How does cooking work for you?.do you batch prep? Do you cycle through a number of favourite meals?
@sashin I hate batch prep and I only like bespoke cooking, which is totally unreasonable but my brain cannot enjoy ‘low effort cooking’ hahaha
@skinnylatte Do you cook often?
I like bespoke cooking but wouldn't do it regularly. Usually when friends are coming over not day to day.
@sashin most of the time! I enjoy from scratch cooking and often go to great lengths even just for like, a normal lunch
But really depends on how much energy I have. I do have some shortcut items (various broths and things) that let me assemble most foods quickly if I don’t have the energy for from scratch cooking
@sashin I just learned early on that what I eat has a very large correlation with how I feel, and low effort food puts me in a very bad place mentally, especially stuff that is reheated from a box or bag (I get why people do that but I cannot)
@skinnylatte As in not because of the nutrients of the food but because of how happy you feel having eaten it?
I wonder how much what I eat affects my mood!
About to change my diet radically, probably going to batch cook curries!
@sashin ultra processed foods have a negative impact on gut bacteria and therefore my mental health
Also I think just the ritual of caring for self through food is something I prize, and I associate high effort food with joy
Not having grown up in places where food is ultra processed and convenient and always having had fresh food in Singapore / Malaysia also means the lifestyle shift is obvious and significant
@sashin What we eat has a huge influence on mood. Our gut produces serotonin. Also, we need prebiotic fiber for beneficial gut bacteria that extract nutrients to flourish. Nutritional deficiencies can cause depression, among other things. Basically your brain is part of your body and your gut and brain pretty much govern mood.
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/mind/2024/gut-brain-axis-mental-health-microbiome
@fifilamoura @skinnylatte This is interesting!!! I should really eat more pickles!!!
@sashin Not all pickles are created equal, they need to be fermented foods not just vinegar pickles (like most supermarket pickles)! So things like kimchi, sourkraut, naturally fermented pickles, etc. But eating more fiber is necessary too and most North Americans don't eat enough fibrous veggies and whole grains (but eat more than enough protein). @skinnylatte