Written By: Shaloo Tiwari | Published : March 30, 2018 6:32 PM IST
I live on my own. Living on your own highly impacts both your physical and mental health. While there are a lot of drawbacks, there is a lot you learn about the way of life and yourself. In the beginning, I had a lot of difficulties keeping up with my health and my weight was increasing day by day. I would end up eating junk food, remain fatigued, cranky and sleep-deprived all the time until one day I finally decided to start cooking for myself. Initially, I thought of cooking just so that I could save some bucks but later I realised that it was one of the best decisions I made. Apart from being happier, I also lost 2.5 kg weight in two months. Here's how cooking for myself both helped my mental well-being and lose weight in a healthy way.
1. I knew what I was eating: When you cook for yourself, you exactly know what goes in. Good or bad, you choose the ingredients. When you cook for yourself, you tend to choose healthier ingredients, which ultimately leads to weight loss.
2. Portion control: When you pledge the maximum percentage of what you eat will be only what you cook, you will create a schedule. Scheduling what you eat is almost half the battle won. Plus you don't tend to not overeat when you cook for yourself. You don't waste time in the presentation of the food you've cooked, which refrains you from the unnecessary attraction.
3. Freedom from preservatives: Preservatives and high amount of sugar and salt in food available outside are one of the biggest culprits in terms of unwanted weight gain. When you cook for yourself, whatever you eat is fresh.
4. Some time for yourself: Cooking also helps you improve your mental health by providing you with some time only for yourself.
5. The feeling of Catharsis: When you cook a you feel absolutely relaxed and especially when you are stressed, cooking gives you the feeling of catharsis.
6. Self-confidence: When you start cooking you might not cook like a professional but gradually you will start enjoying what you create and that will, in turn, improve your self-confidence.
7. Self-dependency: Being dependent never makes you feel good plus your whole routine revolves around somebody else. Once you are self-dependent you eat what you like and what is healthy for you not what someone else wants you to eat.
8. The happiness of eating healthy: It takes 21 days to form a habit and a habit of eating healthy is something that you would want to keep. Once you start cooking at home you will be habituated to good, home-cooked food and junk won't attract you anymore.
9. Increase in appetite: It is my personal experience that home-cooked food digests easily. That way your appetite is increased and more importantly, your appetite for healthy home-cooked food is increased.
10.Prevents overthinking: Believe it or not, cooking if not taken as a chore is fun to do. It diverts your mind and prevents you from overthinking that only fuels the downward spiral.
