Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
How much
can the design of your kitchen influence your health? What do you think about the advice given in this article to make
your kitchen encourage healthy eating habits?
How does your kitchen compare?
For a start, I must admit I had been sceptical about this article before I began to read it since I do not belong to people who believe in the principles of feng shui or whether position of furniture in a room can affect mental stability of people living there. However, the article turned out to be paying attention to issues that can be logically explained, for example, the location of pantry should not be close to kitchen because of our laziness to go there and take snacks, not because of bad energy caused by small proximity of kitchen and pantry, as some feng shui guy could declare.
Even though I can hardly believe that transparent Tupperware canisters displayed in countertop cause us to put on exactly 21 pounds, as Dr. Wansink wrote in his book, I agree that displaying either cereals or fruit makes us more likely to eat it. On the other hand, Wansink’s idea of slender fridges did not inspire me as much, due to the fact that our family has always had a problem with a full fridge. We usually keep there the rest of already cooked meals from lunch, which we can eat later instead of semi – finished products that are surely less healthy than our meal. If we had a smaller fridge, we would not have space there for big pots with meal, but only for frozen pizzas or other unhealthy products.
As we can see in contemporary flats and houses, kitchens are usually fused with living rooms into a one large place, where family spends the majority of time and kitchens become more and more the centre of family meetings. However, as the author of the article said, “great rooms” aren’t so great. Although I would not probably be a fan of minimalist seating, which Porto suggests, since I would just take meal to a more comfortable place, for example bed, I agree with Wansink’s point that modern kitchen comforts are the biggest culprits and Alter’s suggestion of a separate dining room. Although my family does not have the TV right in the kitchen, we can comfortably watch it from there since our rooms are not separated by a wall. Furthermore, my younger brother is usually allowed to have a breakfast in front of TV, since we can communicate with him. I must admit he sometimes does not even know what he is eating since he is concentrating on TV, not on the meal or even the amount of it. This example nicely shows that the result of the survey, saying the biggest determinants of low BMI in children is sitting at a table with the TV off, is very true.
According to me, different new trends and appliances, as a “dining desk” that can reveal a teppanyaki grill or removable trolleys, do not really help us to eat healthier, just make us considerably poorer, even though we never use them since they are too complicated and we are too lazy. Alter approved my opinion since he said that half the space in show kitchens is never used. Moreover, as I assumed, these devices do not belong among the cheapest ones, and I do not think many wealthy people regularly eat at home, or have time to prepare food using these complicatedly designed toys.
As healthy lifestyle can often be very expensive, since fresh vegetables and fruits are not cheap products, the majority of people do not have money for buying portable induction burners or giving kitchen a makeover. For those, the only solution is to want eat healthy - because if I don’t want to eat healthy, no device or makeover can help me.
Since we have always had small kitchen in our flat, I do appreciate this article and find it quite interesting. Kitchen can be literally a great troublemaker; considering our health as well as our peaceful coexistence with the others. In the article, there are mentioned basically all the pros and cons of the kitchens; from breadth of the countertops to the storage of the fruit. From my personal experience, the most important thing is to have a space for cooking. Lacking enough space you cannot cook properly, your movement is delimited, everything is unorganised, consequently, everything last longer, you are under the stress and thus, you can be discouraged from healthy cooking at all. Moreover, imagine there live more people juxtaposed in flat with small communistic kitchen which is placed just between two rooms as it is in my case. When somebody wants to pass through while two other people are cooking and one more is washing dishes, not mentioning there is also a washing machine set there, it can by quite a traffic jam.
To be more objective, I have to say that I like the other, more modern ideas as well. Things mentioned by Rosemary Porto, such as steam ovens and wide cooker hoods are pretty clever innovations challenging you to live healthy at the highest standards. In addition, tricks like putting your fruit on visible places and using the low, deep drawers with the intention of seeing all of your food from above are fairly knavish but also simple. Hence they are accessible for everybody and likable to be used.
