Why We Eat One Home-Cooked Meal together Every Day in My Family
Healthiest Habit You Can Copy - Including a recipe
In our family, we eat at least one home-cooked meal every day. It’s one of the few things that stays consistent, no matter the season or schedule. This meal is often dinner. In weekends we often eat all meals together and home-cooked, but on school days/work days, we have one together, which is dinner.
There’s no rigidity to it. No perfectionism. Just a return — each day — to a practice that grounds us and unite us as family. It’s not only about bounding though; We value the practice and the nutritional benefits of this consistent practice.
It’s the way I grew up in Denmark, and it’s how I raise my children today. We cook together, we eat slowly, and we sit without phones or distractions. Most days, it’s how we reconnect after moving through the world. It’s our way to regulate. To listen. To anchor.
It’s also one of the most metabolically protective things we do.
And in a world moving fast toward ultra-processed shortcuts, it’s worth protecting and talk about. So here we go!
Health Begins at the Table — From Birth
In Denmark, many of our health habits begin before we’re even aware of them. Babies are often introduced to fresh vegetables, mashed legumes, fermented dairy, and soft whole grains from the earliest stages of weaning. There’s less sugar in packaged foods. Less marketing aimed at children. Fewer additives in school lunches.
These quiet decisions — made over and over — create a foundation of familiarity with real food. We don’t call it a “lifestyle.” It’s just living.
In my home, I continue that legacy. My sons grew up tasting raw carrots and cabbage before they ever saw a candy bar. They know what lentils feel like in their hands before they’re cooked. We chop herbs together. We eat raw cauliflower and broccoli or steam them and eat them for dinner. Today my boys eat veggies - no questions asked and they LOVE them.
Food is not something we fear, measure, or moralize. It’s something we touch, prepare, and share. And that makes all the difference.
Why the World Is Losing This — and Why It Matters
Globally, the trend is reversing.
In the United States, over 50% of meals are now eaten away from home — mostly from restaurants, takeout, or fast food.¹
In Denmark, by contrast, we still eat primarily at home. In 2023, only about 18% of household food spending went to eating out.²
In countries like Japan and Italy, home cooking remains strong — and so do health markers like metabolic flexibility, lower obesity rates, and healthier aging.³
But convenience is quickly overtaking tradition.
And with that comes a surge in ultra-processed food (UPF) — food engineered for shelf life, taste addiction, and profit margins, not human biology.
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