Here at Bread and Butter Basket Company we have a passion for homemade products. Each and every one of the treats you find in our gift baskets is created with love and enjoyment right here in Canada. We have a passion for crafting treats for your satisfaction and a passion for the time and energy it takes to bake them.
Baking and cooking, in general, can have a purpose besides being purely enjoyment. In fact, it can be a form of therapy that can substantially aid with a variety of mental health diseases.
Yes, putting together a recipe and creating something new with ingredients can help to soothe stress, build self-esteem and curbs negative thinking by keeping your focus on a detailed task. Baking a cake can help to focus a person on something other than negative emotions that may be associated with depression, stress, or anxiety. The outcome is personally rewarding—a delicious tasting creation—and can help improve your overall sense of well-being. The task can also be shared with others, thus encouraging interaction with friends and family that may have been hard to face before.
There have been proven outcomes recorded from taking on the task of cooking for people who have depression, postpartum depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, and more. John Waite, the winner of the Great British Bake Off, for example, used his newfound passion for baking to overcome his own depression. Melanie Denyer, the host of London’s Depressed Cake Shop in Brick Lane, has fought with mental health problems for 15 years and has claimed that cooking and baking has saved her life, acting as an outlet for negative emotions and an alternative to self-harm.
Psychologists even state and rave about the benefits that can emerge from cooking or baking such as: boosting physical activity, increasing goal-orientated behavior, increasing confidence, improve short term memory skills and social skills, among more.
Kitchen therapy can help get you out of your own head and can be enjoyed with others. Kneading bread can curb frustration and negative thoughts. Measuring out ingredients and cutting food into specified shapes can help make one feel in control and help to curb stress and anxiety.
The benefits are endless and we can go on about them forever. Taking on this fulfilling task is one way that you can begin to introduce positive emotions and feelings back into your life, and can be the start of a new hobby that can help curb bad feelings and thoughts.
If you are feeling negative emotions that are starting to affect the way you live your daily life, do not hesitate to reach out and ask for help. Please call 780-482-HELP or visit the Edmonton Community Mental Health Clinic for information, support, and additional resources.