To conclude it, it is very true that our waistline is influenced by our surroundings much more than by our appetite. It is just the same with exercising; when you have some pull up bar at home your possibility of exercising is higher. The reason is that you have it on your sight and it is reachable for you.
Martina Sabová : Frankly, I have to admit that having a small kitchen can be quite troublesome. We do have one small at home and sometimes it can really put you off if you want to cook something healthy for yourself but you cannot because the kitchen is overcrowded with all of the members of family. On the other hand, I agree with Lucia and what has been mentioned in the article and that is, that 'great spaces' can do great damage to your waistline. The more comfortable you get in your kitchen, the more you want to spend there you free-time, usually eating something. But, what is, after all, the ideal space? The author has given us some pretty good examples with all of which michael has agreed so I do not really have anything more to mention to that point. However, I do not necessarily agree that, making something more reachable for you, will always make you choose the option. There is one thing, most natural to the human nature, we all seem to be disregarding and it is laziness and routine. If you put out some fruit or healthy products into the reach and sight id does not have to mean that you will out of the blue change your apetite and taste and start eating healthy. It can be helpful, of course, but as far as I am concerned, if you are used to eating unhealthy food, taking the fresh fruit out in the bowl and putting it on table won't make you instantly want to grab one. That is because you are accustomed to unhealthy diet. If you want to change and eat healthy, it is a good tip, but if you are not willing to change any of your old customs and want to carry on eating unhealthy because you do not care, this does not help at all. Thus, healthy lifestyle is primarily about your mindset but I do agree that design can play a vital role in ruining your hard work to loose these abundant 5 pounds.
Firstly, I strongly identify with your 'traffic jam' problem. In our household, we have this problem too, but it used to be wore. There simply could not be more than one person in our kitchen, so we never cooked anything difficult. These days, we can, because we have opened our kitchen, so at least while being there, we do not feel like closed in a wardrobe. But I also feel the problem with comfortable kitchens that was mentioned in the article. Truly, it often happened that I am sitting in the living room, I turn my head and I see that kitchen telling me 'Come! Let's cook something!'. An honestly, I can almost never resist the temptation. Yes, I also like the modern ideas, but we have a pretty simple old kitchen. At least, we always have our fruits on the table and sweets in a different part of the house. I agree that our eating habits are influenced by our surroundings a lot, so it is our choice how high our BMI is.
As healthy lifestyle has recently become one of the most frequently discussed topics in my family, after reading the title of the article, it immediately caught my interest
According to my own experience, I believe that our eating habits are highly influenced by our surroundings (to be specific, the kitchen – the source of food in our homes) whereas less influenced by the appetite, which makes me agree with Dr Brian Wansink. Not only me, but also my mother accepts this idea and moreover applies it to practice. How? As she is the one who usually takes care of the shopping, she decided not to buy unhealthy products, especially soft drinks and sweets. The result was visible, when after less than 3 weeks, every member of our family lost weight. Obviously, we are lazy enough not to get up and go to a store. According to the article, we have a bar fridge here in Europe and that is exactly what my family is used to. We go shopping to a supermarket which is 100 meters away from our house every day. The reason why we, especially my father, refuses to do the large shopping once a week, (for example in Austria, which is common for habitants of Bratislava) is the fact we would eat all the food in one day. Consequently, the idea of a slender fridge would not change anything in our situation.
Despite the everyday-shopping habit we have, we have a pantry located in our kitchen. In my opinion, pantries do not need to represent a threat for us if they are loaded with the right kind of food. Thus, I don't think, they should necessarily be located in a distant area from the kitchen or are in need of being super-small. Therefore, if you crave for something to eat and you have actually stood up, you don't care about making even 20 more steps towards a distant pantry.
