Can You Cook Your Way to Happiness? An Exploration Into Cooking As Therapy

Cooking at home has a lot of perks. It’s healthy, it saves you a lot of money from eating take out and it gives you control over your calorie intake. 

These are all great reasons to get yourself in the kitchen but did you know that cooking is also good for your mental health?

It's true! Making yourself a home-cooked meal is the purest act of self-love that you can do for yourself. Not only does it nourish you from the inside out, but the act itself can also be profoundly therapeutic. Just like many practical hobbies, cooking is an activity that occupies your mind and body simultaneously and, best of all, you get to eat what you make at the end of it! It’s a win-win situation really.

Today, we’re going to take a look at how cooking can act as a therapy to convince you to get yourself into the kitchen to cook yourself happy.

Culinary Therapy: A New Way to Self Soothe

The official term for cooking therapy is culinary therapy and it is defined as using food and all its associations to help treat a variety of mental illnesses.

Food isn’t just fuel; it's a gastronomical art that has a huge association with each individual's personal culture and family relationships. Culinary therapy harnesses all these associations and uses them to target the mental health issues you may be suffering from.

When used alongside your other mental health routines and treatments, culinary therapy can be a valuable asset to keep your mind stimulated and calm. The great thing about cooking is that it is something you can easily slip into your routine since you have to eat sometime! It's just about replacing that takeout or ready meal with something that has been lovingly homemade.

Studies have shown that cooking can improve your mood by providing a sense of control and accomplishment as well as giving you the opportunity to provide and socialize through food. This can make you feel needed and valued in a way that can only boost your self-esteem.

Cooking therapy has been proven to treat (among other things): 

• Stress

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Eating disorders

• Addiction 

• ADHD 

Cooking therapy is effective for so many conditions we would recommend it to anyone, even if you haven’t been diagnosed with anything. You can only benefit from the healing qualities of food and all its processes and associations.

How Cooking Can Improve Your Mental Health

So how exactly does it work? There are several factors to consider.

Cooking is not an activity you can do mindlessly, you need to pay attention so you don’t end up burning yourself or the food. The level of concentration creates a welcome distraction from any racing, negative thoughts that may be occupying your mind. This also makes it ideal for treating addiction as it pulls your mind away from the craving and onto the food.

Concentration also leads to mindfulness which is a huge tool in treating mental issues of any kind. To be mindful you need to engage all the senses and cooking is the perfect way to do that since you are required to use all of them at once to make the perfect meal.

Even when you are cooking the simplest dishes, cooking requires you to learn new skills especially when you delve into new cuisines and ingredients you’ve never tried before. Learning stimulates your mind and that can really improve your life on a mental and physical level and cooking is the perfect activity for learning something new every day.

Once you’ve finished cooking, the sense of accomplishment is rewarding because you have nourished your mind and now you get to reward yourself by nourishing your body. This feeling of accomplishment can be a huge self-esteem boost that you can build on every time you cook a new meal. 

Meals to Heal Your Mind

So we’ve looked at how the actual act of cooking can help your mental health but are there any foods that will physically nourish your brain?

Since merely the act of cooking is beneficial you can level it up by preparing healthy recipes. Cooking meals that are rich in nutrients is physically good for your mental health which has been scientifically proven to lower your risk of depression and dementia.

There are some ingredients that are good for your brain on a physical level so let’s take a look at them:

• Fish: especially fatty fish like salmon, sardines, trout, tuna, and mackerel because they are rich in omega 3s

• Lean meat: chicken in particular

• Whole grains: oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, barley, etc

• Beans and legumes: especially chickpeas, lentils, and black beans 

• Leafy greens: especially spinach and kale

• Fresh vegetables: especially cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussel sprouts, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, etc

• Fresh fruit: berries in particular like blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries 

Apart from raw, unprocessed ingredients, there are a few more unusual ingredients that are very good for your brain health:

• Kombu: an Asian seaweed used in soup and salads

• Natto: similar to miso

• Medicinal mushrooms

• Bone broth: this can be used in soups, stews, and marinades

• Beetroot powder: add this to smoothies, gravy, and sauces

• Non-wheat flours: cassava, tigernut, banana, and chickpea

• Freekeh: an ancient grain

Advantages of Cooking 

So now you know how cooking can help your brain both mentally and physically, how else can cooking benefit your life?

Gets you moving. Many hobbies like reading, knitting, and watching TV take place when you’re sitting down. Cooking on the other hand gets you up and on your feet to move about the kitchen. From prepping to cooking on the stove and finally cleaning up; the whole cooking process has you moving from beginning to end which is very good for your body and mind. It might not be a workout but at least you aren’t spending your whole day sedentary.

If you get used to this when you’re young, it has been proven to be hugely beneficial in old age as it will help you stay independent and keep your mind sharp.

Saves you money. Eating out is really expensive as well as being unhealthy. Seasonal and local ingredients are very budget-friendly and taste delicious so it's just about changing your shopping mindset and knowing what to look for.

It's entirely possible to go to the shops and spend the same amount of money you would on a takeaway and get ingredients that are healthier that could even last you more than one meal. This is because, when buying processed foods, you are paying for the processing to happen, which you can avoid by buying the whole raw ingredients instead.

Family time. Cooking with a loved one, be that a family member or a partner, can be a beautiful way to connect with each other. This is actually a fact that is backed by science, which shows that partaking in the whole cooking process from prepping to eating together can be a unique way to bond. Simple meals as well as baking are also a great way to get the kids into the kitchen so you can bond over teaching them new skills.

So why not make dinner a family affair and use it to deepen your connections?

Eat healthier. If you’re buying fresh, raw ingredients your cooking is already going to be far healthier than any takeout or processed foods. Buying your ingredients fresh is very cost-effective and guarantees you aren’t eating a diet full of preservatives.

Aside from physical health, preparing meals and engaging in that process also promotes mindful eating so we know when our bodies are full. This can help to treat disordered eating whether that is over or undereating.

Improves cognitive health. Eating simple foods with anti-inflammatory properties like nuts, berries, fish, and leafy greens has been proven to improve your well-being in several ways.

• Protects the body against the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's, dementia, and metabolic syndrome

• Improved blood sugar

• Lowers free radical damage

• Helps decrease inflammation

• Lowered risk of obesity

• Better mobility later in life

To conclude, culinary therapy is the act of preparing and cooking food with the goal to address mental health issues. This is a legitimate therapy that can work alongside your mental health routine. Cooking gets you into a flow state of concentration and mindfulness by occupying all the senses at once. There are so many advantages of cooking for yourself including saving money, eating healthier, and improving your cognitive function. Your physical brain health can improve with a healthy diet that is full of whole grains, berries, nuts, and fish.

Get ready to dive into cooking yourself! These benefits are, without a doubt inspiring people to get into the kitchen and take control of their mental health all over the country. Not only will your mind be clearer, but you will feel physically better in the long run.