#to learn how to cook for yourself

[heavierthanlaila]

a big part of healing and growing up is unlearing all the horrible habits you've acquired over years of struggling with depression and relearning how to take care of yourself from scratch.

[starcurtain]

I think the most amazing thing about Alhaitham's ironic question "How has realizing your ideals gone for you?" is that yes, on the surface, it pierced through the heart of Kaveh's feelings at the time and forced him to reflect on whether he still had enough belief to keep going, but--BUT--

This is also Alhaitham subtly asking: "Was your life better without me?"

Kaveh left their friendship because of his ideals.

Kaveh's attempts to realize his beliefs began in earnest during his argument with Alhaitham, who challenged him back then by suggesting that Kaveh didn't honestly believe in his ideals and was just pursuing them out of guilt and a desire to punish himself for his father's death.

Kaveh's attempt to "realize his ideals," therefore, spans the exact amount of time he and Alhaitham have been separated. When Alhaitham asks about Kaveh's attempts, he's asking very specifically about the course Kaveh's life took when he was no longer in it.

How did it go for you? Were you happier? Was it worth it?

I truly believe that Kaveh will be able resolve his conflict with Alhaitham--and come to understand Alhaitham's actual feelings--when he realizes that, in that exact moment, he should have turned the question around:

How did realizing your ideals go for you, Alhaitham?

Was your life better off without me?

No.

[inmyglowupera]

Mindset Shift #3: You Need to Learn How to Plan and Cook Your Meals—There’s No Way Around It!

Did You Know?

Studies show that for the same number of calories consumed, people eating processed foods are more likely to experience weight gain compared to those eating whole foods.

Here’s why this happens:

Thermic Effect of Food (TEF):

• Whole foods like lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables require more energy to digest, absorb, and metabolize.

• Processed foods are often pre-digested (e.g., refined carbs), meaning your body spends less energy breaking them down, storing more as fat.

• A study published in Food & Nutrition Research (2010) found that a meal of whole foods increased energy expenditure by 50% compared to a meal of processed foods of the same calorie count.

Satiety and Nutrient Density:

• Whole foods are richer in fiber, protein, and water, which keep you fuller longer.

• Processed foods are often calorie-dense but nutrient-poor, leading to overeating.

Blood Sugar Spikes:

• Processed foods often cause quick spikes and crashes in blood sugar, triggering hunger and cravings sooner than whole foods would.

Learning to Cook Can Be Daunting, But Here’s How to Start:

Start Small: Focus on mastering 2–3 simple recipes you enjoy. Build confidence by perfecting these before moving on to more.

Meal Prep Basics: Plan meals for the week, batch-cook staples like grilled chicken or roasted veggies, and keep your pantry stocked with essentials like spices, whole grains, and healthy fats.

Keep It Simple: Use minimal ingredients and techniques at first. For example, a stir-fry with fresh veggies, protein, and a simple sauce can be quick and nutritious.

Get Curious About Food:

To make better food choices, it’s important to read labels and understand nutritional information. Here’s how:

Start with Ingredients: The fewer the ingredients, the better. Avoid items with a long list of unrecognizable additives.

Watch for Hidden Sugar and Sodium: Processed foods often sneak in sugar under names like maltose or high-fructose corn syrup. Check for sodium content, especially in packaged meals.

Focus on Nutrient Density: Look for foods high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats while being lower in refined carbs.

Be Wary of “Low Calorie/Low Sugar/Low Fat” Options:

Many “low” options can have unintended consequences:

1. Increased Hunger:

• Artificial sweeteners or fat replacements often leave you unsatisfied, leading to overeating.

• A study in Obesity Reviews (2010) showed that artificial sweeteners might increase appetite in some individuals.

2. Insulin Imbalance: Sugar substitutes can trigger insulin release even without calories, causing blood sugar instability.

3. Hidden Additives: Low-calorie or low-fat foods often replace natural fats or sugars with artificial additives that don’t support your health.

Reframe your mindset about cooking: it’s not a chore—it can be a fun meditative self-care experience.

Cooking engages all five senses, requiring focus on the present moment, which can have a calming effect on your nervous system. Here’s why:

1. Sensory Stimulation:

• The aroma of spices, the sound of sizzling pans, the texture of fresh ingredients, the sight of vibrant colors, and the taste of the final dish all ground you in the moment.

