1. Cooking Relieves Stress
After a busy stressful day at your job, there is no better way to unwind than cooking up dinner. An article in the Wall Street Journal explains how clinics are using cooking therapy classes to relieve stress in patients. They found that cooking soothes stress and takes your mind off of all the negative things surrounding you. Debbie Mandel, author of Addicted to Stress, explains “when cooking we focus our attention on creating the best dish possible which shifts our attention from a brain locked into worries to a more calming state.” I mean what’s more relaxing than sitting back with a nice cold beverage watching the smoke roll.
2. Cooking Makes You Smarter
Research shows that your brain operate like a muscle, it changes and gets stronger as you use it. Psychological therapist Annie Gurton says, “Cooking is a task that requires a combination of several skills – understanding and planning, attention to detail, using our memory and imagination, manual dexterity, creativity and style”. Just like the more you work out the more weight you can lift, the more you use your brain and the more you learn new recipes and ways of cooking the smarter you get. When you stop exercising your muscles shrink, same thing happens to your brain. That’s why people say “use it or lose it”. So start cooking!
3. BBQ Enhances Your Mood
Spending time cooking and eating BBQ can enhance your mood and mental well being because it satisfies your need for food. I mean we’ve all been hangry before, who doesn’t feel better immediately after having a big bite of delicious BBQ! But cooking for people and seeing them enjoying your fruits of labor also helps enhance your mood and make you happier.
4. Cooking Makes You More Creative
With cooking and BBQ there are endless recipes and possibilities. That’s why most recipes don’t taste the same. We love to put our own touches on them. Cooking gives you endless opportunities to show off your creativity. You get creative when you look in your kitchen and try and figure out what ingredients will go together and what rub will taste best on what cut of meat. Cooking lets you express yourself through food!
5. BBQ Brings People Together
What brings people together more than a barbecue?! Not many things. When you are surrounded by friends and family at a barbecue you forget about all your troubles in life and feel much happier. The compliments you will receive from the delicious barbecue you made will improve your mood greatly. Studies have also shown that completing tasks while listening to music can improve your mood. So fire up the grill, invite your friends and family over and crank up the tunes, your body and mind will thank you!
6. Cooking Improves Your Quality of Life
A study in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science looked at the therapeutic qualities of cooking as a hobby. Researchers concluded that cooking improves a person’s well being and makes them happier. Studies have also shown that people who finish small and creative tasks throughout each day feel more relaxed and satisfied with themselves. When you start cooking you have to see it until it is finished, when you complete a project from start to finish it gives you that feeling of accomplishment, no matter how small the task. You’ve created a delicious meal that can be enjoyed and shared, giving yourself a well-deserved sense of achievement.
7. Cooking at Home Saves Money
Studies have found that on average, it costs almost 5 times more to order delivery and to go to a restaurant than it is to cook at home. The more you cook your own meals the better chef you become, and before you know it you will be cooking better food than the restaurants! So not only will you be saving money, but you will be eating more delicious food!
8. Offers Immediate Satisfaction
How often do you get to reap your rewards as soon as you finish a project. When cooking BBQ you get the best reward ever when you finish, you get to eat it! Not much is better than seeing a task from start to finish and reaping the rewards immediately after.
9. Cooking Your Own BBQ Can Be Healthier
Healthy BBQ? Yes, cooking your own BBQ can be a healthier choice than going out to eat. When you eat at home compared to going out to eat you consume fewer carbs, less sugar and less fat even when people aren’t trying to lose weight. Studies have shown people consume fewer calories when they eat at home. This doesn’t mean you have to cook healthy BBQ, it just means you end up eating healthier naturally when you cook your own food. You also have more control over what goes in your food, if you are trying to eat less sugar, find a rub that is still delicious but has no sugar. Having much more control over what you are eating will have you feeling better physically and mentally.
10. BBQ is Delicious!
Not sure if we have to explain this one. BBQ is just plain good eats! Cook it up as much as you can and be an overall healthy person!
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