The idea that inspired me the most was connected to the opaque containers and fruits kept in plain view. As probably the majority of us knows, top selling products in all chain stores are situated in the height of our heads which means these are the first products that our eyes catch. The same system should work in our kitchens. Healthy food should be located in the area where we most likely look at in the first place (which means that open shelving is probably needed) and moreover be kept in a bowl or see through container in plain view. My idea is also supported by the location of the crisp mentioned in the article. On the other hand, unhealthy food should be pushed aside and be hidden in opaque containers. Isn't it amazing to see how our brain works?
In fact, I agree with Waserman who says: "If your kitchen is inspiring, you’re going to want to cook healthy meals in it.” If you have enough space in your kitchen to prepare any healthy food, modern home appliances that help you to do everything faster and in an easier way (for example dishwasher, induction cooktops) and moreover countertop which can be cleaned easily, as mentioned in the article, cooking becomes much more appealing for anyone. In addition, modern kitchenware made of highly quality materials may have a positive influence on the rate of cooking of the healthy food. Another effect mention in the article is the comfort of the seating. It sounds logical that the more comfortable your chair/seating is, the longer you will spend sitting there, in our case, eating. On the other hand, in my opinion, also the atmosphere and the messmates makes you stay shorter/longer.
To sum it up, I agree that kitchen design may influence our eating habits and weight up to a point, as I have mentioned in a positive but also in a negative way. So next time when you will be planning the makeover of your kitchen, don’t just look at the price label, rather think twice and make your kitchen your helper on your way to healthier yourself.
Firstly, I agree with your opinion on the position of the pantry that: "If you crave for something to eat and you have actually stood up, you don't care about making even 20 more steps towards a distant pantry." In my opinion, the best solution how to keep yourself away from the pantry is the horrible smell there. I believe everyone knows it and I am sure that when you smell the odour, your whole appetite vanishes.
Secondly, I like the whole idea of the containers, however, I am not quite sure it works that perfectly. Because if you handle the food in your kitchen, you become aware of where each product is located, so you actually know that your favourite sweets are in the opaque container in the corner. And even though you can always see only the healthy products in the transparent containers, your mind is still set to going for what it longs for. A solution to this could be, for example, the system you have in your family that only mother goes shopping and as a result, you do not really know what she bought and where she put it, so you end up eating what is offered to you and to your eyes.
Lastly, the fact that inspiring kitchen urges you on healthy cooking is exaggerated. I agree that if the conditions are favourable, you like and tend to cook much more, however, can anyone guarantee we will cook healthy? There are also many unhealthy meals which can be cooked at home (not talking about processed food) and it also counts as cooking. For example, if you fry a piece of meat on your own stove everyday, it is not healthy and thus, there is no chance in losing weight. In the end, the only real solution is your own desire to live healthy (which your family does have) and as Lucia says: "if someone doesn't want to eat healthy, no device or makeover can help."
The first idea which occurred to my mind after having read this article was applying the “criteria for healthy kitchen” to our kitchen. Eventually, I was hoping for some idea responsible for my occasional fail to accomplish the “healthy eating habits”. It is necessary to mention that the result was rather surprising, and perhaps a little bit disappointing for me.
The results, though, represented quite the opposite - our kitchen does not have a thing to be blamed for. Accordingly to the criteria mentioned in the article, it dispones with everything from the little things such as right placement of food to the pantry (which is downstairs). There is no such a thing as displayed transparent Tupperware canisters, all the junk food is stored in deep drawers on the lowest possible level, our faucets are high-arced and the microwave oven is placed aside, covered by roulette. However, in our previous kitchen, the glass canisters with sweet corn flakes and granola were displayed right in one’s plain view, not even mentioning that it was the type of kitchen opened up into the dining room. Despite all the ‘mistakes’, though, our waistlines were more or less on the same as they are now. There naturally were some minor fluctuations, but no one in my family has ever been obese. Thus, I must say that the kitchen is not the major factor that affects our health habits. There are other, more important aspects, for example the attitude and discipline. Even though the kitchen can facilitate in this, it does not play such a big role.
