Mindful Cooking

How cooking and food can impact your mental health

Can cooking and food affect your mental health?

There’s a clear link between nutrition and mental well-being, because when we take care of our physical health, it positively impacts our mental health too. That’s why all the meals in Green Chef recipe boxes are nutritionist-approved, so you can rest easy knowing that whether you pick Keto, Vegan, Lower Carb, or Flexitarian every meal will be nutritionally balanced as well as delicious.

However, did you know that the act of cooking itself can have positive mental health benefits? Take a look at some of the ways in which cooking and food could impact your mental health below.

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Top Foods For Mental Health and Relieving Stress

Green Chef’s resident Dietician and Nutritionist, Anna Tebbs explains that food is not only a source of nourishment, but it can also be a powerful tool in managing stress. Incorporating nutrient-dense foods such as leafy greens, fatty fish, whole grains, and berries into your diet can help promote relaxation and reduce feelings of anxiety.
Eating well is a great form of self-care, and while it's true that food isn't a cure-all for stress, it can certainly help, and by prioritising foods that support our bodies, we can better manage the stresses daily life may throw at us. Just remember stress is natural, how we manage it is important and your diet alone won’t reduce high stress.

Stress-relieving foods which may help you include:

-Salmon
-Eggs
-Garlic
-Matcha Powder

How Can Nutrition Impact Your Mental Health?

When we’re feeling stressed, unhealthy ready meals and takeaways can seem like the easy option, but it's really important to take a little bit of time for yourself and make sure you're well nourished. One of the key reasons to pay attention to what you’re eating, is that when we’re well-nourished we have more energy, making us less likely to feel anxious, tired and stressed. How food affects mental health will differ from person to person, but when your body is healthy, it can have really positive mental health benefits.

Green Chef provides you with all the tools and information you need; it’s easy to check nutritional information online or on the app. Plus you can filter by key nutritional information like “high-protein” and “carb conscious” according to what matters to you. Check out next week’s menu here.

Could Mindful Cooking Help you Combat Stress?

We all know that mindful activities can combat stress and have great benefits for mental health, but have you ever considered practising mindful cooking? Cooking demands our attention, which can reduce stress by preventing intrusive thoughts. In other words, mindful cooking is a meditative activity.

Mindful cooking might sound like a buzzword, but essentially it just means being present while you cook. By immersing yourself in the actions, sights, scents and sounds of cooking, you are practising mindful cooking. Whilst for some people, cooking might seem like a chore, having easy step-by-step recipe cards makes it easy to be in the moment, plus you’ll end up with a delicious healthy meal at the end! Check out next week's menu here.

Creating Structure and Routine

One of the other reasons that cooking at home can have benefits for mental health is that it helps you build structure and routine. A routine is a really helpful way to tackle feelings of overwhelm because it limits the amount of decision-making you are required to do each day. Something as simple as setting some time aside to cook a meal can therefore have excellent benefits for mental health. If cooking from scratch for the first time feels a little daunting, why not try something quick and simple like this 25 min Jerk Spiced Steak with Sweet Potato Mash?

Learning a New Skill

One of the other benefits of cooking is learning a new skill. Learning a new skill, or taking part in a creative activity (such as cooking) can postively impact mental health by providing you with a sense of accomplishment. It’s a great idea to share your new skills by eating with friends or family; not only will they be proud of your efforts, but it’s a really nice way to show your appreciation for the people close to you.

With Green Chef, it’s easy to pick up new skills in the kitchen because each recipe is filled with tips and tricks, and can be made in six simple steps. There are lots of great recipes for dishes that look really impressive but are actually simple to make, for example, this Blue Cheese Orzotto, ready in 25 minutes.

Quality Time With Your Loved Ones

Eating food with friends or family is a great way to spend time with your loved ones and build social connections. This is really important because tackling feelings of loneliness and isolation through our social connections has huge benefits for mental health. One of the other ways that eating food with friends has mental health benefits, is that mealtimes are a great place to share feelings. When cooking for friends and family, a sharing dish or something fun to eat like tacos is always a good idea! Check out this Paneer Tikka Taco recipe.