Putting convenience over health: Parents' reluctance to cook at home could be harming their children's health

According to recent reports, the world is experiencing an overweight and obesity crisis, with one in four children being overweight or obese in Australia, one in five in the United States, and one in three in Europe. This is a concerning situation because overweight and obesity can lead to a variety of health problems and reduced quality of life, including problems with daily activities, emotions, social interactions, and school functioning, starting in childhood.

One of the contributing factors to this overweight and obesity crisis is that households are replacing home-cooked meals with pre-packed and takeaway meals that are less filling and nutritious. As parents, it is crucial to recognise the impact of convenience meals on children's health and take steps towards making healthier choices. Hoda McClymont, author of the article "How parents remove hurdles to cooking at home," sheds light on parental barriers that discourages them from preparing meals at home. These barriers include the food preferences of family members, a lack of time to prepare healthy meals, the higher cost of healthy foods, parental lack of self-efficacy in planning and cooking healthy meals, and fatigue and a lack of motivation to cook.

Recognising that parents are not alone in facing these challenges, researchers have asked parents what solutions they've implemented to overcome these barriers to preparing meals at home. For example, parents' tips for reducing the high cost of healthy ingredients are to plan to avoid temptations and use alternative grocery channels. Experts also recommend avoiding food waste to reduce the budget. Parental tips for reducing meal preparation time included sharing the meal preparation load with household members, using time-saving devices, and pre-planning and preparing meals for the week ahead. Parents also give recommendations to improve their self-efficacy in the kitchen including having access to information tools that provide both healthy recipes and corresponding grocery lists. The goals of these resources are to inspire parents with new meal/snack ideas, provide opportunities for making more healthy meals, and simplifying the shopping task. In her article, Hoda explores some of the parent-given solutions to barriers, and provides several web and mobile based tools to action them.

Address:
9 Alford Street
Mount Lofty
Queensland, 4350
Australia

Media contact:
Hoda McClymont
Email: mykidsloveveggies2022@gmail.com

Hoda McClymont (PhD, BBus[Hons], GradDipPubHlth, GCertHuman Services) is a mother, researcher, and author of the book "My Kids Love Veggies," which is targeted at parents who want to improve their children's diets. To learn more, visit: https://hodamcclymont.com/

This release was published on openPR.