

Why Making, Instead of Buying, Dinner Could Make You Thinner - cwan
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/11/why-making-dinner-is-a-good-idea/

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nobody_nowhere
As long as we're throwing out loosely supported theories for the rise in
obesity, how about the rise of anti-depressants? Many have a noted weight gain
effect.

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Dylanlacey
So, does this only impact food and eating?

Because I can see something interesting happening here, when compared to UI
and processes. People hate 'harder' processes, even when the end result is
better.

We're told that we need simple UI's, and given what people think of even
"simple" (to hackers) complexity, I think this principle is NOT in play. None
of my relatives ever said "I really like watching this show, it was HARD to
program the VCR to record it!" (Yes I know).

The again, as a hacker I DO derive more pleasure from completing a difficult
task. So maybe it's problem solvers VS everyone else.

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jiaaro
An Interesting idea, but I don't think this is the reason.

Food you prepare at home tends to have less fat/sugar than food you buy
already prepared (especially when you're using raw ingredients)

Also, when I make a food for myself, laziness plays a role. Cooking a second
serving takes more effort.

I do not have industrial size cooking ware, so there is a physical limitation
to how much food I can cook at once.

I am not inclined to go through the whole process a second time, even when I
might have eaten more if it was offered to me.

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watty
I agree that healthiness of a home cooked meal is probably going to be better
than something you order. I'm not sure about serving size though but then
again I only cook for my wife and I.

We always have leftovers that end up feeding us for multiple meals, if
anything I eat MORE when I home cook because I don't have to stop!

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spoiledtechie
Its also a matter of convenience. I would rather not spend 30 minutes making
something just for me. The effort and need isn't there. I would rather have
something delivered for 2 minutes of my time so I could spend that time doing
something more productive.

When I buy something compared to make something, I basically bring it down to
how much I get paid per hour. If I get paid 30 dollars an hour, and it takes
me 30 minutes to make something, my time is better spent doing something else
if I can pay less than 15 bucks for it.

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watty
I cook because I enjoy it and because it saves me money. Yesterday morning I
cooked and froze 8 breakfast burritos that put McDonald's to shame. Today I
spent all of 15 seconds throwing it in the microwave and didn't have to worry
about driving or ordering anything.

If you're cooking by yourself don't alter the recipe for a single person,
freeze it! You'll likely spend much less $/minute for all of the meals and
definitely eat healthier. Not to mention $/minute is a silly thing to use
unless you get paid hourly and for any hour of the day. I don't think I've
ever ordered a pizza and then got down to business while I waited.

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eru
You definitely have to factor in whether you enjoy cooking or not, in any
rational (in the economist's sense) calculation.

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alextp
So far I've observed a strong correlation between cooking my own food (as
opposed to eating at the university cafeteria) and getting way fatter,
although part of this should be atributed to my moving around less (since I
can stay home all day working when I don't go to the university instead of
biking all the way there) and having generally better cooking skills, which
makes me want to eat my food a lot more.

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sz
Correlation, causation, blah blah blah.

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jipumarino
<http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cook_home>

