Creating Calm In The Kitchen: The Mental Health Benefits Of Cooking
Remember during the COVID-19 pandemic when most of us were homebound, a considerable number of people started attempting to bake the perfect loaf of sourdough? There is something about cooking that creates a feeling of comfort, especially during times of stress. While medical professionals have touted the physical health benefits of cooking homemade meals for years, learning about the mental health benefits of cooking is still in the preliminary stages. However, what evidence we have so far looks promising.
Finding flow and calming anxiety through cooking
Flow is a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and it refers to complete cognitive immersion into a task. At this level of creativity, the participant loses awareness of time and self. For many people, cooking offers this type of intense engagement that can lead to joy and fulfillment.
Cooking is a creative process and, as such, can be meditative. Many recipes don’t require you to follow the directions perfectly and allow for a bit of personalization. Taking some time to let your mind be engrossed in the culinary zone by chopping colorful vegetables into slivers, contemplating spices, and watching the food caramelize in the pan can be helpful in focusing the brain on the present moment.
Cooking as a social activity
Cooking can also be an excellent way to branch out socially. Cooking classes, meals made with friends, and cooking meetups or clubs are ways crafting meals can be a social activity. Both preparing and eating food have brought people together since human beings have existed.
Someone experiencing social anxiety may find that a cooking class can be an excellent way to meet new people without a lot of pressure. There is a focus on a project, light social interaction with a common interest, and you can choose your level of verbal participation.
The mental health benefits of cooking in groups
Cooking in groups can be done for therapeutic reasons as a mental health group; it can be a means of teaching culture through food or as a social club. Even getting together and cooking with a friend or family member can be an excellent way to improve your mood. Any group cooking activity can be beneficial for well-being, as social activity is a positive factor for mental health. We are, after all, social creatures.
Strengthening the mind-body connection through food
Among the benefits of cooking is that creating homemade meals can help you eat healthier. There are cooking classes that specifically focus on styles of cooking that promote health. After a heart attack or stroke, some rehab programs will offer classes to teach patients to create more heart-healthy meals to make at home.
There are links between healthy lifestyle factors like exercise and eating a varied and heart-healthy diet and improved mental health outcomes. Likewise, improved mental health has a positive effect on physical health. Cooking your own homemade meals can be effective as a therapeutic intervention and also a way to improve physical health, which can create a positive feedback loop of mental and physical well-being.
Engaging in kitchen therapy
If you have an affinity for cooking or are open to trying a new activity to improve mental health, why not look into kitchen therapy? Here are some activities involved in kitchen therapy that might bring joy, connection, and inspiration to your life:
- Learning new skills – like how to filet a fish, cook using a wok, or bake homemade sourdough bread – in order to show yourself that you can do new things
- Collaborating with a “co-chef” to improve communication and teamwork skills
- Following the instructions of a recipe to increase your focus and learn where you can make deviations
- Trying unfamiliar ingredients and verbalizing the flavors to strengthen the mind-body connection and diversify what you typically eat on a regular basis
- Discovering how to make a recipe passed down by a loved one – perhaps one who has recently passed – in order to heal and establish positive associations with their memory
- Making more challenging recipes or 2- or 3-course meals in order to bolster your multi-tasking skills
The above list is hardly exhaustive when it comes to what kitchen therapy might entail for you. Just as cooking affords the chef a range of flexibility, so, too, can kitchen therapy be customized based on your needs and goals.
Discovering the mental health benefits of cooking in therapy
Research shows that cooking may positively influence psychosocial outcomes and that community-based cooking interventions demonstrated a positive influence on socialization, self-esteem, affect, and quality of life. Occupational therapists often use cooking interventions during rehab to relearn or strengthen cognitive skills, as well as enhance physical endurance and promote greater mental well-being.
How culinary therapy can improve mental health
Culinary therapy can also be used in psychosocial programs for mental health issues. In 2022, an Australian research team studied the effects of a seven-week cooking program on a number of factors, including cooking confidence, ability to change eating habits, behavior surrounding food, and overcoming lifestyle barriers. This study found that while the cooking classes did not change eating habits, it did report that participants showed significant improvements in general physical health and mental health.
Using kitchen therapy to manage stress and anxiety
Kitchen therapy may be used in conjunction with talk therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to address mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cooking programs can help promote mental well-being while learning how to manage stress and improve self-esteem.
