Why cooking and baking are good for your mental health
by Laura Clipson
• Published 28/02/2022
Taking up cooking and baking has been shown to have many positive effects on people’s mental health. Whether you’ve been cooking all your life or have never made anything more than toast, it’s worth taking up these hobbies and cooking and/or baking regularly.
- The sense of accomplishment you get from seeing something through from ingredients to a finished product, and then the satisfaction of eating something you’ve created from scratch is a wonderful feeling
- Something as simple as kneading dough for a homemade loaf of bread can be great for mental health, as the process is soothing and a great way to relieve stress, then of course you get the bonus of a delicious loaf of bread at the end
- This is something you can feel fully in control of, from choosing the ingredients and preparing them, to following recipes
- Successfully making something from scratch yourself is a great way to boost your self-confidence
- Both cooking and baking allow you to exercise your creativity. In baking, you can turn your creative talents to decorating bakes, while in cooking you can use your creativity to tinker with a recipe, perhaps swapping ingredients or adding something else to your liking
- Cooking and baking from scratch is far healthier than buying something pre-made. You know exactly what has gone into something you’ve made yourself, and studies have shown that a balanced diet can help to improve your mental health
- Sharing your creations with others can help mental health in a few ways - it can improve your self esteem when receiving positive comments about what you’ve made, it can help you build relationships with others, and generally make you feel good about treating others
- Put your favourite music or podcast on in the background while you cook
- Invite a friend or family member to cook with you
- Don’t worry if something doesn’t come out exactly as you’d hoped - use it as a lesson and try again
- Have patience. Cooking and baking often requires a lot of preparation, whether it’s chopping vegetables or weighing flour, then of course you have to wait for your creation to cook - remember this will all be worth it for the end result
It’s important to remember that everyone has to start somewhere. Even those who have never cooked or baked before can improve their skills and create wonderful things in the kitchen.
Thank you for reading.
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