Introduction

Most people have a self-care list these days. 

I've got a great big long one. 

Meditation 

Daily exercise 

Doing a weekly dance class 

Playing pickleball 

Hanging out with friends

Gardening

But what is number one on my self-care list is cooking. It's always cooking and I feel that everyone should have cooking at number one on their self-care list.

I know there shouldn't be shoulds but listen to this episode to find out why I think cooking should be number one on your self-care list and how to bump it up, if you want to bump it up to the top of the list.

I'm going to share with you a few little tips to make time for cooking for yourself and nourishing your beautiful body number one of your self-care list. 

We all know how important self-care is. Without good self-care, our nervous system is going to be a big mess. And in this busy, busy world, whether you have your own business, whether you work for somebody, whether you're a stay at home mum, whatever you're doing, there is some sort of stress, lots of stress. 

So self-care is important. Soaking in a bath, finding time to be on your own, meditating, all those things are really good. 

This year I found Yoga Nidra, which is beautiful. I try to do that every day.

Ever since I've been out on my own away from home, cooking has been number one on my self-care list. The reason why it's at the top of my list and I would love it to be at the top of everyone's list is because if you put good food into your body then everything else is going to fall into place. 

If you are doing all those things on your self-care list and you're still not fueling your body, well then it's not going to be working. 

I always think about a car, or my van that I have.  If you go out and buy all the lovely accessories and really nurture your car and make sure it’s washed so it looks beautiful, buy new seat covers for it. And then if you go and put dirty fuel, or the wrong fuel, or not enough fuel in it, it's not going to get you very far.

I like to use that analogy with our bodies.

Food is the most important thing for our bodies, of course. It's a whole big picture. We need exercise, if we don't eat, we can't exercise, so cooking for myself has always been number one on my self-care list, to make sure that I'm cooking good food.

Alternatives to putting cooking at the top of your self care list

Now I know some people, mostly millionaires, can actually avoid cooking because they can afford to get the top chef and pay them well so that they don't skimp and scrape and save, buying the best quality organic food and they cook exactly how the person wants them to cook and they use all the ingredients that are healthy.  Maybe the chef has even got a bit of an idea on nutrition, so those people don't need to have cooking at the top of their self-care list.

However, if you're like me, not a millionaire yet, then what else can you do if you don't want to cook? 

Well, you could get one of those meal services, but I hear so often from clients that those meal services fall short, there's not enough food to make them feel full or the quality of the ingredients doesn't always feel great. 

 I used to provide a meal service and I did use all organic, top quality ingredients but those sorts of services are really hard to find, and even some of the all organic ones put sugar in the savoury meals, or they'll add a few preservatives to keep them lasting longer for delivery. Also, the meals often come in plastic.

So that's not really an option. For some people living in the cities, they can get Uber Eats, so that could be an option, but I have a friend and several clients who have used Uber Eats, and they've come to the conclusion that they are not really serving their body well by doing this. It doesn’t make them feel healthy. 

I have a friend who was living off takeaway and Uber Eats in the city, and then his mum got ill and had to be looked after. She had a heart issue and he realised he couldn’t give her the food he’d been eating, so he started cooking for his mum and himself. After two months he said his body felt amazing. He had some health issues himself and they had all cleared up because he was choosing good ingredients to cook with. 

This is another reason self-care is at the top of my list. I'm not a millionaire, so  I'm not going to rely on Uber Eats and I can't rely on takeaway because I'm not going to feel healthy.

How I got cooking to number one of my self care list

I was super lucky because my first job was a support worker in group homes and I couldn't rely on eating the food that we cooked for everyone because I was vegetarian and some of the clients ate meat, so I had to take my own food as I did when I was a primary school teacher for 13 years and imagine the alternative, school canteen food, no way.

Benefits of having cooking at the top of your self care list 

If you have got cooking as your number one on your self-care list, you know there's so many benefits. 

You're not listless, you eat food that fuels your body.

You can get through the day with plenty of energy. 

You can eat what your body wants to eat. 

It's quite fascinating. When I went camping last year and we walked quite a long way, hiked quite a long way each day. I'd be so exhausted by the time it came to lunch, I'd sit down and in my mind it's like I'm going to eat my lunch which I packed in the morning and then I'm going to have a snooze. I would then eat my lunch and whoa, I was ready to go again, no need for a snooze. 

If cooking is at number one of your self-care list you can ensure that you're getting the quality of ingredients that you want to cook with.

For example: 

You can use in-season produce rather than someone else cooking for you who may use ingredients that are not in season and not of such good quality.

Your food can be free of sugar.

How to make time to put cooking at the top of your self care list 

1. When you've put your kettle on in the morning to make your cup of tea, chop up some veggies that you want to have in your meal for tonight.  I'll often chop up a carrot or beans.

2. Before going to bed at night, think about what you want to eat for dinner the next day and soak any of the ingredients you need, like beans or rice etc. Listen to episode 7 for info on soaking rice.

3. Decide how much time you want to spend cooking dinner. Is it 20 minutes, half an hour or 45 minutes. Find recipes that take that long.

4. Schedule time in your calendar each day to cook, so you know that when you book in clients or when you have finished work you need to allow 20 minutes or ½ an hour for cooking. Put this in your calendar ahead of time.

5. Find a buddy, a friend who wants to prioritize cooking too and have that as their number one self-care and keep yourselves accountable. Check in everyday to see how they are doing. See what issues there were, see what you could change. 

6. If you have colleagues who are in the same situation as you, you could decide to cook for each other. One day you bring in lunch for the two of you, the next they do the same. This way you have to prioritise cooking and not let anything get in its way.

7. You could also try a menu plan. If you would like to go on the wait list for my two week menu plan then click here. 

This week’s recipe

In episode number 4 I shared hummus. Hummus is  really good to have on hand if you are tired but you want to have cooking as number one on your self-care list. Hummus is great because it's a complete protein, so if you haven't got much time you can just steam up some veggies and maybe cook a little bit of rice. Even if you just steamed up the veggies and had hummus, or a salad and hummus, you have got some good protein. 

In episode 4 I suggested to make a batch of hummus on the weekend freezing two portions and keeping one in the fridge. So if you think, ah damn you just don't have the time to cook this afternoon, grab the hummus out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. By the time you get home in the evening the hummus will be defrosted and you can have a quick and easy, healthy, delicious meal.

Pesto 

Pesto is another good staple that you can freeze too. 

1 cup nuts, any of your choice (can use pepitas or sunflower seeds too)

2 cups herbs (basil or rocket or even coriander for a fusion)  

2 cloves garlic raw or cooked (go to episode 4 for FCT on how to cook garlic quickly. 

1 tbsp nutritional yeast 

½ to 1 tsp salt 

Big splash lemon juice 

Olive oil 

Whizz it all up in a food processor. Decant into containers and cover with olive oil.

Or you can freeze the pesto in ice cube trays.

FCT 

Water is a secret ingredient in cooking. You can thin your pesto down with water to make it saucy, that way it spreads through things like pasta and potato salad more easily.

Have a fabulous week sensational cook.

Bye for now.