Online therapy – offered through platforms like BetterHelp – may streamline this process by allowing you to meet with a licensed therapist over video chat and either work with them directly from your own kitchen if they do this type of therapy or as a supplement to your cooking classes. Advantages of participating in online therapy include the ability to attend sessions from any location with a wireless connection and the flexibility to choose appointment times that are compatible with your schedule.
Online therapy has been shown to be just as effective as traditional in-person therapy, and it’s more accessible than it ha’s ever been. In conjunction, a literature review examining cooking interventions used in therapeutic settings found that they have the strong potential to influence psychosocial outcomes and increase motivation, which can act as a catalyst for engaging in self-care, making healthy decisions, and feeling good about oneself.
With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, all you have to do is fill out a simple questionnaire, and you’ll be matched with a licensed therapist that can meet with you from the comfort of your own home.
Takeaway
What are the psychological and mental health benefits of cooking for other people?
There are many potential health benefits of cooking, both from the act of cooking itself and the nutritious foods it yields for people to consume. Cooking has proven to have some meditative effects and can reduce anxiety. A healthy diet has also been shown to ease the symptoms of many mental health disorders.
What are the beneficial effects of preparing and enjoying healthy meals?
There are numerous benefits to preparing healthy, delicious meals at home. Not only are home-cooked meals better for your physical and mental health, but the act of cooking can have therapeutic benefits that can promote emotional wellbeing. Moreover, meal planning offers stress relief since it contributes to an organized and efficient home routine. Cooking your own meals can also help with intuitive eating practices.
How does home-made food promote emotional health and well-being?
Home-made food is associated with the comfort and love of a family, so it can promote feelings of wellness. It’s also better for you than take-out or processed foods. When you prepare meals at home, you tend to eat healthier, which can have positive mental and physical outcomes.
Therapeutic cooking has also been used in therapeutic settings to treat mental health challenges like eating disorders and substance use disorders.
How does cooking relieve stress?
When you think of mental health, cooking might not be the first thing that comes to mind. Still, the process of cooking shares many similarities with meditative practices and relaxation techniques. With cooking, therapy may involve focusing on the present, performing repetitive tasks like chopping or peeling, and engaging all of your senses in the cooking process. Cooking also has a creative component and can be a form of self-expression.
Why is food important for mental health?
Food feeds the brain as well as the body. Adequate nutrition ensures not only gut health, but also mood regulation, focus, and concentration. Making nutritional changes such as adding more protein or omega-3 fatty acids to your diet can help address mental health concerns. This is why some doctors and mental health professionals recommend the Mediterranean diet as part of a comprehensive mental health treatment plan.
What are the benefits of being able to cook?
Cooking has been an important skill throughout human evolution. Early humans had to learn to cook food properly, or they wouldn’t survive. And in public health education, nutrition is always a concern. Being able to cook can help ensure better nutrition, but there’s more to it.
Having food preparation and cooking skills can have many positive benefits. This goal-oriented behavior can provide a sense of accomplishment and self-efficacy, which is important for healthy self-esteem. It can also foster socialization, since many meals are shared with friends and family.
How does cooking improve self-confidence?
Cooking can improve self-confidence in many people, especially those with poor mental health or medical conditions such as traumatic brain injury or dementia. The sense of accomplishment that comes from building a meal from raw ingredients cannot be overstated. And since meals are often shared, there could be several psychosocial factors at play.
Why is cooking good for your brain?
Cooking helps with executive function and improves motor skills since it engages many different parts of the brain. For example, cooking involves planning, decision-making, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination (many of the same skills involved in occupational therapy). For this reason, cooking is considered helpful in occupational and rehabilitative therapy and can be a tool for cognitive and physical evaluation.
How does cooking help emotional development?
There may be many ways cooking can help with personal growth and emotional development. For example, cooking engages creativity, patience, problem-solving, and self-esteem. It can also facilitate social relationships since food tends to bring people together.
Can cooking make you happier?
Yes. For many people, cooking is associated with a positive mood. It can have meditative properties and offer stress relief, for example. A study from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center revealed many psychosocial benefits of cooking, but it was difficult to discern a causal relationship, since so many factors are involved. More research is needed to confirm benefits of therapeutic cooking in community kitchen programs, community-based cooking classes, baking groups, and therapeutic and rehabilitative settings.
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