How home cooking can positively impact your mental health
Cooking is as much a sensory experience as it is a practical one. The sizzling of meat in the pan, the bubbling of water as it boils, and the smells that fill the room all combine to create a therapeutic and rewarding experience.
The professional kitchens that many people see on TV shows like Masterchef may not appear to be the most relaxing environment. However, the domestic kitchen can truly be a sense of calm for anyone who is struggling with their mental health or needing to destress.
Mental health experts have credited cooking with helping to relieve depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
Grace Farrimond runs her own business creating bespoke floral designs. She was not able to work over the coronavirus lockdowns and explained how she used baking as a coping mechanism.
She said: “I think during lockdown on a Sunday afternoon I started cake baking as a release really.
“Baking and cooking was part of my childhood, my mum used to bake bread when we were kids so I was very much used to baking around the house.”
Cooking can be classified as a type of therapy known as ‘behavioral activation’. This seeks to increase a person's contact with sources of reward by helping them get more active and, in so doing, improve one’s life context according to the Society of Clinical Psychology.
Kira Williams is a Research Assistant and PhD student in clinical psychology at King’s College London.
She said: “Cooking can benefit behavioral activation as it is goal orientated. In this instance, aiming to produce a home-cooked meal is effective as it provides a positive stimulus and a sense of achievement.”
Cooking a good meal instils the belief that a person is capable which creates more positive feelings around cooking.
Miss Williams added: “It could be that you don’t believe you are a good cook or you don’t believe that you’re capable of those things.
“That leads you to feeling demotivated, which means that you might just order a takeaway.”
A 2016 study in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that spending time on creative goals (Cooking, Painting, Singing, etc) during a day is associated with a higher activated positive effect on that day.
Miss Williams explained: “The more you do that’s creative, things like cooking a meal, builds up positive beliefs about yourself.”
Meaning that those who engage in these creative activities are able to find more enjoyment in the process of creating something, which is shown to increase their happiness as a result.
I’ve always found being able to cook and enjoy your own food is truly one of life’s great pleasures but it’s also one of the most simple and accessible things that everyone can experience.
Mrs. Farrimond said: “I find personally that I just kind of switch off, I’ll turn the phone off, put some music on, and just work through a recipe.
“It really helps me, to just create something is really therapeutic.”
Whether you’re an experienced cook or a novice, someone who loves a range of food or a picky eater. Everyone can derive the same enjoyment from their individual food preferences.
Cooking can also be a great way of trying new things and branching out, there are always new recipes to find and experiment with.
Mrs. Farrimond touched on the difficulties of lockdown and how baking helped her to channel and express her creativity.
She said: “Lockdown was definitely a difficult period in which baking helped me.
“For me, it was looking forward to something, looking forward to creating something, and thinking about it is half the fun.
Cooking for others is actually a form of altruism and can be extremely rewarding, it has also been shown to boost self-esteem and confidence.
I find cooking a new recipe for my family to be just that, to be able to introduce them to a meal they haven’t tried before and to hear that they enjoyed makes the process all the more enriching.
Zipora Einav is a chef and author of Recipe for a Delicious Life. In her book, she states: “Cooking at its core is comprehensive meditation with the assurance of a good, healthy meal as the reward.”
Cooking has psychological benefits for both parties, the receiver feels nurtured and cared for whilst the person who prepared it can take pleasure in the fact they provided that meal.
Cooking dinner frequently at home is also associated with consumption of a healthier diet as opposed to those who go out or order takeaways according to a study by Public Health Nutrition.
Home cooking as a form of behavioral activation highlights how setting goals helps to create a positive mindset to tackle and overcome challenges.
Mrs. Farrimond said: “Finding new recipes that I’ve not tried, I like the challenge and to try stuff I’ve not done before. It’s definitely a learning experience to make new recipes.
“I love watching the Great British Bake Off and it’s fun to watch them make different recipes that I can try.”
It is becoming clear that food is important in more ways than one, it’s not just a basic biological need but a form of creative expression, a chance to relax and destress when someone is struggling. It won’t work for everyone, some people might think cooking is more torture than therapy, but for those that do find joy in the culinary arts, it may just be the thing that keeps them together.
