Why Cooking as a Family Is Worth the Effort

Until not so long ago, cooking as a family was not unusual. Extended families lived together, the oldest family member was often in charge of food preparation, and many girls learned tricks for cooking delicious meals from their grandmothers. In cultures where people still not only look forward to their meals, but enjoy preparing them and eating them communally, there is generally a more positive attitude towards food.

However, the fast-paced and stressful life in the most developed countries encourages most people to eat ready-made meals. Often, this is because they feel too exhausted to cook when they come home from work. It is common for both parents to work and children to spend most of the day at school or daycare, so there is no one at home to make fresh meals for dinner.

As the pace of life increases, families spend less and less time together. However, with extended families, it’s more likely that even if most of the family members have to go to work and return home late, grandparents or a non-working family member will be able to do the shopping and prepare a fresh meal for the day. And in many families where grandparents look after their grandchildren, this is how children start learning about meal preparation from an early age.

Cooking as a family has been recognized as a relatively easy way to boost family bonding. Not only does it bring people together, but children appreciate the food they eat more because of their participation in preparing it. When parents are very busy, cooking as a family may also be an important opportunity to spend some quality time together.

Benefits of Cooking as a Family

Surveys show that parents who enjoy cooking from scratch usually pass this on to their children, encouraging them to participate in meal preparation from an early age. Unfortunately, in most developed countries, meal prep is not something people spend a lot of time doing.

In the USA, working parents are usually too busy and tired to spend hours cooking a meal after work, and children are often engaged in after-school activities, so it's not surprising that an average American family spends very little time together around the dinner table. Many people have breakfast or lunch while reading news or e-mails, while driving, or while standing in a line. Dinner in front of a TV has become the norm, and sometimes family members sit in their own rooms, watching their own TV, and eating separate dinners.

However, there are many benefits of cooking and eating together that we may be missing out on.

These are the six top benefits of cooking as a family:

1. Freshly prepared meals are healthier and taste better.
2. Cooking as a family is an opportunity to teach your children how to cook, how to combine food, and how to prepare healthy meals.
3. Cooking as a family is also a great way to bond as a family, especially if you rarely have a chance to spend quality time together. Instead of everyone doing their own thing while one person prepares the meal, getting all family members to participate in meal preparation is a great way to bond, even if it happens only once a week. You can use the time you spend together in the kitchen to tell each other what your day was like.
4. Cooking as a family helps you keep your children away from TV, computers, and cell-phones. If they are not interested in cooking, they can also help with dishwashing, cleaning, shopping, setting the table, or prepping food. You can boost their creativity by encouraging them to create menus for special occasions.
5. When you cook together, you do away with stereotypes. By engaging all family members in meal preparation you are teaching your children that it is not only a woman's duty to prepare meals while the rest of the family simply waits to be invited to the table.
6. Children learn healthy habits from time spent cooking together. Many children enjoy activities such as measuring, stirring, adding foods, coloring, kneading, frosting, and smelling things you cook together. These activities improve motor skills, math, sensory awareness, and creativity. They also reduce picky eating tendencies and teach lifetime healthy eating habits.

Perhaps most importantly, cooking as a family creates memories you will remember many years later with nostalgia, gratitude, and a smile on your face. Time cooking together is not only a time to teach your children or grandchildren how to cook but a time to connect.

Cooking as a De-stress Therapy

Time spent cooking as a family, once it becomes a routine that all family members accept, expect, and come to enjoy, is also an excellent way to de-stress from the rigors of your busy lifestyle.

Stress is so much a part of modern life that we now take it for granted. We know that certain professions or lifestyles come with high stress levels, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to manage it.

Some people live with chronic stress for years, and consequently they develop either a stress-related disorder (weight gain, anxiety, or depression) or some other health problem (cardiovascular disease, metabolic problems, or a gastrointestinal disorder). These conditions typically occur either because of the damage done to our organs by prolonged stress or because of unhealthy lifestyle habits with which we try to reduce stress (alcohol, comfort eating, smoking, etc).

On the other hand, sudden, intense stress, such as the death of a loved one or loss of a job, rapidly flood your body with stress hormones.

How well you'll cope with stress depends on many things, but also on your attitude toward life. Optimists generally find it easier to adjust to stress, while pessimists, being unable to see the positive side of life, usually find it difficult to stabilize their cortisol levels after a stressful situation.

Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands to help us cope with stress and pressure in both everyday life, as well as in life-threatening situations. However, if you live with elevated cortisol levels for a long time, this hormone can have a very negative impact on your learning, memory, blood pressure, and immune system.

Cortisol plays an important role in our survival as a species, but if your body is constantly being flooded by cortisol, the adrenals will gradually weaken and eventually become unable to produce enough of this hormone. When that happens, many develop Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS), a debilitating condition that those living under high stress are likely to experience at some point in their lives.

You will know you have AFS if you feel constantly tired, have low libido, often feel depressed, develop brain fog, and can't deal with stress.

Recovery is possible from AFS, but you will need to be patient because AFS may take up to a decade to develop, so it's important not to rush your body but give it as much time as it needs to gradually recover.

Changing to a healthier lifestyle that involves taking the time to prepare food with those you love, sit and chat, and enjoy meals together, is a great addition to many of the key lifestyle changes that help reduce adrenal fatigue. Psychiatrist Carole Lieberman believes that the reason cooking makes you feel good is because it enables you to nurture others. It could be that taking the time to nurture others and yourself is exactly what you need to de-stress.

Along with cooking as a family, you can heal from the effects of a stressful lifestyle by doing these things:

• Adopt a healthy diet. A well-balanced diet helps you cope with stress by providing essential nutrients which strengthen your immune system, stabilize your blood sugar, and improve your mood. A balanced diet consists of a variety of natural foods, healthy fats and proteins, a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. It's also important to avoid stimulants such as coffee, sugar, and refined flour.
• Get regular physical exercise. Physical activity improves your physical and mental well-being by relieving tension and improving your blood flow. It also boosts the production of endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals that put you in a good mood. To increase the production of endorphins you should eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and omega-3 rich foods, exercise regularly, and spend time in nature and in the sun.
• Engage in stress-reducing activities. These are activities that help you feel calm and centered, such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, listening to uplifting music, engaging in a hobby, or talking with friends and family.
• Do something creative with your hands. Whether you're trying to soothe your jangled nerves, relax from work-related stress, or heal a broken heart, doing something that engages your hands rather than your mind can be just what your nervous system needs to rejuvenate. Therapists say that making bread or slow-cooking meals is particularly relaxing. One reason cooking as a family is so relaxing is that it forces you to let go of your worries and focus on your creativity.

Your kitchen can be a great place to gather your family and friends, so why not use it to prepare healthy, nurturing, and mood-boosting meals that will create memories?