This Simple Activity Can Permanently Improve Your Morale

This Simple Activity Can Permanently Improve Your Morale

The search for strategies to take care of or improve one’s morale sometimes leads to unexpected solutions, while some, very simple, are within everyone’s reach. The same is the case with cooking, which is a completely accessible activity and can have a real impact on our mental health. A new study, The study, conducted by a team of researchers including Professor Guillaume Fond, an expert in psycho-nutrition, reports a clear deterioration in mental health. The analysis, conducted on more than 20 million youth aged 25 and under between 2016 and 2022, shows that the incidence increased by more than 15% among adolescents aged 13 to 17 and among young adults aged 18 to 18. Outpatient psychiatric consultations have increased by more than 13%. 25 years, especially marked among women. According to the same study, prescriptions for psychotropic medications are also increasing, particularly for antidepressants and methylphenidate. Faced with this observation, Guillaume Fond continues to look for solutions to improve mental health, outside or parallel to these treatments. For them, a bigger solution is on our plate.

Cooking your own food boosts mental health

“The revolution for mental health is in our diet”, Guillaume Fond told us during an interview. This expert teaches us in his interesting way the basics of psychonutrition online speaking engagements and his books, Eat well to avoid being depressedat nourish your brain wellPublished by Odile Jacob, Food Choices and Adoption of an Anti-Inflammation Diet.

A balanced diet, without processed foods, can have a strong positive impact, especially on our cognitive functioning, the efficiency of our neurotransmitters and our memory. So how to go about it? It’s quite simple to rethink your shopping list to eliminate all ultra-processed products, which, according to two meta-analyses, substantially increase the risk of depression. On a daily basis, prioritize a diet rich in seasonal vegetables and fruits, omega 3-rich oils such as walnut oil, lemon juice or cider vinegar, and whole foods. So we return to the kitchen, as we put out the food already prepared. Whether you’re a good cook or a novice, cooking is accessible to everyone, starting with the simple act of assembling a beautifully mixed salad. It is the act of cooking that promotes well-being and strengthens self-esteem, so the feeling of doing dishes is beneficial, even more so if you have chosen a balanced diet: so cooking can become a way of taking care of yourself. Goes, and this. It can soon become a positive habit again.

Cooking increases social connection

Cooking often equates to sharing, having a meal with friends and thus this activity enhances social relationships, and is also very important for maintaining good mental health. Recipes are rarely designed for one person! So, invite your friends to taste your culinary innovations! It’s a real medium for making social connections, take advantage of it! Get your supplies from your neighborhood grocery store, ask your fisherman for cooking tips, ask your butcher for new recipe ideas!

A 2017 study published in the Journal of Health Education and Behavior found cooking to be an excellent intervention used in therapeutic and rehabilitation settings. Whether you live alone or with your family, the activity of cooking can also become a really enjoyable routine. Although routine is beneficial for our brain, it can also help us control our stress and sleep. Routine is part of the vision of consistency and stability of daily activities. Therefore, incorporating healthy food preparation into your daily life can not only be a factor in happiness but also a factor in family unity.