Furthermore, I would like to react on the opinion on europeans, stated in the article, which is a bit idealized. Nowadays, even in Europe, people don’t tend to go to the greengrocer every day, and because of the globalization, processed foods certainly represent the reality of our refrigerator’s content. However, luckily for us, we don’t dispone with such amounts of them as Americans or Canadians do, so far. I understand the argument that the distances in North America are larger, therefore going shopping daily in search of fresh food is not very sustainable. However, we need to realize that even a carrot bought a week ago is still fresh and tasty enough. According to a survey (http://www.statista.com/statistics/251728/weekly-number-of-us-grocery-shopping-trips-per-household/) the average amount of shopping trips for grocery in the U.S. in 2014 was 1.6 times per week. That is not a huge number, but appropriate enough to supply the household with fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones. Greater refrigerator, then, can mean more space for healthy alternative - fresh food, instead of ready-made food.
And the conclusion? The major disappointment came when I realized the thing. There is nothing wrong with our kitchen, for what I can blame my occasional bad eating habits. And so, the final verdict was brought up: the only element responsible for my sudden midnight craving is me, not the poor kitchen. It is all inside my head. The same applies for the decision making when shopping grocery. Preparing ready-made food is surely simpler and less time-consuming, however the question is whether we want to care of our diet, or are we searching for the immediate satisfaction, the simpler way.
Healthy became trendy. It is a nowadays trend to eat enormous number of vegetables, workout and have a healthy lifestyle. I’ve never belonged to any of these groups. Yes of course I work out and I love food, but I have never paid any excessive attention to it. However kitchen for me is a place where I spend a lot of time and therefore this article captivated me.
Firstly, I was shocked how tremendous influence can a single microwave have on a lifestyle of family. This latter-day equipment of our kitchen represents huge temptation for us to slip to unhealthy lifestyle. Let’s just think for a while. Honestly. How many of you would rather heat up some prepared good from supermarket than cook a proper dinner for the whole family after a long day in work. I think majority would have chosen option a. But if we get rid of this for example microwave, or we hide it to some place where it will not scream, we can avoid option a as a decision to minimum. Same work for refrigerators. If we have typical American double fridge, it is possible that we store there more perishable food, because we have there enough space, rather than buying fresh ingredients in small groceries every day. However I do not believe that all these small details can have such a tremendous effect on family lifestyle. I am aware of the fact that it can help, but not in such a way as it was presented in this article. The second thing is that here in European countries we do not have the same eating habits as Americans for example; we do shop in grocery stores much often than people in America do. We also traditionally spend more time together while eating our dinner or lunch. Here in Europe it is some kind of a tradition to have a Sunday lunch. The kitchen itself also does not look alike with the one in America. We do not have double refrigerators and TV or upholstered seats. More common is nowadays a combination of living room with kitchen, where families can spend time together while enjoying their meals instead of grazing quickly reheated prepared food in a kitchen.
First of all, I share the idea you mentioned in your comment, that the kitchen has became, perhaps, a central and one of the most occupied areas in majority of households, as well as a healthy diet represents some kind of alfa-omega in nowadays human concerns. I also agree that our (European) eating habits are different from those held in America. Secondly, however, I must say that I’m not very likely to believe that a typical American double fridge asks for perishable food. To be clear, I understand the argument that consuming all the food from the double - doored monster allows its users to store more food inside which, logically, means more time required for consuming. However, I think you are forgetting about the fact that it actually doesn’t need to be so, as the amount of calories you need to obtain varies in different types of food. Simply put, satisfying one’s stomach means smaller volume of ready-made hamburger in comparison with the great volume of salad, for example. That means, in fact, that the problem of consuming too much instant food is not necessarily caused by larger refrigerators. Quite the opposite, I think that it is more a question of determination and an effort to live healthier than of the space inside a fridge.