• Sensory activities like these can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation and reduces stress.

2. Mindfulness in Action:

• Cooking requires concentration on specific steps—chopping, measuring, mixing—which can act as a form of mindfulness, quieting racing thoughts.

• A study in Frontiers in Psychology (2014) found that mindfulness-based activities, even in small doses, improve mood and reduce anxiety.

3. Creative Outlet: Experimenting with flavors and presentation can turn cooking into a form of self-expression, which enhances mental well-being.

4. Sense of Accomplishment: Completing a meal, especially one you’ve planned and cooked yourself, fosters a sense of pride and satisfaction, boosting confidence.

All of this to say, making time for cooking and learning how to do it is not an option to lead a healthy lifestyle. Find cooking influencers who inspire you to try new recipes and offer advice for beginners. Get a beginner friendly cooking book with recipes you like and make it a journey to complete as many recipes during the year. You’ll soon recognize the common patterns in cooking and will be able to trust your abilities to nourish yourself in no time!

[ihatedean]

happy wincest wednesday! do you think sam or dean is a better cook? or do you think they both barely scrape by? -lizzy

happy wincest wednesday!! ty for the ask ANDD!! for the lovely birthday message<333 mwah. ANYWAYS

I know we see Dean in canon making perfectly decent burgers/grilling stuff/That One Soup and like in general cooking for Sam as kids, and money restrictions make you a good cook inevitably I think,,,, but I have to be honest I don't know if I'd trust him with a recipe that requires too much thought or more than thirty minutes in the kitchen. He gives me more Dad That Grills on Sundays vibes.

On the other hand I love thinking about Sam figuring out his way in the kitchen in Stanford and getting good at it, maybe with Jessica's help. Learning one or two of her family's recipes and making them for her when she's feeling down. Eventually maybe making them for Dean— the spicier and greasier versions :p I feel like he'd cook mostly because it's a way to supervise exactly what is going inside his body but idk if he'd find satisfaction in a meal well done the way Dean does¿

(That being said, those white stanford kids couldn't season their food for shit. Dean is the one that knows how to squeeze the best flavors from his meals for the cheapest price lol)

[necromycologist]

its literally weird how easy it is to think things are normal. what

[camgoloud]

the unaffordability of one bedroom apartments in my area is something that can be so oppressive to me personally

[thefandomlesbian]

Trying new recipes as a picky eater is always like playing Russian roulette. I just spent fifteen minutes blowing on my dish unable to figure out why it was still burning my mouth before I remembered that I put cayenne pepper in it.

It didn't even call for cayenne pepper, I just thought it might make it interesting. (It did not.)

Anyway here's my first attempt at shakshuka which I grievously overcooked (I had never poached an egg before and had no idea what a poached egg was supposed to look like so I kept cooking it until I was Sure It Was Done—know better now and will do better next time)

In spite of lacking presentation, it actually is pretty good and I will be cooking it again, making it better next time and NOT overcooking it to the point of dehydration.

[fox-bright]

hi any life advice for 21yo

Don't date thirty-year-olds until you are at least 25.

Having a glass of water for every glass of alcohol will give you a 50% reduction in hangover viciousness.

Bad people will use your willingness to be quiet as a weapon against you. If someone's being awful to you and trusting you'll be quiet to keep from making waves, surprise them.

There is no physical object in the world that is worth as much as your honor.

Honor is not the same as dignity. Retaining one sometimes means leaving the other aside.

Don't have any sex you don't want to have; have as much as you want of the sex that you do, whether that's a lot, a little, or none at all. Nothing you can do to your own body is immoral, unless you're doing it as an act of self-punishment.

Food is morally neutral. You do not have to earn the right to eat calories. Fat and sugar keep your brain from eating itself.

Learning to sit still and breathe--in, in, in, hold, hold, hold, out, out, out, out, out, out--can give you five feet of clear space around yourself in a maelstrom.

Find out how to make three good meals: A comfort meal you can make for just yourself relatively easily, a fancy meal you can use to wow a date, and a meal you can feed a bunch of people. All the other cooking can come later, but you can build a community on those three meals.

