Braise, Boil, Saute or Fry – Cooking Seems to be the Ultimate Panacea for Mental Health

There are no greater things in life than home-cooking, as it helps save money and opt for a healthy diet. With time, we are focusing more and more on takeaways, forgetting the art of cooking, and ignoring the many health benefits that this activity offers us – physical health benefits in general, and mental health benefits in particular. While music therapy and drama therapy have always been there, it is cooking therapy that is stealing the show. Some counselors around the world are recommending cooking as a great tool to treat depression, anxiety, and other mental issues. Let’s find out about the many health benefits of cooking right here.

Start With a Routine

A solid routine can go a long way in combating several mental health issues. Without a healthy structure, you may start feeling stressed out about making several decisions. You can make a less unpredictable routine. This can help reduce stress and give a boost to your mental health. Cooking can get you into a good healthy routine as it also needs you to get more organized. There are a lot of things that involve the process, including, getting all the ingredients, and stocking them up so that you can use them when you want. You don’t have to go out to buy your stuff, sometimes you can get them delivered right to your home.

Cooking Helps People Come Together

Loneliness today is crippling people’s lives. Elderly people particularly run the risk of feeling lonely and alienated from their younger and busier loved ones. Older people who suffer from loneliness may also end up suffering from dementia. And that’s how home cooking comes in as it brings people together. Eating together can also provide a feeling of community and security. When you get other members of the family involved in cooking, you can spend quality time with each other and stay healthy as you are eating a better and more balanced diet.

Creativity Can Also Combat Loneliness

Creative activities such as drawing, painting, and writing may help improve people’s mental health. Research has substantiated that creativity has great properties to drive away worrying thoughts and help create calming and constructive mental state. Well, you may think that cooking cannot possibly reverse your mental health issues, but that’s not true. The activity gives you a sense of accomplishment. The more you cook, the more you discover the benefits of bringing together a melange of sight, touch, and smell. You will also discover a bonafide cook lurking in you somewhere.

Nutrition Basics

A healthy and balanced diet can not only make you physically good, but it can also improve your mental health. When you cook at home, you have full control of the ingredients you put in the dish. Also, eating high-quality foods that improve serotonin levels, a natural mood stabilizer that reduces depression and anxiety, helps resolve mental health issues. In fact, when you cook at least six to seven times a week, you may be left consuming much less oil and fat, making you ingest much fewer calories than usual and help stay healthier and fitter.

Bust Stress

Some people consider cooking as nothing but a chore. However, cooking can ultimately turn out to be a very rewarding experience. The physical processes involved such as chopping and stirring can make use of your mental faculties. When you use all of your senses to concentrate on every minute addition you make to the food you are preparing, it makes you more connected to the present. Thus, toning down your worries regarding the future or the past. This may prove to be one of the benefits of cooking. It may allow you to slow down and take your mind off things.

Sense of Accomplishment

Mental health professionals may help achieve goals with positive rewards. Whether you struggle with your mental health issues or not, it can help to prepare a meal to meet up with the short-term goals. It can make the ingredients come together and make cooking a rewarding experience. When you cook up something, it can help you get a sense of accomplishment. When you cook a lot of things, together with the people you are comfortable with, you can cook brand new dishes as you feed others. It may make you feel great and more connected to your surroundings.

If you still aren’t cooking, you must start now. Start with one day a week and gradually bring it to several days a week, making it a habit. You’ll discover how it can impact your mental health in myriad ways.