My Last Writing Assignment

So here it is, my final paragraph. I've enjoyed the class and met some interesting and friendly people online. Next up are a couple of self-paced courses that shouldn't be too challenging.

My final paragraph….

Cooking and the Gift of Good Health

Learning to cook, along with the study of biochemistry and good farming practices, as well as avoiding commercially processed foods, has resulted in much better health for me and for my family. My journey towards a healthier life and a love of cooking began approximately 10 years ago and now cooking has become a necessity in my life. As an American, I've spent years following the path of eating meals at fast food restaurants or assembling them from packaged, processed foods. I never really took the time to read labels or do any research on the effects all these foods had on my body. Having developed a number of chronic diseases as well as some food allergies, I found myself with the need to examine what I was eating. Other members of my family were suffering with some of the same problems. Most of us were also overweight. Having once studied biochemistry, I made a self-evaluation and determined that I was consuming too many carbohydrates; these are all classified as sugars and are predominantly found in processed foods. In America, foods are advertised as conveniently or rapidly prepared. As a result, many contain high levels of carbohydrate as well as wheat gluten, a protein thought to be instrumental in the development of allergies. Having to be more careful about what we consume, my entire family began cooking meals prepared only from fresh foods and along the way, we all discovered how easy it can be as well as not at all time-consuming. Mayonnaise is a good example of this. It takes only five minutes of my day to make it myself from fresh, organic ingredients. On a Sunday afternoon, my daughter, in around 20 minutes, makes enough chicken or fish salad to last for a full week of lunches. Trips to restaurants would take far more time out of her days and there would be no guarantee that the food would be organic or made without preservatives. All of us now experiment with fresh, organic foods, herbs and spices. Always trying to invent new and tasty meals, we savor the wonderful flavor combinations that arise from our experiments and we have all developed a love of cooking. Learning about foods, cooking, and sharing our love of cooking has brought us all together as well as given us much improved health.