Aren't we forgetting something???...Learn how to cook!

So when i talk to people about their health and nutrition, almost everyone knows:

1. I need to be healthy
2. I need to eat healthier foods
3. I need to lose weight

But the real issue is the inevitable statement that comes next:

"...HOW do I become healthy, HOW do I eat healthier foods; HOW do I eat and have a meal plan to lose weight..."

And looking at this article, "30 Ways in 30 Days to Stretch your Fruit & Vegetable Budget", from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it's the "How" that is really missing... Lets take a look at the Top 5 of this list:

1. Calculate an appropriate Healthy Food Budget for your family...this step indicates "What" and fortunately, provides a website to show us "How"
2. Cook enough for several meals and freeze leftovers...How????
3. Create a meal plan for the week that uses similar fruits and vegetables prepared in different ways...How????
4. Buy fruits and vegetables in season at farmers markets...What fruits & vegetable are in season???
5. Grow your own vegetables. Invest a little in seeds to get a lot of vegetables in return...The CDC provides a link on "growing vegetables" but it doesn't provide "practical applications" of growing vegetables...How do I grow vegetables in an apartment???...Which vegetables are easy to grow???

What's my point???...We have almost every "healthy authority" telling us we need to be healthy; we need to eat healthy; we need to get fresh foods; we need to do better with our food. And they even provide recipes for those who do not know what to eat. But there are very few resources from these healthy authorities on "HOW" to eat healthy or in more plain terms "How to cook"...and that's the problem...almost everyone I talk looks at cooking as novelty, or a special skill, or a gift, when it really is about making an attempt to prepare foods we like and practicing those attempts until we get the flavor we want while providing the health and nutrition we already know we need...so in my opinion, the first rule to better stretch our budgets and incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our lives:

"...Take a beginning cooking class, read beginner cookbooks, learn from people who do know how to cook, watch Food Network or the Cooking Channel..."

After you've made the initial effort to learn How to Cook, allow me to offer my help on "HOW" to be healthy with the CDC Guide to "30 Ways in 30 Days to Stretch your Fruit & Vegetable Budget":

1. 5 ways to develop a meal plan from the Iowa State University Extension (ISUE): http://www.extension.iastate.edu/foodsavings/mealplanning/thriftyweeklymenus.htm
2. If you're single, prepare meals for 2 servings...most recipes are made for 4 servings, so simply cut the recipe in half and reduce the times for cooking by 25% (i.e. instead of 10 minutes, cook for 7 1/2 minutes)
3. Here's a link/pdf for a 5-day meal planner from ISUE: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/NR/rdonlyres/A5F9EC88-4D97-4964-89F6-D9C0EF59D601/0/fivedayplanningworksheet.pdf
4. This is a great resource to learn about fruits and vegetable seasonality charts: http://www.cuesa.org/seasonality/
5. And here's one website for indoor gardening for possible rosemary, thyme, & tomatoes for indoor growing: http://www.ehow.com/way_5167248_tips-indoor-gardening.html
   

Make an investment in your health by learning how to cook...take a class, pick up a bargain cook book at your nearest bookstore (by the way, my best cook books were reduced priced / bargain priced), and grab some of your friends who also want to cook and make it into a party...whatever you do, start cooking, and then go and do the other things you need to do be healthy and have a GREAT life!