If you ever get to the point that things are so bleak you can see no other way forward but to die, make any other choice. If that means leaving everything you own and being a beach bum, or quitting your career, or taking up or leaving a religion, or deciding to bicycle across the country, so be it; living means more chances, dying means everything stops and you don't get to see any more interesting things. As you have not yet seen all the things that can interest you, it is better to live.

[watermelon-aegis]

just a lil rant before bedtime because i saw someone calling women magical and mysterious for flipping pancakes with their fingies...

...i get it, it's magical when people do cool stuff, but it's not the kind of magic you only get whispers of, the kind that is unattainable to those who aren't innately blessed with it. it's everyday magic. it's the kind of thing you find everywhere- wonderful, but extremely commonplace, and something that you can tap into as well.

flipping a hot item on a pan isn't mysterious, it's experience with cooking exposing and working your fingers again and again until they become resistant to the pain, it's practiced skill figuring out or imitating someone on how to hold that food item so the heat exposure is lessened, it's not women only, and not all women can do this.

just like how if you don't do your laundry and cook and sort out the trash from the recycling because you "never learned how" or the person you live with is "so much better at it", that's not a compliment, that's weaponized incompetence. and not only does it hurt the people you rely on to be "superheroes" when you burden them with these tasks you insist only they can do, you diminish the work and time and energy they've put into learning and practicing and doing, because they probably didn't know how to do all that from the start, so they stepped up and put in the effort and failed and tried and improved and learned. which you conveniently look past when you say they were made for this, that they are just innately better at this, you insinuate that they didn't need to put in all that work, you don't recognize the sacrifice they made as valid.

certainly not everyone can do everything. we don't have the energy for that, nor the time, and some of us have some disability or another that prevent us from doing even basic things in a conventional way or at all. in this case, it's fine to rely on others, and even fine to talk about you wouldn't/couldn't- but you can do this without diminishing the other person's effort. in a similar vein, you can acknowledge that someone has done something historic or unique without- again- telling them it's innate instead something they reached out to do.

(as a pendantic person, i need to say that this post is about things people do, not things people are. like, this does not apply to telling people they're taller than you. that's generally innate. disregarding environmental factors that could stunt growt- look, you get what i mean. also, you can probably tell michael phelps that his fish body or whatever gives him an edge up.)

sometimes things aren't worth doing- i was, and am, thoroughly uninterested in becoming a black belt. it's entirely possible that my health issues would make it misery or even impossible if i did try. but see- it'd still be kind of disingenuous for me to tell someone that "oh, you're just so miraculously strong and talented, i could never, i don't have the je ne sais quoi that you have". that particular wording- the assumption that it's an unknown force that trained them up to where they are- would diminish my ability to grow and their pride in their achievements in one fell swoop.

you could just say that "you're so strong and talented! you worked really hard on this, congratulations."

(though i guess if you're trying to get an sigma male to fawn over you, you can go the swoony "oh, wow, i could never do what you do! ur just so handsome and powerful and i'm just meeeeeeeee" but like. is that really what you want to do?)

[headspace-hotel]

How to begin a sustainable way of life

This is a draft of something I've been writing for a couple months. It is mainly focused on the culture of the USA. Feel free to repost or otherwise share, with or without credit.

Do not tell people what to do—help them do it! 

Give the gift of relief from being forced to engage in society’s unsustainable ways of life. 

“People need to eat more plant-based foods.” ->Talk about your favorite recipes, give others recipes, cook for them, and grow vegetables and plants in your garden and give them away as gifts. 

“People need to repair their clothes.” -> Offer to repair others’ clothes, and teach people how to repair their clothes. 

“People need to buy less clothes.” -> Give them old clothes that you don’t want, help them repair their clothes

“People need to buy less plastic stuff.” -> Learn to make things that can serve the same purpose, such as baskets, and give them as gifts. Let people borrow things you own so they don’t have to buy their own. 

“People need to stop using leafblowers and other gas-guzzling machinery.” -> Offer to rake the leaves. You can use them as compost in your own garden. 

“People need to be more educated about nature.”-> Learn about nature yourself. Tell people about nature. Be open about your love of creatures such as snakes, spiders, and frogs. Do not show awareness that this could be strange. You are not obligated to quiet down your enthusiasm for creepy crawlies to demonstrate awareness that it is weird. Point out at every opportunity how these animals are beneficial. 

