Not too long ago in history, home cooking from fully fresh and raw ingredients was simply the universal norm everywhere in the world.
At some point, it became more and more common to have pre-prepared and processed ingredients to cook from, and in recent times, more and more people are just cutting out the middleman altogether and are eating entirely processed food that comes “ready to eat” from the shop.
According to some research from the USDA, for example, the average American spends a total of only 37 minutes a day preparing and serving food, and cleaning up. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for real cooking.
Here are just a few reasons why it’s time to get into creative home cooking, so that you can enjoy great meals like Mexican breakfast chilaquiles, courtesy of yourself.
Because it can help to deepen your appreciation for food and the simple things in life
Food has never been more abundant and easily accessible before in history – and this is a wonderful thing in many different ways.
But as with everything that is totally abundant in our lives, the consequence of this is that we end up taking food for granted. Many people find that they take more and more of the small blessings of life for granted, and feel jaded as a result.
Keeping a gratitude journal is one general way of helping to rectify this, but taking some real time, and bringing some real effort into preparing yourself delicious meals, can seriously help to deepen your appreciation for food and the simple things in life once again.
Because it’s almost certainly going to be healthier for you
It is certainly possible to make unhealthy home-cooked meals for yourself. But, assuming you are following balanced recipes that include plenty of fruits and vegetables, your home-cooked meals will almost certainly be much healthier for you than the processed food alternatives you might be eating at the moment.
Increasingly, it’s being found that processed foods are responsible for all sorts of different illnesses and health conditions that are growing in prevalence. It’s even been suggested that additives in processed food might be devastating our gut microbiomes – and it turns out that the healthy bacteria in the guts are fundamental for good overall health.
Perhaps the best way of taking control of your health is by home cooking your own meals.
Because it can help to deepen your sense of autonomy
The world is pretty big and confusing these days, and especially in unusual situations such as global pandemics, it can be hard to properly maintain a healthy sense of autonomy.
Home cooking your own meals is one way of becoming actively engaged with the processes of your everyday life once again, so that you can develop your own autonomy and feel great while doing so. If you ever feel like the factors of your life are getting out of control, just know that YOU are in charge of what you put in your body.
*This is a contributed post. You can read more about that here.*
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