Nutrition

4 Tips for a Healing Cooking Experience

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Food is often used to improve well-being, especially among cancer patients. Our post on  www.healingcancernaturally.com notes that eating healing foods like cruciferous vegetables, citrus fruits, dark leafy greens, and more can boost your immune system, energy levels, and overall mood. But other than the food, the act of cooking and preparing it can be beneficial to your well-being. Cooking can promote better health habits and relieve stress that is detrimental to your progress. Here are some tips to help you use cooking for cancer recovery and healing:

Make it a social event

Dealing with cancer is often a lonely journey, but constant isolation isn’t helpful for healing. A study published on  bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com revealed that older adults become at risk for poor health and early mortality when isolated. These feelings can also promote unhealthy eating and exercise behaviours that further worsen your health.

Cooking provides a way for you to control your diet, and involving your loved ones can make the experience less lonely. You get to improve both your social interactions and your nutritional intake. At least a few times a week, ask your family or friends to join you in the kitchen to help cook or bake; something simple and easy to prepare can make the experience easy on the body and good for companionship.

Cook mindfully

You might often get caught up worrying about your health concerns, but sometimes getting away from the stress can be easier for you mentally. Mindful cooking is a great way to get you into a meditative-like state, and enjoying the process can help you recuperate energy for handling any challenges you might face. Place all your tools and ingredients together for a seamless process. Engage the senses by noticing your food's smell, appearance, texture, and taste. Making cooking a ritual is good for banishing the cancer blues and helping you find joy amidst the battle.

Use cooking gadgets

You might find it hard to cook if cancer physically affects you. Fortunately, some tools can give you a stress-free cooking experience for both mind and body. As shared in www.weknowrice.com, rice cookers are multifunctional and come with multiple programmable settings. A model like the CRP-P0609S Electric Heating Pressure Rice Steamer & Warmer not only cooks rice, but can also make soup, bake bread, heat your meat, and steam vegetables, so you rest assured whatever you’re craving will be cooked to perfection.

You can also further improve specific cooking processes with these gadgets. As explained in  www.healthline.com, an air fryer can fry, bake, and reheat a wide array of foods—no hot oil or big ovens needed. The Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer model is great for quick cooking, as it has dual zones that allow you to cook two different foods simultaneously with little to no physical exertion.

Join a cooking programme

You might not be adept at cooking, but it’s not too late to start learning for healing. Not only can courses or programmes improve your skills, but it’s also good for your overall health. Research reported on  www.sciencedaily.com found that confidence in cooking can benefit your physical and mental wellness. Through cooking, developing healthy habits becomes more manageable, making you feel happier and more satisfied—feelings every cancer patient needs to help with healing.

Article written by Rose Jennings

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