When we think of barriers to healthy eating, knowledge deficit is one of those barriers. The lack of cooking skills, and the confidence needed to apply them, can contribute greatly to our overall health, or lack thereof.
Without having cooking confidence, planning and cooking meals becomes stressful. Most of us know how important it is to plan, when reaching for those performance or health goals. If you signed up for the nutrition challenge, it is obvious that meal planning is a huge contributing factor when getting back to healthy eating habits.
Working with many clients through the years, I can say that meal planning is one of the most common reasons why people feel overwhelmed when it comes to making healthier choices which is often tied to lack of cooking skills. Oftentimes eating the same things, eating things that are considered easy. One way to lessen that overwhelm is to build skills slowly, find a friend to meal swap with, try a new recipe, do it with your spouse or kids, make it fun, and don’t let a failed meal deter you from trying again!
The first time you walked into your first workout, you probably felt uncomfortable and nervous. However, now you feel confident and you keep building on your new skills. You get stronger, you are able to do more complex movements. To get to where you are today, it took time and effort. Approach cooking the same way – you might feel like a fish out of water for the first little bit, but your confidence and skills will grow and as they do, so will your health!