For a start, I must admit I had been sceptical about this article before I began to read it since I do not belong to people who believe in the principles of feng shui or whether position of furniture in a room can affect mental stability of people living there. However, the article turned out to be paying attention to issues that can be logically explained, for example, the location of pantry should not be close to kitchen because of our laziness to go there and take snacks, not because of bad energy caused by small proximity of kitchen and pantry, as some feng shui guy could declare.
ReplyDeleteEven though I can hardly believe that transparent Tupperware canisters displayed in countertop cause us to put on exactly 21 pounds, as Dr. Wansink wrote in his book, I agree that displaying either cereals or fruit makes us more likely to eat it. On the other hand, Wansink’s idea of slender fridges did not inspire me as much, due to the fact that our family has always had a problem with a full fridge. We usually keep there the rest of already cooked meals from lunch, which we can eat later instead of semi – finished products that are surely less healthy than our meal. If we had a smaller fridge, we would not have space there for big pots with meal, but only for frozen pizzas or other unhealthy products.
As we can see in contemporary flats and houses, kitchens are usually fused with living rooms into a one large place, where family spends the majority of time and kitchens become more and more the centre of family meetings. However, as the author of the article said, “great rooms” aren’t so great. Although I would not probably be a fan of minimalist seating, which Porto suggests, since I would just take meal to a more comfortable place, for example bed, I agree with Wansink’s point that modern kitchen comforts are the biggest culprits and Alter’s suggestion of a separate dining room. Although my family does not have the TV right in the kitchen, we can comfortably watch it from there since our rooms are not separated by a wall. Furthermore, my younger brother is usually allowed to have a breakfast in front of TV, since we can communicate with him. I must admit he sometimes does not even know what he is eating since he is concentrating on TV, not on the meal or even the amount of it. This example nicely shows that the result of the survey, saying the biggest determinants of low BMI in children is sitting at a table with the TV off, is very true.
According to me, different new trends and appliances, as a “dining desk” that can reveal a teppanyaki grill or removable trolleys, do not really help us to eat healthier, just make us considerably poorer, even though we never use them since they are too complicated and we are too lazy. Alter approved my opinion since he said that half the space in show kitchens is never used. Moreover, as I assumed, these devices do not belong among the cheapest ones, and I do not think many wealthy people regularly eat at home, or have time to prepare food using these complicatedly designed toys.
As healthy lifestyle can often be very expensive, since fresh vegetables and fruits are not cheap products, the majority of people do not have money for buying portable induction burners or giving kitchen a makeover. For those, the only solution is to want eat healthy - because if I don’t want to eat healthy, no device or makeover can help me.
Since we have always had small kitchen in our flat, I do appreciate this article and find it quite interesting. Kitchen can be literally a great troublemaker; considering our health as well as our peaceful coexistence with the others. In the article, there are mentioned basically all the pros and cons of the kitchens; from breadth of the countertops to the storage of the fruit. From my personal experience, the most important thing is to have a space for cooking. Lacking enough space you cannot cook properly, your movement is delimited, everything is unorganised, consequently, everything last longer, you are under the stress and thus, you can be discouraged from healthy cooking at all. Moreover, imagine there live more people juxtaposed in flat with small communistic kitchen which is placed just between two rooms as it is in my case. When somebody wants to pass through while two other people are cooking and one more is washing dishes, not mentioning there is also a washing machine set there, it can by quite a traffic jam.
ReplyDeleteTo be more objective, I have to say that I like the other, more modern ideas as well. Things mentioned by Rosemary Porto, such as steam ovens and wide cooker hoods are pretty clever innovations challenging you to live healthy at the highest standards. In addition, tricks like putting your fruit on visible places and using the low, deep drawers with the intention of seeing all of your food from above are fairly knavish but also simple. Hence they are accessible for everybody and likable to be used.
