How Culinary Arts May Improve Mental Health
For many people, cooking is simply a means of getting the proper nutrition daily, which is essential for almost everyone. However, preparing food can also act as therapy that may help you live in the present moment. It could involve making your favorite meals and enjoying them with loved ones, or it might mean following a diet recommended by a healthcare provider. However you go about it, cooking therapy—with the help of a licensed mental health professional—may help ease symptoms of several mental health conditions and provide you with an interesting creative outlet.
What is cooking therapy?
Cooking therapy, also called culinary or kitchen therapy, is a therapeutic technique that mental health professionals sometimes recommend. It combines the culinary arts, gastronomy, and personal, cultural, or familial relationships with food to tackle emotional and psychological challenges. It has gained popularity as an alternative or complementary approach to traditional mental health treatment methods.
Often, cooking provides an opportunity for self-expression, personal growth, exploration, and increased self-esteem. Creative projects in the kitchen can help promote behavioral activation and goal-oriented behavior, which can help people curb procrastination and other mental blocks.
For example, people may experience a sense of accomplishment, focus, and mindfulness while cooking. By working with food, individuals can connect to cultural roots and family memories, which may boost comfort and belonging.
How culinary arts may improve mental health
Cooking has long been considered a therapy that may offer many physical and mental health benefits of creating a meal. One systematic review found that cooking interventions, such as community-based cooking classes, can improve mood, social isolation, and symptoms of depression.
Mental health experts have also suggested that cooking can help reduce anxiety and relieve mental distress. Turning to the kitchen may allow for behavioral activation and serve as a meaningful self-care activity that improves quality of life.
When you include cooking as a regular activity, you can improve your body's health with good food and your mind's health by feeling proud and in charge. Knowing how vital cooking is for a healthy mind, let's explore the benefits of cooking therapy.
How cooking therapy might help you
Acts as a form of self-care
Cooking can often be a healing hobby that helps you focus on caring for yourself. Preparing tasty and healthy meals can show kindness and love toward yourself. After a busy day, for instance, preparing and enjoying a home-cooked meal can help people feel refreshed and satisfied.
Supports connections with others
Eating with friends and family can help build connections and deepen bonds. Cooking as a group may improve this by offering everyone a cooperative and enjoyable activity. For example, having a weekend potluck where each person brings a dish they made can promote togetherness and help make lasting memories.
Provides an avenue for better health
Home cooking may give you greater control over what goes into your meals and cooking improves the flavor of food, which can help you stay healthy. By using whole, nutritious ingredients, you might improve the health of yourself and others. For instance, experimenting with a new recipe with colorful veggies and lean protein might be a fun way to focus on eating well.
Stimulates physical activity
While cooking meals is less physically demanding than a workout, it requires you to be up on your feet and moving around the kitchen. Chopping, mixing, and cleaning up may help break up sedentary habits. Consider making homemade pasta, for example. You’ll need to knead the dough by hand and carefully roll it out with a rolling pin before you shape it into noodles or ravioli.
This physical activity can also help give your body and brain a break from the day's stresses. As you focus on the task, you may become more relaxed and energized after meal preparation.
Promotes goal-oriented behavior
Setting and achieving culinary goals can help build confidence and a sense of accomplishment.
Whether learning a new cooking technique or mastering a challenging recipe, these achievements may motivate you to pursue personal growth. For instance, setting a weekly goal to try one new recipe can help increase proficiency and satisfaction.
Adding cooking therapy to your life
Choosing between baking and cooking
While they may both be therapeutic, cooking and baking usually offer different benefits and processes. Cooking may allow for more creativity and self-expression, as you can experiment with various ingredients, flavors, and cooking techniques. Baking often requires dry heat from an oven and is more precise, as it typically follows specific recipes with exact measurements and instructions.
Deciding whether to focus on cooking or baking may depend on your preferences. However, both techniques can be beneficial for increasing goal-oriented behavior that may help promote better mental health.
How culinary arts may improve mental health: Choosing dishes to cook
When picking recipes for cooking therapy, it's often necessary to select ones that promote personal growth and spark your imagination. Consider looking for dishes that are challenging enough to make you feel proud but not so complex that they cause stress. Trying new ingredients and methods may also add to the healing power of cooking.
As you make cooking therapy a regular part of your self-care routine, the abilities you gain in the kitchen may help you in other areas of your life. For many people, cooking improves emotional intelligence by helping them combat procrastination and build self-confidence.
Online therapy platforms for anxiety and mental health
Therapists may recommend integrating some cooking therapy into your treatment plan, especially if cooking interests you. You might work with a therapist in person or in group settings. You may also work with a therapist online who helps you use cooking therapy. For many people, online therapy helps reduce logistical issues common with in-person treatment, like finding transportation and taking time off work.
