My Happy Place. The Kitchen.
The kitchen is my happy place, and it could be yours too!!!!! Cooking at home is not only practical, tends to be cheaper but it can also really boost your mental health. Cooking isn’t for everyone, but if you are someone who loves to create in the kitchen- you could start tapping into the potential goodness of home cooking for your mind, body and soul!
Cooking at home is a full body sensory experience. The repetition of the motions, the smells, and the sounds! Add some music, a podcast, a family member or friend and cooking can start nourishing your soul too!
Mindful Nutrition
Mindful eating (i.e., paying attention to our food, on purpose, moment by moment, without judgment) is an approach to food that focuses on individuals’ sensual awareness of the food and their experience of the food.
Mindful nutrition uses the principles of mindfulness, and meditation to truly experience food and cooking by heightening our attention in the present moment with a focus on our sensory interactions and experiences.
If you want to read more about mindful nutrition, click below:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-eat-mindfully
Five Ways Cooking Can Nourish Your Mind, Body & Soul
Get That Sense of Achievement
I wasn’t always at home and comfortable in the kitchen, in fact I used to really struggle with the pressure of cooking and the fear of things going wrong. But the more you cook and set yourself achievable goals the more your confidence and self-esteem grows. When I am feeling particularly anxious or in need of some gentle ‘me time’, I will often cook a tried and tested recipe- a meal I know I make well and tastes delicious. The process of creating and achieving something good does wonders in creating a positive feeling in us.
Unleash Your Creativity
The more at home you get in the kitchen, the more your creativity can shine. Being creative and tapping into that part of ourselves can be hugely beneficial. Cooking at home gives you the opportunity to experiment in the kitchen and discover how each ingredient plays a role in the dish. There isn’t anything I love more than spending time in the kitchen, creating and experimenting. To get started, if you’re following a recipe, try swapping ingredients and allow your creativity to shape a dish.
Discover Your Love of Food
I love food. But I haven’t always had a healthy relationship with food, I used to focus all my energy on limiting and abstaining. Learning to cook at home can have a positive impact on you, giving you a safe space to learn about food and tap into the joy it can bring, both in making and eating! Taking control and re-focussing on teaching yourself how to cook is empowering and has certainly helped me fall in love with food.
Start Meal-Planning
Planning or prepping your meals in advance is a wonderful way to achieve your goals. Whether you are following a budget, if you have particular health concerns, if you lead a busy life and need to create meals that work practically in your week or if you just love meal planning! I really enjoy meal planning; I love looking through my recipe books or saving recipes I have seen online and thinking about my week and fitting in meals that work. I have a growing collection of recipes, from quick 10-minute meals to longer more complicated recipes. The more I plan, the more my confidence has grown and the more ambitious I have become.
Getting Organised
Cooking at home for most of the week can help improve your organisational skills and mindfulness. I really love building my cupboard staples, herbs, and spices so that I can throw together a delicious meal with not a lot! Especially useful when putting off a big supermarket shop! Organisation and meal planning go hand in hand. Improving the way you manage your kitchen and cooking will encourage you to be more time effective- which in turn will make cooking so much healthier and more satisfying. Taking the time to be more organised in the kitchen will also help limit food waste, which should be a goal for every kitchen.
Just exploring the ways home cooking can nourish your mind, body and soul, makes me want to jump into my happy place with my favourite cookbook, some beautiful ingredients and get cooking.
So, what’s stopping you!?
Happy Cooking!