To conclude it, it is very true that our waistline is influenced by our surroundings much more than by our appetite. It is just the same with exercising; when you have some pull up bar at home your possibility of exercising is higher. The reason is that you have it on your sight and it is reachable for you.
Martina Sabová :
DeleteFrankly, I have to admit that having a small kitchen can be quite troublesome. We do have one small at home and sometimes it can really put you off if you want to cook something healthy for yourself but you cannot because the kitchen is overcrowded with all of the members of family. On the other hand, I agree with Lucia and what has been mentioned in the article and that is, that 'great spaces' can do great damage to your waistline. The more comfortable you get in your kitchen, the more you want to spend there you free-time, usually eating something. But, what is, after all, the ideal space? The author has given us some pretty good examples with all of which michael has agreed so I do not really have anything more to mention to that point. However, I do not necessarily agree that, making something more reachable for you, will always make you choose the option. There is one thing, most natural to the human nature, we all seem to be disregarding and it is laziness and routine. If you put out some fruit or healthy products into the reach and sight id does not have to mean that you will out of the blue change your apetite and taste and start eating healthy. It can be helpful, of course, but as far as I am concerned, if you are used to eating unhealthy food, taking the fresh fruit out in the bowl and putting it on table won't make you instantly want to grab one. That is because you are accustomed to unhealthy diet. If you want to change and eat healthy, it is a good tip, but if you are not willing to change any of your old customs and want to carry on eating unhealthy because you do not care, this does not help at all. Thus, healthy lifestyle is primarily about your mindset but I do agree that design can play a vital role in ruining your hard work to loose these abundant 5 pounds.
from Veronika Zrubakova:
DeleteFirstly, I strongly identify with your 'traffic jam' problem. In our household, we have this problem too, but it used to be wore. There simply could not be more than one person in our kitchen, so we never cooked anything difficult. These days, we can, because we have opened our kitchen, so at least while being there, we do not feel like closed in a wardrobe. But I also feel the problem with comfortable kitchens that was mentioned in the article. Truly, it often happened that I am sitting in the living room, I turn my head and I see that kitchen telling me 'Come! Let's cook something!'. An honestly, I can almost never resist the temptation.
Yes, I also like the modern ideas, but we have a pretty simple old kitchen. At least, we always have our fruits on the table and sweets in a different part of the house. I agree that our eating habits are influenced by our surroundings a lot, so it is our choice how high our BMI is.
As healthy lifestyle has recently become one of the most frequently discussed topics in my family, after reading the title of the article, it immediately caught my interest
ReplyDeleteAccording to my own experience, I believe that our eating habits are highly influenced by our surroundings (to be specific, the kitchen – the source of food in our homes) whereas less influenced by the appetite, which makes me agree with Dr Brian Wansink. Not only me, but also my mother accepts this idea and moreover applies it to practice. How? As she is the one who usually takes care of the shopping, she decided not to buy unhealthy products, especially soft drinks and sweets. The result was visible, when after less than 3 weeks, every member of our family lost weight. Obviously, we are lazy enough not to get up and go to a store.
According to the article, we have a bar fridge here in Europe and that is exactly what my family is used to. We go shopping to a supermarket which is 100 meters away from our house every day. The reason why we, especially my father, refuses to do the large shopping once a week, (for example in Austria, which is common for habitants of Bratislava) is the fact we would eat all the food in one day. Consequently, the idea of a slender fridge would not change anything in our situation.
Despite the everyday-shopping habit we have, we have a pantry located in our kitchen. In my opinion, pantries do not need to represent a threat for us if they are loaded with the right kind of food. Thus, I don't think, they should necessarily be located in a distant area from the kitchen or are in need of being super-small. Therefore, if you crave for something to eat and you have actually stood up, you don't care about making even 20 more steps towards a distant pantry.