Often, you may combine cooking therapy with online therapy or other treatment methods. One relatively ubiquitous therapy type is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which involves problem-solving and reframing specific thoughts and feelings more positively. A recent study concluded that online CBT is often as effective as traditional face-to-face CBT.
Takeaway
Creating something from scratch can be a form of behavioral activation and self-care. It may help individuals to focus on a specific task, momentarily putting aside their worries and curbing procrastination. Cooking can provide a medium for self-expression, as participants can choose recipes, ingredients, and styles that reflect their preferences and cultural backgrounds.
What is the relationship between cooking and mental health?
Cooking can constitute a form of self-care. It’s often meditative, relaxing, and enjoyable, and it enables individuals to fuel themselves with nutrients that fuel the brain and body. Food preparation can enhance self-esteem, promote mindfulness, reduce stress, offer a chance for the creative process and expression, and promote connection with others.
A 2018 systematic review explored the psychosocial benefits of cooking and found that “participation in baking sessions led to improved self-esteem, primarily as a result of increased concentration, coordination, and confidence.” It also discovered that culinary therapy participants often experienced decreased anxiety, improved affect (positive mood), and enhanced overall well-being, among other positive mental health outcomes.
What does cooking do for the brain and anxiety?
Early humans are thought to have begun cooking approximately 780,000 years ago, and cooking was a notable part of human evolution that greatly impacted the brain, according to early findings. Although we don’t know exactly when this skill was developed, examining artifacts from this time reveals that early humans likely ate cooked fish, and this may have enabled them to develop new social and behavioral systems.
It’s believed that cooking can reduce anxiety because it engages the senses, promotes a focus on the present moment, and engages the executive functioning area of the brain. In addition, nutritional changes can lead to mental health changes. By cooking with nutrient-rich foods, you may reduce anxiety symptoms.
Does food play a role in mental health?
Food is thought to play a significant role in mental health–it doesn’t only impact your digestive system. According to Harvard Health, “What you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood.” Eating nutrient-rich foods can nourish the brain and protect it from oxidative stress. Eating habits featuring primarily ultra-processed foods can lead to inflammation, impaired cognitive function, and worsened symptoms of mental disorders. A cognitive and physical evaluation may reveal the effects of the food you eat.
Can you cook your way to better mental health in culinary therapy?
Culinary therapy can contribute to improved mental health because it usually promotes mindfulness, reduces anxiety, improves self-esteem, facilitates connection with others, and fosters a healthy lifestyle with nutrient-rich eating habits. It can also contribute to creativity and help you develop a daily routine.
Culinary therapy is often found in therapeutic and rehabilitative settings like occupational and rehabilitation therapy, community-based cooking interventions, community kitchen programs, and public health nutrition courses. These cooking programs can be beneficial for various populations, including those with traumatic brain injury who want to improve their motor skills, and those living with substance use disorder (formerly referred to as substance abuse). As part of occupational therapy, cooking has numerous benefits. When culinary therapy concepts interact with other interventions, like art therapy, they can be even more impactful.
How is cooking like therapy?
Cooking can be similar to therapy because they both promote mindful awareness, which tends to be beneficial for overall mental health. Embarking on a culinary journey can be an excellent choice if you’d like to improve your mental health.
Why is cooking good for ADHD?
Cooking often presents challenges for those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but it can also have positive benefits. It typically requires multiple cognitive functions, including time estimation, planning, task-switching, focus, and evaluation, with which people with ADHD often struggle. However, developing cooking skills usually requires those with ADHD to find coping strategies, such as using timers, printing off recipes and checking off steps, minimizing distractions, and practicing mindfulness. These skills can be helpful in all areas of life.
How does cooking help emotional development?
Cooking can help emotional development by boosting self-esteem, fostering a sense of accomplishment, encouraging problem-solving skills, offering opportunities for patience, and promoting connection with others.
What are the positive effects and benefits of cooking?
There are many benefits to cooking. It can promote positive mental and physical health outcomes, foster socialization, help individuals develop a variety of skills, and more.
How does cooking improve mental health and self-confidence?
Cooking can improve self-confidence by showing people that they can succeed. Even simple meals tend to be associated with a sense of achievement, and learning more refined skills can lead to even more self-satisfaction and cooking confidence. This, in turn, can improve mental health. In addition, cooking often involves a focus on the present moment, often referred to as mindfulness, which can have a positive impact on mental health.
Why is cooking important for social-emotional development?
Cooking can be important for social-emotional development because it offers opportunities to engage in social relationships and bond with others while also promoting improved mental health. Research suggests that cooking has a positive impact on various psychosocial factors and can reduce anxiety. Mindful cooking can be especially beneficial because it involves a focus on the senses and the current moment.
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