Cooking Skills > following recipes and plans
What if one of the most impactful things you could do for your long-term health had less to do with what you eat and more to do with what you know how to do? When just getting started, most clients, no matter their goals and symptoms, believe they have to make elaborate, fancy recipes with perfectly calculated numbers to get healthier and feel better as quickly as possible. No one understands this more than me after a decade of struggle with disordered eating, perfectionism, and an addiction to control, sugar, and the scale. While there is a time and a place for recipes and they can help to learn cooking skills hands-on, the need to find, prep for, and set aside the mental energy for, is often the greatest barrier to developing new healthy habits and giving the body what it needs to heal itself.
Learning how to cook is more powerful long-term than learning to follow recipes. Recipes can teach you a meal; skills can change how you eat for life! Notice how I did not say enjoying cooking is important, rather, learning how to and doing it every week for the best long-term quality of life. Here is what I have witnessed both on my own health journey and going into my 12th year working with clients:
Skills build independence, not dependence
When you learn cooking techniques rather than relying on recipes, you develop the confidence to prepare nourishing meals with whatever you have on-hand. You learn how to roast vegetables, cook proteins, build flavor, balance textures, and improvise with ingredients. You take complete ownership of your health and ditch blaming your spouse or roommates for not eating like you need to.
Independence makes healthy eating more sustainable. When you have the skills to feed yourself well, you can adapt to changing schedules, budgets, seasons, preferences, and stages of life without abandoning the habit.
The goal isn’t to memorize recipes. It’s to become someone who knows how to cook
Mastery makes healthy choices easier to repeat
Healthy habits stick when they become familiar, practical, and rewarding. The more you practice cooking, the less mental energy it requires. You begin to recognize which ingredients work together, how to season food, and how to turn simple staples into satisfying meals. I think of my 16 year old son who had no choice but to learn how to cook to heal his gut and therefore acne. One year ago it was a struggle; he needed support from me to ensure he was getting what he needed each day and didn’t go hungry, but with dedication and persistence, he now does everything on his own other than purchasing the groceries! My approach with him was to give him and abundant list of foods TO eat so he could learn how to cook and prepare them all vs. lecturing on what to avoid. He has never once followed a recipe and works with what we have on-hand every day. His clear skin says it all!
Consistency isn’t built by finding the perfect recipe. It’s built by becoming comfortable in the kitchen.
Cooking skills create flexibilty, which supports better nutrition over time
Following recipes can be helpful, but rigidly depending on them can make cooking feel complicated. What happens when you don’t have an ingredient, need to accommodate a dietary restriction, want to use what’s in season, or simply don’t feel like making or eating the planned meal?
When you understand cooking principles, you can substitute ingredients, adjust portions, change seasonings, and build meals around what you have.
Flexibility makes healthy eating more adaptable to real life. You can respond to your body’s needs, preferences, and circumstances without feeling like you’ve failed because you couldn’t follow a plan.
Mastery gives you the freedom to make healthy eating work for your life—not the other way around.
Clients who know how or are committed to learning how to cook and prepare food have better outcomes in both the short and long term. It’s also the fastest way to learn about nutrition including finding the healthiest replacements for unhealthy cravings—eliminating excuses and perceived barriers to change!
If learning how to cook and doing it consistently feels nearly impossible, you are not alone and exactly who nutrition, health, and wellness coaching was designed for. I’d love nothing more than to help you change and make getting healthy and feeling incredible sustainable for life!
-Audrey