“People need to use cars less.” -> Offer rides to others whenever you must go somewhere. Whenever you are about to go to the store, ask your neighbor or your friend who lives along the way, “Is there anything you need from the store?” 

You cannot control others’ behaviors, but you can free them from being controlled. 

If you think to yourself, “But this would be so difficult to do!” ask yourself WHY? Why does your society coerce you into less sustainable ways of living, forcing you to consume excessively? After thinking about this, consider that it is less simple and easy than you thought to make more sustainable choices, so why would you judge others for not doing it? 

Do not act alone—act with others! 

Environmentally friendly behaviors that can be done alone, without collaborating with or consulting another person, are the least powerful of all. Whenever an “environmentally friendly” behavior is suggested, figure out “How can I give this as a gift?” or “How can I make this possible on the level of a whole community?” 

“Personal choices” do not work because every single person has to make them individually. If you are focused on making your own personal choice, you are not focused on others. If you are not focused on others, you are not helping them. If nobody is helping each other, most people won’t be able to make the “personal choice.”

You inherently share an ecosystem with your neighbors  

            Start with your neighbors, the people physically close to you. You live on the same patch of land, containing roots from the same plants and trees. You can speak to them face to face without traveling, which means you can easily bring them physical things without using resources to travel. 

            Always talk to your neighbors and be friendly with them. Offer them favors unprompted and tell them about how your garden is doing. Do not be afraid to be annoying—a slightly annoying neighbor who is helpful, kind, and can be relied upon for a variety of favors or in times of need is a necessary and inevitable part of a good community. If you make the effort to be present in somebody’s life, they will have to put up with you on some occasions, but that is just life. We cannot rely on each other if we do not put up with each other. 

Simply spending time with someone influences them for good 

Every hour you spend outside with your neighbor is an hour your neighbor doesn’t spend watching Fox News. Every hour you spend talking with someone and interacting with them in the real world, eating real food and enjoying your real surroundings, is an hour you don’t spend only hearing a curated picture of what reality is like from social media. 

            Isolation makes it easy for people to become indoctrinated into extremist beliefs. When someone spends more time alone, watching TV, Youtube, or scrolling social media, than they do with others, their concept of what other people are like and what the world is like comes more from social media than real life. TV and online media are meant to influence you in a specific way. Simply restricting the access these influences have to yourself and others is helpful. 

A garden is the source of many gifts 

If you grow a garden, you can give your neighbors and friends the gift of food, plants, and crafted objects. This is one of the foundational ways to form community. When you give food, you provide support to others. When you give plants, you are encouraging and teaching about gardening. It is even better when you give recipes cooked from things you grew, or items crafted from things you grew. You can also give the gift of knowledge of how to grow these plants, cook these recipes, or craft these objects. 

More on gift-giving

            Some people are uncomfortable with receiving items or services as gifts. They want to feel like they are giving something back, instead of having obligation to return the favor hanging over them. 

            It can help to ask a simple favor that can be easily fulfilled. People generally like the feeling of helping someone else. 

When you give someone a gift, it can help to say something like “Oh, I have too many of this thing to take care of/store/eat myself! Do you think you could take some?” This makes your neighbor feel like they are helping you. 

When allowing others to borrow items, you might not get them back. Don’t worry about that. It just means the item found a place where it was needed the most. You can ask about the item if you think it might have been forgotten, and this can create an opportunity for a second meeting. But don’t press. 

If the person you give to insists upon some form of payment, this is a good opportunity to negotiate a trade. 

Ask to be given compostable or recyclable things 

Ask your neighbor to save compostable scraps, biodegradable cardboard and paper products, and any other items that might be put to use. Use them in your own compost pile. Or, start a compost pile at the edge of the yard where you both can add to it. Remember that “wet” compost like vegetable and fruit bits needs to be mixed with twice as much of “dry” and “woody” compost like cardboard, leaves, small twigs, paper and wood bits. 

Use the front yard for gardening

Overcome the cultural norm that the front yard is only decorative. Use the front yard for gardening so you can be seen by others enjoying your garden, and others can witness the demonstration of the possibilities of land. In the front yard, anything you do intentionally with your land can be witnessed. It also makes you a visible presence in your community. 

