The same goes for the other facets of a healthy, balanced life, Rosenthal adds. “When you start adding in more loving relationships, you will find that you don’t have as much time or room in your life for the unhealthy relationships.”
The Power of Cooking
People who love to cook enjoy more than the end product. In addition to gustatory delight, there may be artistry, companionship, sensuality, a sense of pride, self-nurturance, gifting to others, and more. Cooking meals can also provide excellent nutrition at a cost well below that of a fine meal in a restaurant—more on par with the cost of buying fast food, but for so much more real value. Shelowitz loves teaching people how to make nutritious meals at home, especially in palatable forms like super-quick meals. “As much as I like restaurants and going out to eat,” she says, “the more home-cooked food you eat, the better you will feel. I truly believe that. If you integrate doing that into your schedule, it’s life-changing.”
Not surprisingly, Shelowitz’s clients often blanch at the idea of needing to find yet more time in their day, to shop and prepare and cook. “You can imagine that when someone is really stressed for time, it seems very contradictory to suggest they make more time to cook. So where I often begin is having someone tell me about their life—what’s working, what are they stressed about, whether time is an issue. We look at how their choices—career, family, and so on—affect their well-being. But we eventually focus on nutrition and cooking.”
Shelowitz dispels right away the myth that eating home-cooked meals means hours of slaving at the stove, and assures clients they don’t have to become a chef to eat well. “I might suggest they pull out their Crock-Pot,” she says with amusement of that oft-maligned implement that most people have stuck in a cabinet somewhere. “We love the Crock-Pot. It’s the best friend for a person who has a busy life. I give a very simple recipe that takes 10 minutes to prepare, like a delicious stew, with no intensive dicing and slicing.” The stew cooks literally while you sleep, and the nutritious concoction is ready the next morning to take to work—a very simple replacement for a lunch of fast food, or no lunch at all.
Shelowitz teaches how to cook a series of other meals that are delicious, nourishing, ready in 30 minutes or less, and save oodles of money. One of her favorites uses one cup of millet, a chopped yam, a drained can of kidney beans, and four cups of water—the whole thing taking about seven minutes to prepare—then you bring it to a boil on the stove and simmer for 40 minutes. Seasoned with good-quality, organic olive oil and salt, it’s a delicious, hearty entree or side dish that serves at least four, for about three dollars.
Even with quick-prep meals, clients can feel stretched to make time to shop and commit to cooking at home. But ripples of benefit begin to materialize. “There’s this beautiful rhythm that happens when you’re preparing food from wholesome ingredients, that starts to bring balance into your life. A stressed-out person who has no time for shopping or cooking will need to take time for that from somewhere else, so they start looking at those long working hours and realize that working overtime every day isn’t the healthiest thing. It really starts a whole chain of events that affects all areas of their lives. I’m not a psychologist, but when someone is really getting into making changes in their diet and seeing how that changes their lives, it can be very satisfying. It’s a fascinating approach to well-being. It can even enhance the work they are doing with a therapist.”
