In a pressure-cooker environment, life isn’t always a picnic. Yet, if you take a leaf out of the famous cookbook The Joy of Cooking, stress relief is as easy as (eating or baking) pie. Granted, not everyone can afford to live stress-free and have the luxury of throwing caution to the wind.
Crammed with empty bucket lists and unsuccessful work calls, it can be a hurdled rat race with a blurry finishing line. While it’s easy to get brain-fogged, it’s hard to escape incessant thoughts about bubbling deadlines and what’s left on the to-do list.
Brain Bolt: Unlocking The Stress Cycle
Without a doubt, everyone’s brain is hard-wired differently. We each have our own defence mechanism to better protect ourselves from full awareness of unpleasantness. When stress persists, it creates a negative feedback loop with each condition making the other worse. From the grief of a broken heart to an overloaded nervous system, stress-induced anxiety can bring on a slew of debilitating problems.
Cooking Up Stress Relief: Recipe For Happier Living
Of course, life’s satisfaction varies widely among individuals, but one type of happiness we’re all familiar with is good food. Providing essential nutrition, it can bring ultimate happiness in overcoming cravings of all forms. Undoubtedly, an effective remedy for blowing off steam, while delivering a little more mindfulness into your life.
The first recipe for happiness: Avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.
– ANDRÉ MAROIS, FRENCH AUTHOR
Personally, when it’s operation slice and dice, cooking gives me more than just peace-of-mind. The more upset I am, the bigger the dish to pull me out of it. Needless to say, a not-so-great day at work would pretty much summon up a banquet at home.
Kitchen Therapy And Other Healing Benefits Of Cooking
While you can’t always avoid stress, you can find ways to relieve stress and arouse the senses supressed by stress. Not unlike meditation, cooking, or baking, is a repetitive tactile process commanding your full attention. The powerful therapeutic effect of touch calms the central nervous system and eases tension. Mix in a sensorial stimulation of texture, smell and taste – et, voila – a mingled experience of flavour sensation, chez toi!
Five Reasons Why You Should Start Cooking The Cure
There’s more to cooking than the sense of relief, knowing what exactly went into what’s on your plate. Here are a few benefits of cooking that can help you become better, in and out of the kitchen:
1. Essense Of Time
Time management such as speed and efficiency are among the most important skills for those looking to deliver great work. How we interact with time plays a big role in how we’re able to stay in the present and cope with stress. When cooking, it could mean a world of difference between that perfect golden crisp and a kitchen catastrophe.
2. Stir Of Creativity
The learning experiences in the kitchen are technically revision lessons in both science and art. Applying the physics of heating and cooling to get the desired outcome, it’s a constant experimentation that also taps into the beauty of art. You might even come up with your best ideas for work while exercising your creativity, when you’re most relaxed. There’s definitely a zen to it.
And while stress can numb your senses, cooking activates them. It’s a sensory experience with aroma, taste, touch, visual delight and even sizzling sound.
– Mandel (2010), addicted to stress, jossey-bass
3. Taste Of Sanity
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t show your skills once you’ve mastered the art of cooking. Where there’s an element of actually feeding someone, cooking can have very positive psychological benefits. Subsequently, the feelings of validation for the dish you prepared can reduce negative thinking and build confidence naturally.
After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relative.
– Oscar Wilde, IRISH POET
4. Pinch Of Clarity
In this optimise-everything world, multi-tasking has become the new normal. It can be hard to stay in the present as we throw ourselves from one commitment to another. Focusing in the moment, cooking shifts attention from less than pleasant aspects of life so you can clearly see a project to the end. Even though momentary, getting immersed in the experience is a sure-fire way to avoid brain fog or feeling burned out.
5. Spark Of Romance
The smell of something from the kitchen often triggers a sense of warmth. Fattening or not, cooking comforts the mind, relaxes the body and is more than just chicken soup for the soul. In fact, the honest involvement and intense manual work can be likened to “having a bun in the oven”. It’s a way to feel better about life by creating something new and wonderful, with immediate gratification and minus the labour pain. The only thing left now is find someone who can clean up and help with doing the dishes.
The Scoop On Beating The Blues And Baking It Better
For those who aren’t kitchen savvy – or with no access to one – cooking classes can add a dash of happiness in life. Located near Setia City Mall, the family-friendly DIY Bites Studio is a perfect place to melt butter, and stress away.
Knowing full well the rewards of good eating, DIY Bites Studio is dedicated in supporting chefs of all ages level up. Their highly experienced chef instructors are ready to roll up their sleeves so your cooking endeavours get the desired result. From gluten-free, fusion to everything delightful in between, you can brush up on basics or master recipes for healthier living.
If you’re looking for good food on the fly, eating out at a mamak stall could be the solution. But if you’re looking for a more rewarding culinary adventure, head to the kitchen.
Visit DIY Bites Studio or Brownie Points by Ivy for full schedule fees and to see what the chefs have up their culinary sleeves. Sign up for classes today and you might just save yourself from more than just stress!
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