have all been there).
One of our big goals when we opened RESTORE was to find ways to support our patients’ healthy eating efforts in every situation – even on the days when cooking feels like an impossibility. Let’s just remove the temptation of the junk-food dinner standbys. We went out into the local community and talked to our favorite healthy eating establishments to see how they could help, and they were so excited to partner with us and provide discounts for our patients. For healthy take-out options, we recommend Lyfe Kitchen and Modern Market. And for meal prep services that can be customized to your needs, we recommend Wholesome Grub and Utopia Food & Fitness. Ask about RESTORE’s patient discounts during your next appointment. We want everyone to be successful in maintaining a healthy diet, no matter what life throws at us!