The idea that inspired me the most was connected to the opaque containers and fruits kept in plain view. As probably the majority of us knows, top selling products in all chain stores are situated in the height of our heads which means these are the first products that our eyes catch. The same system should work in our kitchens. Healthy food should be located in the area where we most likely look at in the first place (which means that open shelving is probably needed) and moreover be kept in a bowl or see through container in plain view. My idea is also supported by the location of the crisp mentioned in the article. On the other hand, unhealthy food should be pushed aside and be hidden in opaque containers. Isn't it amazing to see how our brain works?
In fact, I agree with Waserman who says: "If your kitchen is inspiring, you’re going to want to cook healthy meals in it.” If you have enough space in your kitchen to prepare any healthy food, modern home appliances that help you to do everything faster and in an easier way (for example dishwasher, induction cooktops) and moreover countertop which can be cleaned easily, as mentioned in the article, cooking becomes much more appealing for anyone. In addition, modern kitchenware made of highly quality materials may have a positive influence on the rate of cooking of the healthy food. Another effect mention in the article is the comfort of the seating. It sounds logical that the more comfortable your chair/seating is, the longer you will spend sitting there, in our case, eating. On the other hand, in my opinion, also the atmosphere and the messmates makes you stay shorter/longer.
To sum it up, I agree that kitchen design may influence our eating habits and weight up to a point, as I have mentioned in a positive but also in a negative way. So next time when you will be planning the makeover of your kitchen, don’t just look at the price label, rather think twice and make your kitchen your helper on your way to healthier yourself.
Firstly, I agree with your opinion on the position of the pantry that: "If you crave for something to eat and you have actually stood up, you don't care about making even 20 more steps towards a distant pantry." In my opinion, the best solution how to keep yourself away from the pantry is the horrible smell there. I believe everyone knows it and I am sure that when you smell the odour, your whole appetite vanishes.
DeleteSecondly, I like the whole idea of the containers, however, I am not quite sure it works that perfectly. Because if you handle the food in your kitchen, you become aware of where each product is located, so you actually know that your favourite sweets are in the opaque container in the corner. And even though you can always see only the healthy products in the transparent containers, your mind is still set to going for what it longs for. A solution to this could be, for example, the system you have in your family that only mother goes shopping and as a result, you do not really know what she bought and where she put it, so you end up eating what is offered to you and to your eyes.
Lastly, the fact that inspiring kitchen urges you on healthy cooking is exaggerated. I agree that if the conditions are favourable, you like and tend to cook much more, however, can anyone guarantee we will cook healthy? There are also many unhealthy meals which can be cooked at home (not talking about processed food) and it also counts as cooking. For example, if you fry a piece of meat on your own stove everyday, it is not healthy and thus, there is no chance in losing weight. In the end, the only real solution is your own desire to live healthy (which your family does have) and as Lucia says: "if someone doesn't want to eat healthy, no device or makeover can help."
The first idea which occurred to my mind after having read this article was applying the “criteria for healthy kitchen” to our kitchen. Eventually, I was hoping for some idea responsible for my occasional fail to accomplish the “healthy eating habits”. It is necessary to mention that the result was rather surprising, and perhaps a little bit disappointing for me.
ReplyDeleteThe results, though, represented quite the opposite - our kitchen does not have a thing to be blamed for. Accordingly to the criteria mentioned in the article, it dispones with everything from the little things such as right placement of food to the pantry (which is downstairs). There is no such a thing as displayed transparent Tupperware canisters, all the junk food is stored in deep drawers on the lowest possible level, our faucets are high-arced and the microwave oven is placed aside, covered by roulette. However, in our previous kitchen, the glass canisters with sweet corn flakes and granola were displayed right in one’s plain view, not even mentioning that it was the type of kitchen opened up into the dining room. Despite all the ‘mistakes’, though, our waistlines were more or less on the same as they are now. There naturally were some minor fluctuations, but no one in my family has ever been obese. Thus, I must say that the kitchen is not the major factor that affects our health habits. There are other, more important aspects, for example the attitude and discipline. Even though the kitchen can facilitate in this, it does not play such a big role.
