You might wonder if planning and cooking your meals play any significant role in your health and wellbeing. And I can confidently tell you that it has tremendous effects on your physical and mental wellbeing.
I won’t deny the fact that some house chores come easy with some people but very difficult with others. However, when you go through the benefits of planning and cooking your meals yourself, you’ll embrace cooking as a hobby. You will stop seeing planning your meal and subsequently going shopping for the ingredients and finally cooking the meal as a waste of your time.
Believe me, it’s worth your precious time to plan, shop and prepare your meals for the following reasons:
Nutritional Benefits
When you take time to plan your meals, you’ll ensure a balanced diet rich in nutrients that support your overall wellbeing, especially your cognitive function.
You will add brain-boosting nutrients high in omega-3 fatty acids (fatty fishes and flax seeds) and antioxidants (colorful fruits and vegetables).
Planning your meal will make you add complex carbohydrates (vegetables, nuts, and seeds) that will help stabilize your blood sugar level, which is crucial for sustained mental energy and focus and overall wellbeing.
Physical Benefits
Planning and preparing your meals can greatly impact your physical wellbeing.
Taking time to go shop for food items is an opportunity to move your muscles and exercise. Do not neglect these little things when it comes to overall wellbeing.
The cooking process will offer you another cardio experience when you stand and move around the kitchen during the process.
Stress Reduction
Meal planning alleviates mental burden in several ways including:
Reducing Your Decision Fatigue: Planning your meals in advance eliminates the daily stress of deciding what to eat and freeing up mental energy for other tasks.
Optimizing Your Time Management Skill: Knowing what you’ll eat and when can help structure your day, thus, reducing anxiety and improving time management.
Improved Financial Peace of Mind: Planning your meals can lead to more efficient grocery shopping and less food waste, thereby reducing financial stress.
Improved Eating Habits
Meal planning promotes healthier eating patterns such as:
Portion Control: Planning meals helps you control portions, preventing overeating which can lead to sluggishness and reduced mental clarity.
Healthier Choices: You are less likely to resort to fast food or unhealthy snacks when hungry, which can negatively affect your health.
Hydration and Optimal Gut Health
Including adequate fluid, especially water, in your meal plan can improve your health because we need fluid to move nutrients in and out of tissues and cells for proper functioning of the body.
Include probiotics (including fermented vegetables and dairies), polyphenol-rich foods (like cloves, turmeric, ginger, and garlic) and prebiotics (such as fiber-rich green leafy vegetables, root and tuber vegetables, nuts, and seeds) in your diet to support your gut microorganisms in producing short-chain fatty acids, essential for your optimal mental and physical health.
Routine and Mindfulness
The act of planning itself can have positive effects such as:
Sense of Accomplishment: Your mental state could be positively impacted when you successfully plan and prepare your meals because of increased self-esteem and sense of control you’ll feel as a result.
Mindful Eating: Planning meals encourages more mindful food choices and eating habits, which can improve overall health.
Summary
By addressing nutritional needs, reducing stress, promoting healthier eating habits, and encouraging mindfulness, meal planning and preparation can significantly enhance mental clarity and general wellbeing.
As much as possible, do not delegate these functions to someone else, especially those that have home assistants, a.k.a. “house helps”. You will be doing yourself a lot of disservice if you assign these important chores to someone when you would have benefited from them.
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