Hidden Mental Health Benefits of Everyday Cooking

There’s no question that cooking can be burdensome at times. But as pointed out in “What If Cooking Is Just Plain Burdensome?” the critical question is where do we go with that fact.

• Do we let it stop us from making health-giving meals so we are forced to give up on our healthy eating hopes and dreams?
• Or might there be a way to shift our thinking in a way that offers a more helpful (i.e., transformative) perspective on daily meal making?

One way to helpfully shift our thinking lies in understanding the upsides of meal making. A perfect example came from of our readers, LeeAnn, who shared an article from Healthier Michigan, “Why Cooking Is Good for Your Mental Health.” As she noted, “Mindfully making a meal for your family or yourself can reap emotional benefits and beyond.”

Sadly, cooking’s emotional–and many, many other benefits don’t get much “press.” Instead, the subtle message behind convenience food marketing is that the kitchen is not a place where we want to be spending our time. It’s too tedious, inconvenient in our busy lives and, well, burdensome.

So how nice to see an article “advertising” some of cooking’s upsides, in this case mental health benefits like these:

The Benefits of Routines For people who have anxiety or other emotional health issues, having daily routines that center around the home and mealtime can be a way to feel mentally in control.

The Benefits of Creativity Making meals at home also allows you to stretch your creative side and learn something new – which is good for your mental health.

The Benefits of Mindfulness Slicing, chopping, mixing and blending are all done one act at a time. Some home cooks find that by focusing on one thing, they can melt away some of the day’s stress and are then further rewarded with a great meal.

Interestingly, all these mind benefits come along automatically as we make a good meal. As one reader noted, she realizes how she enjoys all the sensory aspects of cooking–the vegetable chopping, the feel of real foods, the smell, the colors and patterns and sound of foods sauteing in a skillet, and of course the taste.

Likely as not, we’ve never paid attention to or realized all this sensory goodness filling, relaxing and steadying the mind. It just happened automatically!

So in addition to all the many benefits of making our own health-giving meals, add (practically automatic) mental and emotional support.