Furthermore, I would like to react on the opinion on europeans, stated in the article, which is a bit idealized. Nowadays, even in Europe, people don’t tend to go to the greengrocer every day, and because of the globalization, processed foods certainly represent the reality of our refrigerator’s content. However, luckily for us, we don’t dispone with such amounts of them as Americans or Canadians do, so far. I understand the argument that the distances in North America are larger, therefore going shopping daily in search of fresh food is not very sustainable. However, we need to realize that even a carrot bought a week ago is still fresh and tasty enough.
According to a survey (http://www.statista.com/statistics/251728/weekly-number-of-us-grocery-shopping-trips-per-household/) the average amount of shopping trips for grocery in the U.S. in 2014 was 1.6 times per week. That is not a huge number, but appropriate enough to supply the household with fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones. Greater refrigerator, then, can mean more space for healthy alternative - fresh food, instead of ready-made food.
And the conclusion? The major disappointment came when I realized the thing. There is nothing wrong with our kitchen, for what I can blame my occasional bad eating habits. And so, the final verdict was brought up: the only element responsible for my sudden midnight craving is me, not the poor kitchen. It is all inside my head. The same applies for the decision making when shopping grocery. Preparing ready-made food is surely simpler and less time-consuming, however the question is whether we want to care of our diet, or are we searching for the immediate satisfaction, the simpler way.
Healthy became trendy. It is a nowadays trend to eat enormous number of vegetables, workout and have a healthy lifestyle. I’ve never belonged to any of these groups. Yes of course I work out and I love food, but I have never paid any excessive attention to it. However kitchen for me is a place where I spend a lot of time and therefore this article captivated me.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I was shocked how tremendous influence can a single microwave have on a lifestyle of family. This latter-day equipment of our kitchen represents huge temptation for us to slip to unhealthy lifestyle. Let’s just think for a while. Honestly. How many of you would rather heat up some prepared good from supermarket than cook a proper dinner for the whole family after a long day in work. I think majority would have chosen option a. But if we get rid of this for example microwave, or we hide it to some place where it will not scream, we can avoid option a as a decision to minimum. Same work for refrigerators. If we have typical American double fridge, it is possible that we store there more perishable food, because we have there enough space, rather than buying fresh ingredients in small groceries every day. However I do not believe that all these small details can have such a tremendous effect on family lifestyle. I am aware of the fact that it can help, but not in such a way as it was presented in this article.
The second thing is that here in European countries we do not have the same eating habits as Americans for example; we do shop in grocery stores much often than people in America do. We also traditionally spend more time together while eating our dinner or lunch. Here in Europe it is some kind of a tradition to have a Sunday lunch. The kitchen itself also does not look alike with the one in America. We do not have double refrigerators and TV or upholstered seats. More common is nowadays a combination of living room with kitchen, where families can spend time together while enjoying their meals instead of grazing quickly reheated prepared food in a kitchen.
First of all, I share the idea you mentioned in your comment, that the kitchen has became, perhaps, a central and one of the most occupied areas in majority of households, as well as a healthy diet represents some kind of alfa-omega in nowadays human concerns. I also agree that our (European) eating habits are different from those held in America.
DeleteSecondly, however, I must say that I’m not very likely to believe that a typical American double fridge asks for perishable food. To be clear, I understand the argument that consuming all the food from the double - doored monster allows its users to store more food inside which, logically, means more time required for consuming. However, I think you are forgetting about the fact that it actually doesn’t need to be so, as the amount of calories you need to obtain varies in different types of food. Simply put, satisfying one’s stomach means smaller volume of ready-made hamburger in comparison with the great volume of salad, for example. That means, in fact, that the problem of consuming too much instant food is not necessarily caused by larger refrigerators. Quite the opposite, I think that it is more a question of determination and an effort to live healthier than of the space inside a fridge.