Why You Should Learn How To Cook

You are the energy that you project out into the world.

If your diet is subpar, you’ll feel dull and lifeless and you won’t have much to project.

And if you’re in the middle of beating the crap out of addiction, it’s important to find daily activities that create a sense of routine and add flavor to your life.

Cooking for yourself will enhance your mindset in the short run and improve your body in the long run.

Relying on restaurants for your meals is a gamble because you don’t really know what’s in your food. You think you’re eating baked chicken, but the chef might have a habit of injecting vegetable oil and salt into everything he cooks to make it taste better.

If you cook for yourself for awhile, you’ll know what you like and you’ll never waste time when you’re shopping.

Since I want to preserve the muscle mass I’ve built since I quit drinking, I eat a lot of lean meat, vegetables, and quality carbs like brown rice and sweet potatoes. One of the benefits of planning ahead of time is that you’ll know how to switch up the ingredients without surprising yourself with fat gain or muscle loss.

Fit Recovery Shopping Tips

1. Buy food at a wholesale discount store like Costco or Sam’s Club.
2. Buy large amounts of discounted lean meat for the month ahead and freeze it all. Plan ahead and defrost them in the fridge, not in the microwave.
3. Buy large sacks of brown rice and sweet potatoes to save money.
4. Buy frozen fruit/berries and vegetables in case you can’t make it to the store for awhile. Freezing technology has come a long way in the past few decades.
5. Look for cleverly packaged perishable goods. Costco has vacuum-packed guacamole containers that have one serving each, last for weeks, and taste amazing.

Fit Recovery Cooking Tips

1. Substitute greek yogurt for sour cream in every recipe that calls for sour cream. Your taste buds won’t know the difference and your body will thank you.
2. Use grass fed butter instead of vegetable oil. It tastes richer and is a great source of fat-busting CLA and artery-declogging Vitamin K2.
3. If there’s a discount on grass fed beef or bison, stock up on them. They have less total fat, more CLA and more healthy omega-3 fats than regular beef.
4. Easily cook sweet potatoes in the oven and brown rice in the microwave. Add some grass fed butter when they’re done.
5. Experiment to find your favorite seasonings are and use them liberally on meat. I’m a big fan of the salt-free Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb.
6. Make yourself an alcohol-free infusion that goes with your meal.

Below are some of the meals I’ve cooked recently. I cooked all of the meat inside, on a grill-type skillet or in a frying pan. Every cut had been frozen for weeks or months but because I defrosted them slowly in the fridge, they all tasted fresh to me. I generally prefer meat to be seared, rare or medium rare, and with a seasoned crust on the outside.

These are far from professional photos, but I promise everything was delicious.

The possibilities for cooking are endless and totally dependent on your preferences. Most importantly, it’s an art that will absolutely take your recovery to the next level.