· Bake at Home for a Host of Good Reasons

Classroom Connections:
   - Reading
   - Math (measuring, sequencing)
   - Writing
   - Investigating
   - Cooking

The increasing number of people dining out, as opposed to cooking at home, has been one of the most noticeable recent changes in American eating habits. This change has raised some concerns about its impact on diet quality. A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed that foods baked at home generally contain more of the nutrients people typically eat in insufficient quantities.

The study concluded the following:
   - The increased popularity of dining out presents a barrier to dietary recommendations - particularly in terms of reducing intakes of calories, fat, and saturated fat. Baking at home is a good way to monitor and adjust your intake of these items.
   - Americans have been more successful in reducing the fat density of home-cooked foods than of foods cooked away from home. The total fat in home-baked goods has lowered somewhat over the years, while the total fat in foods prepared away from home has practically tripled in the past 20 years.
   - More than one in three adults (35 percent) in the United States were considered to be overweight from 1988 to '94, compared with one in four adults (25 percent) from 1976 to '80. Because being overweight is associated with many chronic diseases and adverse health outcomes, the increased prevalence of overweight people is a cause for public health concern. Some of the observed increase in weight may be associated with the increase in dining out. Baking at home allows you to choose and monitor what you eat which, along with sufficient exercise, may help you avoid excessive weight gain.

For specific results of the study, please see the charts below.

Contribution of away-from-home foods, selected nutrients and food components, 1977-1995

Between 1977-78 and 1994-95, away-from-home foods showed smaller nutritional improvements than foods at home. Away-from-home foods generally contain more of the nutrients over consumed and less of the nutrients under consumed in the United States.

Source: America's Eating Habits: Changes & Consequences (April 1999)

Home foods have lower saturated fat density than away-from-home
foods, 1987-95



Source: America's Eating Habits: Changes & Consequences (April 1999)

Classroom Connection Incorporation Ideas:
   - Demonstrate how to make simple, after-school baked goods such as average-sized muffins, cookies, or breads; then, have students bake them together in teams. Explain the benefits of eating these snacks as opposed to having monster-sized muffins or cookies available at delis and mini-marts.
   - Have older students work together as a class to plan, cook, and serve a nutritious everyday meal the whole class can enjoy. To save on costs, have each student bring in a different ingredient. Take time to explain why eating a meal like this is much more healthful than eating a everyday meal at a restaurant. Suggest they prepare a meal similar to this one for their own families as a treat.
   - Share the above chart with parents at an open-house night; suggest ways parents can cook one night a week with their children, and what skills their children will learn from this.
   - Refer students to the USDA Web site for nutrient analyses and have them compute calories and fat saved and any micronutrients gained by eating at home instead of eating away-from-home foods.

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