Shut Up and Cook

You have three choices for dinner. First, you can eat heat-up processed food at home. However, as we learned in 2025: The Year of Reckoning for the Food Industry, processed food is largely responsible for our current healthcare crisis and is killing us. The second option is to eat out. With some exceptions, most restaurants are not concerned about your health, and most food served in restaurant chains is processed food. Finally, you can cook real food at home. If you have any interest in your mental and physical health, this is the only viable option, so shut up and cook.

In this article, we will attempt to convince you that cooking your own food is the Holy Grail of your wellness journey. Otherwise, the food industry and local restaurants will determine your health. If you continue to eat processed food, you will always be hungry, overweight, tired, and sick. For most people, however, the thought of cooking immediately triggers you to generate a list of excuses for not cooking. You are too busy, too tired, and you simply do not have the time. But before you hit the close button, we beg you to read one more paragraph.

Growth Mindset

The solution to the cooking dilemma is to develop a growth mindset. The concept of a growth mindset was pioneered by Carol Dweck, PhD., in her book Mindset—The New Psychology of Success. A growth mindset is a belief that we change and improve ourselves with effort. We can learn new skills and develop new talents. This contrasts with a fixed mindset in which we believe nothing will change. You think, “I will never have the time, the energy, or the talent to cook.” This article will only set the stage for a pathway to wellness by cooking for better nutrition. However, if health is a priority for you, you will have to do the work. Read articles and books, watch YouTube videos, and find recipes that work for your family. Acquire the necessary cooking tools and set up your kitchen for success. Outline meal plans for the week and shop for the ingredients. It will be a lot of work. There will be obstacles to your success. You will need determination and persistence to succeed. The alternative is not to do the work and keep being addicted to the processed food that is killing you.

Start Walking

If you are like many people, you are stuck in a quagmire. It is difficult to know what to eat because everyone tells you something different, and recommendations keep changing. You don’t have the time or energy to cook or to exercise. You know you could take better care of yourself but are stuck. In this situation, the best thing to do is start walking. I learned this concept from Jocko Willink, a retired US Navy Seal and popular leadership consultant. When you are immobilized, you must take action. Just do something. If it doesn’t help, you learn something and can try something different, but you must stop talking and start taking action.

Starting to cook your meals may seem overwhelming. However, for the most part, we are just talking about cooking dinner. Keep breakfast easy for now. Overnight oats, whole wheat toast with avocado, or an omelet do not require much effort. Likewise, fixing a salad or sandwich for lunch is relatively easy. If dinner is overwhelming, chunk it down to something reasonable. For example, find one good recipe that is not too time-consuming and reasonably simple. Then, shut up and cook. See what you can learn. When you are successful at something simple, it builds momentum. Becoming a successful family wellness chef will be all about what works for your family and your situation. You will have your unique challenges. Look at these obstacles as opportunities for taking this adventure to the next level. The ultimate goal is for you to enjoy cooking a delicious, beautiful, creative, nutritious dinner for your family each night. And, even better, you can sit, talk and enjoy your meal together. Let’s get started.

The Kitchen

Cooking is the art of combining healthy ingredients and making them taste great. This involves using different cooking techniques that will allow you to bring out the flavor in food. A perfect example is the difference in taste between a raw carrot and a roasted carrot. When carrots are roasted, they caramelize, which breaks down sugars, makes them sweeter, and changes their texture. You will need the right tools to perform your magic in the kitchen. These include a cutting board, a sharp knife, a sauté pan, a stock pot, a casserole dish, basic cooking utensils, measuring cups and spoons, and prep bowls. If you feel lost, start with some YouTube videos. Watch some cooking shows. Remember, you must maintain a growth mindset.

Recipes

Next, you will need to start finding recipes. You can find them online, in magazines, and in cookbooks. Find recipes that you think your family will like. Look for simple ones that are not too time-consuming and don’t require unusual ingredients. As your wellness journey continues, you can start focusing on finding healthier recipes you want to try. An alternative is to use a food delivery service that delivers the ingredients you need to make delicious, creative meals in around 30 – 40 minutes. This is another way to learn to cook. As a vegetarian, I use Purple Carrot [https://www.purplecarrot.com], which has vegan recipes, but many other food delivery services exist.

Executing the Plan

Here is one common sense approach to executing your plan to cook dinner at night.

• Create a meal plan for the week. Pull out your recipes and choose the meals you want to cook this week. Write down the meal plan for the week. To save time cooking, if you cook extra, you can have leftovers on several nights during the week. Also, treat yourself to eating out each week. If you take this approach, you only have to cook three times a week.
• Work the Fridge. Go through each recipe and see what ingredients you already have in the cupboard, fridge, and freezer. You don’t want to buy things that you already have. When the cupboard and fridge get crowded, it is harder to find things. Remember, we want cooking to become fun and easy.
• Make your grocery list. Next, make your grocery list based on the meal plan and the ingredients you need and don’t already have. Add to the list what you need for breakfast and lunch.
• Grocery shop mindfully. Stick to the list. Spend 80% of your time in the produce section. Blow by the isle with soft drinks, cookies, and crackers. Stick with the list. You are the gatekeeper. Kids aren’t going to eat chips and sweets if they don’t make it into the house.
• Start cooking. Stick with the menu plan. If the meals are not enjoyable, then you learn something. Maybe you made a mistake that will make you a better cook next time, or perhaps a recipe you chose was not good. Mistakes are how we learn. Remember the growth mindset we have already discussed.

This is a lifelong journey

Everyone’s wellness journey will be unique, but if you are serious about your health, your journey will involve significant time in the kitchen. It’s the only way to better nutrition. The good news is that healthy meals can be delicious. Because of my interest in wellness and nutrition, I began attending the conference Healthy Kitchens. Healthy Lives [external link HKHL]soon after it started in 2007. The founder of the conference, Dr. David Eisenberg, is a visionary who realized that to change what we eat, the food has to taste good. With that in mind, the conference combines the latest nutrition science from Harvard’s School of Public Health with cooking instruction from the faculty at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa Valley. These world-class chefs teach future chefs how to make delicious, nutritious food. Although I have learned a lot over the years about nutrition, what I value the most is what I have learned from the Chefs at CIA. The chefs at CIA love what they are doing and are passionate about cooking. It is an art. It is even more rewarding if you consider what you are cooking is nourishing your family and setting them up for health and happiness.

Summary

To summarize, you know that you must start cooking to regain control of your health. You also know you must adopt a growth mindset to accomplish this. This is a lifelong journey. Each month, you will learn new secrets and skills to make you a proud family wellness chef. You will find fantastic, creative recipes that you and your family love. Nothing is more loving than preparing a meal for your family and eating it together. Your children will grow up remembering the time at the dinner table with their family. Your children will then grow up to bring this gift to their kids. Bon Appetite!