Why Baking is Good for You
Baking is one of life’s simplest pleasures, but it’s not just about making something yummy to eat. As it turns out, baking’s goodness extends way beyond those pretty looking and deliciously tasting treats! If you’re looking for an extra excuse to bake up a storm today, here are eight reasons why baking is (literally) good for you.
1. Express Yourself
Baking gives you an outlet to express your creativity. Just think of all the endless possibilities when it comes to choosing what you’re going to bake, which ingredients you’re going to use and how you’re going to decorate your goodies once they’re out the oven.
In addition to creative expression, baking can also help you to express your feelings when you can’t quite put them into words. Whether you want to show gratitude for a kind deed or express sympathy for a loss, baked treats have the ability to say it best.
2. Be in the Moment
Our lives tend to get pretty hectic from time to time, but baking gives us the perfect opportunity to take a break from it all. Being in the kitchen; carefully measuring out the ingredients, stirring the batter or kneading the dough; provides just enough distraction from past upsets or future worries, helping you to practice mindfulness and live in the now.
3. Stir Your Senses
Baking offers a lot more than meets the eye. From start to finish, you can not only see all the ingredients come together and listen to the way they combine in a blender, but enjoy the smells coming from the oven and experience the touch and taste of your finished creation. What better way to awaken the senses than a good bake!
4. Gain Life Skills
Baking is a great teacher for some of life’s most important lessons. From a young age, it can serve as a fun way to teach children how to read, count and exercise their creative flair – and the educational value of baking continues well into adulthood, too. Especially if things aren’t going quite accordingly to recipe, you can find yourself improving on your patience and problem-solving abilities. Perhaps most importantly, you can learn that it’s good to carry on in spite of failure and that some things are worth the risk.
5. Feel Accomplished
When done right, your taste buds won’t be the only receiver of a sweet reward. Your confidence and self-esteem and will also receive a big boost! Whether you aced a dish on the first go or mastered a recipe after the umpteenth attempt, you can take pride in knowing that you were responsible for creating something amazing. This feeling of accomplishment can spread to other areas of your life, giving you the encouragement to attempt even bigger things.
6. You Are What You Eat
Baking gives peace of mind money can’t buy. There’s a good chance that store-bought bakes are filled with all sorts of unpleasant ingredients so, by choosing to bake from home, you can take back control and opt for healthier alternatives like whole-wheat flour or Kerrygold Butter.
Why is Kerrygold butter better, you may be wondering? Have a read over this article where the writer shares five great reasons why. When you know exactly what’s going into or alongside your bread, cupcakes or pies, they’ll be infinitely more enjoyable and likely more good for your nutritional health, too.
7. Strengthen Bonds
Baking brings us closer to our loved ones. Think of all the fond memories you have of baking in the kitchen with your parents or grandparents, or even the special moments you now share with your own children or grandchildren. Baking continues to serve as a wonderful way for families to come together and make memories to last a lifetime.
Baking can also bring us closer to friends and acquaintances. When you think of it, baking requires a fair amount of sacrifice – but not just of the monetary kind. Hours spent in the kitchen, putting your all into making the bake the best it can be, is truly a labour of love. By baking for those around us, we can ‘bridge the gap’ and share some of that love (even if only for a few bites).
8. Bake Yourself Happy!
As bakers we already knew it to be true, but now science and psychologists agree: baking makes us happy! Whether it’s from a cumulation of the points mentioned above or just as a result of the endorphins released when we indulge in something delightful – where there is baking, there is happiness.
***
What do you love most about baking? Let us know via any one of our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
