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If you want to lose weight, here’s a good first step to take: Ditch the drive-thru and start cooking at home, suggests a study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

After UK researchers analysed survey data from more than 11 000 men and women aged 29 to 64 years old, they found that people who ate more than five home-cooked meals per week were 28% less likely to have an overweight body mass index (BMI) and 24% less likely to have excess body fat than people who ate less than three home-cooked meals per week.

Read more: Here’s exactly what to eat on your rest day to recover faster

What’s more, people who cooked at home more frequently also ate more fruits and vegetables daily (62 and 98g more, respectively) than people who ate less than three home-cooked meals per week.

It’s possible that people who eat more home-cooked meals partake in healthier food prep methods, eat a larger variety of foods, and eat less convenience foods, which are typically higher in kilojoules and packed with excess sugar, the researchers say. People who cook at home might also naturally participate in other healthy habits, like exercising regularly.

Read more: 6 kitchen appliances that will help you master meal prep and get ripped

So consider spending more time in the kitchen, since carrying excess weight has been linked to several health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Plus, fruits and vegetables should be a staple in your diet, since they’re packed with vitamins and antioxidants that can make you feel happier, help your penis perform better, and lower your risk of a stroke, cancer and premature death.

Read more: Hiking snacks: 7 of the best superfoods to take on your next trip

Intimidated by the idea of cooking your own meals? Don’t be. You can prepare meals that are healthy and easy to whip up by using our recipe finder.

^{This article was originally published on www.menshealth.com}

^{Image credit: iStock}

Alisa Hrustic

It will become the first UK nation to introduce a new single waiting-time target for cancer patients.

It’s every mother’s worst nightmare – seeing your child suffer more with each passing day but there’s nothing you can do for them.

For eight years this was Zola Benjamin’s reality.

When he was just three years old her son, Caden, was diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic disorder where the sufferer’s appetite is never satisfied. Basically, their hunger is permanent no matter how much food they eat.

“There are days where I feel, ‘Okay there might be some hope. Things could get better’. But then the truth is it never becomes easier,” Zola told YOU last year.

“This my plea for help. I want to help my son and make his life easier for him. But I’m limited in what I can do for him.”

And doctors were too. At age 11 Caden’s condition had progressed to the point where his organs couldn’t handle the strain and he had trouble breathing. He spent most days attached to an oxygen tank.

On 15 November this year he died at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.

Zola is devastated.

“It felt as if my life had ended,” the distraught mother says of the moment her son took his last breath.

“My heart has a big hole inside of it. He was my whole life and my reason for wanting to live. I can’t go on without him. The pain is indescribable. No mother should ever have to bury her child. I never thought he’d go so soon.”

Zola doesn’t wish to disclose her son’s weight at the time of his death. Last year, at just 10 years old, Caden tipped the scales at a staggering 90kg.

He wasn’t an overweight baby but born prematurely and weighed just 1,2kg at birth.

Zola says she stayed in hospital with her baby for nearly two months before doctors were prepared to discharge him.

She never picked up anything strange in him although he gained weight fast.

At three years old Caden weighed 40kg and Zola decided to have tests done.

“The doctor said he suspects Cushing Syndrome but it was never confirmed.”

Cushing Syndrome occurs when someone is exposed to high levels of cortisol over a long time, its most common symptoms being weight gain and obesity.

Zola took her son to Steve Biko Hospital in Pretoria, where doctors performed a tracheostomy and adenoidectomy (procedures where the tonsils and adenoids are removed). Doctors also decided that Caden should have a tracheostomy, in which a tube is inserted in the windpipe to enable breathing.

But the family never received a diagnosis.

“We went on to think that Caden was morbidly obese.

“A year later we went for extensive blood tests. It was only then determined that Caden had Prader-Willi Syndrome.”

Since we spoke to her last year Zola, who lives in Standerton, Mpumalanga, Caden underwent hip surgery and developed the skin condition cellulitis, which was “very painful”.

