While HCR Vote Is Underway, Connecting Health and Care to the Stove

As the country waits in nail-biting anticipation of the House vote on health care reform, there is something we can actually do: Cook.

Remember that thing called Sunday dinner? Let's give it a try.

Let's see what happens when we bypass the drive-thru window or the supermarket aisle of food additives and make a detour for the kitchen.

Let's see what happens when we take the initiative to boil water for rice, and wash lettuce for salad.

Let's see what happens when the others hear the sizzle of garlic in oil and inhale the smell of roast chicken in the oven.

Let's see what happens when everyone in the house has a job, from chopping to washing dishes.

Let's see what happens at table when we chew our food and we chew on each other's conversation.

Let's see just how much we enjoy the fruits of our collective labor, and what happens when we commit to Sunday dinner, week after week.

Let's see about that new appetite for food you can peel rather than "food" that comes wrapped in cellophane.

Let's see how eating at home instead out of a bag or box affects our waistlines.

Could it be this simple? Let us see indeed.

As Michael Pollan reminds us in "Food Rules," four of the top 10 causes of death in the United States -- heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke -- are linked to our sugar-saturated, fat-laden and processed diet.

On this day, when the House decides the future of our ailing health care system, we can decide the future of our health by taking it to the stove, where there is no system but lots and lots of care.

This article originally appeared on True/Slant.