Grow staple foods 

Don’t just grow vegetables that cannot be the core component of a meal themselves. Grow potatoes, dry beans, black eyed peas and other nourishing, calorie-dense foods. Grow the ingredients of meals. You could even build a garden around a recipe.

Invite neighbors and friends over to eat food made from things you grew 

Be sure to send them home with leftovers.  

Grow plants for baskets 

Containers are one of the fundamental human needs. If we had more containers, we wouldn’t need plastic so much. You can learn to make baskets, and to grow plants that provide the raw materials for baskets. 

If someone rakes their leaves, ask to have the leaves  

If you see someone putting leaves in bags, don’t be afraid to ask if you can have the leaves. More likely than not they will be happy to agree. 

Collaborate with neighbors to plant things in the no-man’s-land of the property line 

In the border land between your neighbor’s yard and your yard, it is almost always just mowed grass because no one can plant anything without it affecting their neighbor. But these border lands add up to a lot of space. It would be much better if you talked to your neighbor about what would be nice to plant there, and together created a plan for that space. 

Give others the freedom to wander 

Make it clear that you will not get mad if the neighbor’s kids play in your yard or run across it. Invite the neighbors onto your land as much as possible. Tell them they are allowed to spend time in a favored spot whenever they would like.  

The power of the hand-made sign 

If there is a yard sale, you always know about it because of the hand-drawn signs placed around. Therefore, a cookout or unwanted item exchange can be announced the same way. In rural areas I have seen hand-made signs that say: FIREWOOD or WE BUY GOATS or EGGS. This is one of the few technologies of community that remain in the USA. If someone who looks to buy and sell can put up a hand-made sign, why shouldn’t you?  

Religious people or people with strong political opinions like to put signs everywhere. If they have the confidence and courage to do so, why shouldn’t you? 

So if there is a message you would like everyone to see, use the simple power of the hand-made sign. Proclaim “BEE FRIENDLY ZONE!” above your pollinator garden with all the confidence of a religious fundamentalist billboard. Announce to the world, “VEGETABLES FREE TO ALL—JUST ASK!” “WE TAKE LEAVES—NO PESTICIDES.” Instead of YARD SALE, or perhaps in conjunction with YARD SALE, you can write, PLANT EXCHANGE or SEED SWAP or CLOTHING SWAP. Who can stop you? 

Someone has to do it for society to change  

Some of these ideas might be eccentric, strange, or even socially unacceptable, but there is no way to change what is normal except to move against it. Someone has to be weird. It might as well be you. 

[applestand]

.

[umbr3llaz]

Trying not to be bitter at my brothers partner but literally they cannot work up the courage to even speak to anyone who got them gifts beyond a single thank you and then just go back to ignoring everyone else

Mind you this person magically was able to speak to me when I had my weed pen out to ask if they could bum a hit

When will it fucking be my turn to have a gf I can be annoying about I’m so sick of just watching this cringe person ignore us and cling to my brother

[dreamlit-wanderer]

i cant stress enough how much good learning to cook does for you emotionally. like ive been attending really infrequent charity-run cooking classes for more than a year now and cooking for myself for even longer and the difference between "eating a satisfying meal" and "cooking and eating a satisfying meal" is bigger than you could imagine

[innerchildfixerupper]

i finally made pancakes after saying i would for a whole week :)

[windyremedy]

B-B-BOYFRIEND!

pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader

scenario: he wants that cookie so effing bad but reader is oblivious to it all.

clueless.

you were damn clueless about what you were so sure you wanted.

look. bakugou didn’t mean to overhear unlike other times (ehem the sports festival) but you weren’t really being quite about it. often complaining to the other girls about how you’re looking for a boyfriend, how you want someone to be there for you yet no one seems interested.

mina in particular would glance over where he sat, laughing at your obliviousness. pointing out your blindness to the fact that someone IS interested but you waved it off like a fool as if he doesn’t cook your favorite food each time when he’s assigned dinner duty, as if he doesn’t walk by the road so you’re on the safer side, as if he doesn’t let you ramble whatever it is you wanted to talk about listening genuinely and how if it were anyone else he’d walk away without a second thought. yet you can’t see all the lengths he’s going through just to show you how capable he is to fulfill that role.

it’s getting to the point where he thinks you don’t like him specifically because how can you not get it? are you avoiding him by pretending not to know on purpose to lightly let him down?

fuck, he even talked about his situation with his self proclaimed friends and they all told him to just fess up to you but damn it do you make him feel like a fool himself.

