What comes along with eating out?

There was a time when restaurants ran full house only during the weekends. Not anymore. Increasingly, we see restaurants packed to the brim even during weekdays. It's as if people have stopped cooking at home. Not just the restaurants, but every café by the street or a roadside stall vendor has crowds milling around, digging into the steaming food that is doled out in quick succession. Home-delivery bikes can be seen at odd hours of the day, even late at night – all validating the fact that eating out or ordering in is an industry that is booming.

Convenience, taste, variety and experience are the driving force, but what are the other implications of eating out? Read on here.

Excess sodium

Packaged foods are full of salt which is a good preservative, but it is also highly addictive. Restaurants may use a lot of packaged foods, such as sauces, frozen foods, salted butter and more.

Excess fats

Chefs often believe that food cannot taste good without large amounts of oil, butter or ghee. Also, these ingredients make cooking quicker because of the high temperatures that they allow. However, besides delivering too many calories, this lowers the nutritive value too.

Inferior quality of produce

The vegetables and fruits that are not easy to sell in the market are picked up by restaurants at lower prices. Both the vegetable vendors and restaurant owners are in the business for profit. They rarely consider our health.

Meals may be cooked way in advance

Is it practically possible for restaurants to serve freshly cooked meals? Anyone who has ever put a meal together knows the answer is a big 'no'! Prep starts way before serving time. The food at restaurant chains tastes the same at every branch because it's cooked centrally in large quantities, frozen and distributed to branches. You will know what you are getting taste-wise, but you may not know the extent of loss in nutritive value.

Microwaved food

The microwave oven is an integral part of a lot of restaurant kitchens. Cooking or heating food in it is harmful to health and comes with its share of nutritive loss.

You're likely to over-eat

The variety and the free accompaniments, the huge portion sizes, the music, the company and the mood ensure you over-eat, taking in far more chemicals and fats into your system than you would have in a home-cooked meal. Plus, the sugar in most drinks, sauces and desserts is addictive.

Hygiene may be compromised

If it's a task to keep a small kitchen at home clean, imagine restaurant kitchens that serve hundreds of diners day in and day out.

Burns a hole in your pocket

It's truly way cheaper to cook meals at home with high-quality organic produce than to eat out. What you save in doctor's fees and medicine costs is extra.

Is it really vegetarian or vegan?

That's a good question to ask, particularly when you dine at restaurants that serve meat. They may use the same utensils to cook and spoons to taste. Also, with so many orders coming in, can the chef feasibly take care of your special requirements?

Disease-forming

Consuming high amounts of sodium, preservatives, inferior produce, packaged foods, and frozen or pre-cooked meals contributes to lifestyle diseases, including PCOD, hypertension, diabetes, heart issues and even cancer.