We spoke with Scott Stoll, M.D., health and wellness adviser at Swich and parent company, Rouxbe, and co-founder of The Plantrician Project, to find out exactly how cooking plant-based can improve our lives. Plus, we got his advice on how to set ourselves up for success—from developing skills with a cooking community like Swich to stocking our pantry full of staples that will serve as inspiration and nourishment. He continues, “The CDC estimates that between 75 and 80% of the cost of health care ($3.7 trillion) is directly related to lifestyle diseases; the behavioral choices that people make every day, including the food on their fingers, forks, and plates; hours of sleep; activity levels; habits like smoking; and stress management.” Simply put, cooking at home can aid in preventing these lifestyle diseases. According to research2, people who cook and eat at home more frequently were more likely to adhere to healthy dietary patterns, eat more fruits and vegetables, have higher blood levels of vitamin C, and consume fewer calories (the average restaurant meal contains about 500 more calories than a home-cooked meal!). Plus, you’ll consume significantly less sodium, sugar, and calories and can avoid preservatives and other harmful chemicals like phthalates (a chemical derived from plastics) and MSG. In fact, research has shown3 that people who dined out had urinary levels of phthalates that were 35% higher than those who dined at home. And remember—it’s not about abandoning your favorite local restaurants or skipping social celebrations at restaurants forevermore; it’s about cooking at home more often and adding more plants to your plate to support your health. An added benefit will be making those restaurant meals even more special (after all, they can be sources of inspiration for your at-home cooking projects). Stoll puts it best: “Our industrialized food culture has shaped our ideas and perpetuated misconceptions around food preparation and the very idea of healthy food. Along the pathway of industrialization and ’time-saving’ strategies, mealtime came to be viewed as a competitor of more ‘valuable’ uses of time. These unfounded beliefs evolved through repetition, convenient products like frozen microwaveable dinners and groupthink, to ultimately disconnect people from the richness of the homemade meal that can be shared with family and friends.” “Culturally, we believe we are too busy to prepare food at home, and yet the average adult today spends at least 3.5 hours on social media and their phone.” If that doesn’t put things in perspective for you, think a little longer term. As Stoll explains, “The perceived reward of less work, less hassle appears to be true because of the time savings and workload when you are tired. But it’s a false reward cycle because the food away from home can contribute to poor health, mood alterations, increased susceptibility to chronic disease, inflammation, and increased pain and weight gain.” So, if the convenience myth is stopping you from cooking at home, it’s time to change your mindset. Start by learning some cooking skills—that initial investment of time will pay off when you are able to whip up weekday meals in a flash and turn your weekend family time into creative cooking projects. Swich is the perfect place to start because it recommends personalized learning and cooking content for each person based on their health goals, current skill level, and favorite food and flavor profiles. They also offer an array of short, fun instructional technique videos that are specifically designed to help users develop specific cooking skills (like stir-frying or roasting vegetables), giving you a source of motivation and a sense of community when it comes to your plant-based cooking journey. When cooking at home, Stoll says, “I like to think of a core of basic ingredients that can be adjusted to your flavor preferences. The core of a quick basic meal, and still something we use in our home multiple times every week, would be beans/lentils, a whole grain like quinoa or millet, greens and veggies that can be flavored with any number of herbs and spices to create either Thai, Mexican, Italian, Middle Eastern, Americana, Cuban, etc. These can be prepared in advance through batch cooking and combined quickly to make a bowl, soup, stew, casserole or bowl.” Take inspiration from this list of multipurpose and nutrient-rich foods that Stoll always has at home—together, they can build a huge variety of meals, depending on what you’re craving: “The process of handling and preparing our food connects us in a more meaningful way to the wonder of food and the linkages that brought that food to our plates. It can inspire gratitude for the ecosystem of food production and move us from a consumer mindset to one of participant and steward. In our home, we often take time to gratefully consider the people and processes that grew, harvested, transported, distributed, and prepared our food,” Stoll shares. Speaking of connection, the process of cooking can help us form stronger bonds with the people we are closest to. “The beautiful process of cooking a delicious healthy meal at home and sharing it with someone can affect the relationship that we have with ourselves and others. In this way, cooking and mealtime create a unique social setting that cultivates meaningful relationships through conversation, connection, and laughter.”