“dude why don’t you ask her yourself?” sero genuinely asked, wondering why his strong headed friend who doesn’t hesitate in the face of danger become so suddenly hesitant when it came to you.

“yeah! be a manly man and just do it.” the red headed boy spoke all fired up, patting the unshaken boy on the back whose face never seemed to cease from its frown.

“what? don’t tell me you’re scared kacchan?” kaminari teased and for what’s probably the hundredth time he got blown up by bakugou’s quirk, again, he really never learns his lesson.

so when the end of the year party eventually comes up you find yourself cornered by the explosive boy. dragged firmly away from the crowd of your peers, looking at you with angered brows and an upset pout. you supposed he tried to look indifferent and unaffected but he looked like anything but.

“what’s up bakugou?” you asked smiling up at his sharp expression.

“you’re blind as fuck.”

“what the— not even a hello???” you asked incredulously at his unprompted comment.

“shit. okay wait, let me think. you are unaware of things you should be aware of.”

…blink…..blink...blink

“is this about the homework I totally failed? I told you not to bring it up bakubro—“

“no and don’t call me that!” he shouted, popping a red vein.

“why??!”

“because I don’t want to be your ‘bro’”

“what. you don’t want to be friends anymore?” you wobbly asked, eyes watering like that one emoji you always fucking send him. for instance,

messages

you: can you help me prepare for the test plz

katkat: where

you: wait actually I just remembered you and kiri were gonna study together

katkat: we’re not

you: I heard you two plan it after class?

katkat: he planned it

you: can you ask kiri if I could join then 🥹

katkat: no because I’m coming to your room, get your shit ready.

you: so no kirishima? (➤)

you: so (➤)

you: kk pal!

katkat: don’t call me that.

messages

katkat: mina saw you.

katkat: said you looked upset or something.

you: no I’m fine!!!

you: totally not crying over being stood up or whatever. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

katkat: that business class hataro shitsuko was a loser anyway.

you: it’s shizuku lol

katkat: just come over.

you: wait how did you know who (➤)

you: wait (➤)

you: wa (➤)

you: okay bae

messages

katkat <3: I’m not getting you that mochi

you: please I want you

katkat <3: what?

you: to get it for me PLEASSSEEEE 🥹 🥹

katkat <3: …

katkat <3: fine.

you: yayyyyyyyy

you: I want a specific flavor though.

katkat <3: I know what it is dumbass, I’ll see you later.

you: can you look for (➤)

you: THANK YOU!!

and many more but none of that ever clicked in your mind and so here you two were.

“no I want to be more than that.” he spoke seriously, red eyes set firmly on yours.

“don’t tell me….” you looked to the side shedding a tear as you leaned behind the wall further.

finally you understood.

“you want to be best fri—“

“FUCK NO! WE’RE NOT DOING THAT SHIT SO I’M JUST GONNA SAY IT.” he exasperatedly yelled, grabbing both your shoulders. breathing in once and out he spoke loud and clear, the feelings he held close and dear.

“I WANT YOU, YOU DAMN IDIOT! LET ME BE YOUR BOYFRIEND!!!”

“what?” you stared at him all startled and wide eyed as your mouth pulled downwards and eyes squinted to tears as you began to cry.

“what the— why are you crying!? do you hate me that bad?” bakugou asked hiding his hurt by wiping your tears away with his thumb as he gently held your face.

“no I want you too!!!! I just never thought you felt that way about me.” you whined planting your face in his chest.

“yeah no shit.”

“what?” you asked, slightly pulling away.

“nothing.” he answered shoving your face back in his body with one hand, relived that you actually felt the same way all this time.

inspo: “don't be scared to come put your trust in me can't you see all I really want to be is your boyfriend.” — Big Time Rush

©windyremedy

[shinybulbasaur]

I've been living with my parents for almost 3 weeks and the thing that has finally made me snap is my mom putting away leftovers wrong. of all things