“The effects of Prader-Willi syndrome led Caden to have heart and kidney failure, diabetes, water retention and even made him depressed. His body ached and he was in constant pain. His suffering was immense.”

Seeing her son suffer day after day was heartbreaking, Zola tells us.

“I felt helpless as there was nothing doctors could do for him. Watching him in pain made me feel totally helpless.”

One Sunday evening in November, Caden had to be rushed to hospital. His heart was weak, his kidneys failing and he struggled to breathe. Four days later, around 1pm, doctors gave him morphine for the first time. About 30 minutes later he died.

Because her son required around-the-clock care, Zola couldn’t have a full-time job. She tried selling samosas, second-hand clothing and made food to order to help pay the bills but financially it’s been tough.

“The hospital was very far away and private transport costs a fortune. He couldn’t be exposed to germs on the bus. And his out-of- hospital expenses were enormous. As his condition deteriorated, his expenses would increase.”

Zola doesn’t know how she’ll pay her medical bills and give Caden the send-off he deserves. But with the help of her dear friend, Gila Sacks, a funding page has been set up on BackaBuddy, where local and international donations can be made.

Even though she’s struggling to cope with the loss of her son, Zola is grateful for the support of family, friends and even strangers.

“My family and friends have been there for me. They are also mourning. Everyone loved and cared for Caden. He touched so many hearts through the media and social media.”

Kim Abrahams

They had thought it was a tummy bug.

Late last year, seven-year-old Imraan Freeman’s teacher had called his mom Faranaaz, and asked her to pick her son up from school.

Faranaaz did, and took her little boy to the clinic for a check-up.

“They just said it was diarrhoea,” Faranaaz, from Mitchells Plain in Cape Town says.

But when the ‘diarrhoea’ wouldn’t go away and Iraam started vomiting up his food, Faranaaz knew something was very, very wrong.

“It just didn’t sit well with me. He was a happy child during the day, but come night time and he’d cry because of the pain in his tummy.”

Faranaaz had Imraan lie down on the bed so she could feel his stomach. To her shock, she discovered golf ball sized lumps all over his stomach and rushed him back to the clinic, where she was referred to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.

He was sent for a battery of tests which confirmed the worst: Imraan had Burkitt’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.

“This is the type of thing you read about or see on TV, it’s not something I expected to happen to my child,” Faranaaz recalls. “When they told me yes it is cancer, that’s all I heard, I went deaf for the rest.”

The very next day, Imraan was admitted to Red Cross for a biopsy, which confirmed the cancer, and he was started chemotherapy almost immediately.

“I’m unemployed and I receive a social grant so I didn’t need to pay for chemotherapy, which I think would’ve killed me financially,” she says.

Imraan spent three months in hospital, lost his hair because of the treatment and only had mild symptoms like a sore throat, but he remained a happy and positive little boy.  

Faranaaz was by his side all day, leaving her other two children, Ashwarya (11) and Ni’mat (1), with her mother, which was emotionally taxing on the two girls.

But good news was soon to follow. In February this year, doctors agreed Imraan could go home as his test results were looking positive.

It wouldn’t be the end of his treatment, as he’d have to be back at the hospital for follow ups, but it was as good as the news would get.

“I can’t even explain that feeling,” Faranaaz gushes. “I was so happy, I immediately grabbed all of our stuff and ran out of that hospital,” she says.

On 6 November this year, when they saw a doctor for one of their many appointments, Imraan was pronounced completely cancer-free. Faranaaz says she was told that although a relapse was a possibility, it usually happened while the children are still receiving chemotherapy, so she’s hopeful for Imraan.

He’s due for one more doctor’s follow up, but Faranaaz is just happy her son has made it through and encourages other parents to keep believing in the strength of their young children. “They may be small, but they are fearless fighters,” she says.

“It was a difficult time, but I never had a doubt about Imraan. There’s no way I was ready to give him back,” she says.

“He was my motivation. He may be small but he’s very strong. Don’t give up on your kids.”

Shanaaz Prince

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