Healthy Home Cooking as an Act of Self-Love and Keys to Healthy Cooking

As an adult, how do you feel after eating home-cooked meals that your parents prepare for you when you visit them? Do you feel cared for? Loved? Grateful? … The list goes on.
In this blog post, I am sharing my personal perspective and experience on home cooking.
What is home cooking? Home cooking is the act of preparing food for yourself or loved ones at home. It can be a simple meal or a five-course meal. It’s simple, right?

For many years, I never thought that I could cook, enjoy cooking, or enjoy eating my own homemade food, so I never made time to cook for myself. I would rather order takeaways or eat at restaurants, knowing that 90% of outside foods are unhealthy, even though they were labeled as "healthy options" on the menu. Do you know what I mean? I am talking about the unhealthy ingredients in the kitchen, such as cooking oils, MSG, and other ingredients that we probably cannot pronounce.

This year, I spent a lot of time experimenting with cooking at home. I have tried different healthy ingredients and cooking methods, and I have come to enjoy my home-cooked meals. I feel well in my body and mind. One of the lessons I learned from my health coaching training was about nourishing our body and mind through our own kitchen. It taught me that home cooking is not about making perfect meals; it is more about allowing ourselves to have fun, be creative, and learn to put love into our meal-making. Home cooking is not just about nourishing our body—it’s also about healing our mind. It can be a really therapeutic activity that helps us decompress. For me, preparing meals for myself and my loved ones is an act of showing love and bringing healing to our bodies through healthy cooking. Food is medicine; food brings healing.

Below are some keys to healthy cooking that I want to share:

Consider fresh, whole foods
Quality whole-food ingredients are essential to healthy cooking. Consider ways to spend less on convenience and more on high-quality ingredients that support your healing and health. Trade packaged and highly processed foods for those found on the perimeter of the grocery store.

Keep it simple
Home cooking is easier to implement and maintain if it’s simple. Start with convenient substitutions, like swapping canned beans for dried, or making one-pot recipes like soups or paellas. You can also easily add nuts, seeds, berries, herbs, or greens to recipes to boost nutrition.

Switch things up
Using a variety of healthy cooking methods and flavors keeps cooking and eating interesting! Increase your appetite for healthy homemade food with different recipes, and offer multiple sauces, spices, and herbs to encourage everyone at the table to customize their favorite flavors.

Cook once, eat many times
Preparing your own food can save you time and money. Make more than you need for one meal and divide leftovers for lunches, a quick dinner later in the week, or to stash in the freezer.

Experiment
Trying new flavors, foods, and cooking methods expands your taste bud boundaries! Add creativity and color to a meal, knowing you may not repeat some culinary creations while others may become favorite go-tos. Listening to your body and keeping an open mind are important for success!

Find tools you will use
Choose recipes you can make with what you have, and slowly add kitchen tools as your budget allows. Some appliances, such as pressure cookers and immersion blenders, may be worth buying if using them regularly enhances your nutrition and saves you time in the process!

Home cooking is not just about the act of making a meal—it is also about the act of creating authentic nourishment: the time, effort, actions, and love that go into home cooking.
How about you? What is your relationship with home cooking?
What does home cooking mean to you?
How do you feel after eating a meal at a restaurant—and a home-cooked meal?

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