CHANNEL YOUR INNER JULIA
Want an easy way to improve your health? Cook at least one of your meals today, but ideally all three! So it doesn’t really have to be a recipe out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, it can be something simple. Rest assured, the benefits of the incremental work required to cook for yourself are far reaching:
Cooking our own food means that we know exactly what is going in our bodies (read: you eliminate a lot of the “junk” in processed or mass produced foods) as well as those ingredients used in excess in commercial kitchen (hello excess salt, sugar, fat and the dreaded seed oils),
Cooking can (and probably will) save you money aiding your financial wellness, and
With the right mindset, cooking can be therapeutic by providing a mental release from the over stimulation that is all too present in modern lives allowing us, even for a moment, to unplug and work with our hands. It also gives us a boost in self-confidence when we are able to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
A few tips for successful cooking at home:
As you get started, I recommend looking for recipes with minimal ingredients and hands on time. A few personal favorites are The Minimalist Baker (don’t let the name fool you, there are a lot of great meals on the site) and Dinner: A Love Story both of which have a heavy focus on approachability, minimal ingredients and minimal hands-on time.
Try to keep some basics on hand: pasta, rice, dried beans, frozen vegetables, pasta sauce, oils, vinegars and spices you like. With enough practice, you will get in a cooking rhythm and be able to whip something up with what’s on hand.
Give it a go and see how you feel after a few day, both physically and mentally. Bon appétit!
