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  Just as important, healthy habits beget more healthy habits. Starting the day with a positive healthy action might inspire you to pack a healthier lunch or cut back on the sugar in your coffee. These may feel like small acts, but they can have a huge psychological impact on your ability to make progress and could ultimately influence what you buy later at the grocery store or help you choose the gym over lying on the couch with a bag of chips. Never underestimate the power of baby steps.

  As long as you’re eating real, whole foods and not processed junk, what exactly you choose for breakfast doesn’t matter much. I recommend finding a few simple breakfast options you enjoy that you can put together while you’re practically asleep. My personal breakfast choices tend to cycle every year or so. Currently I’m in the habit of making my own muesli (see recipe), which I add a little water to and then microwave for two minutes. It cooks up just like oatmeal; only it’s tastier because it is filled with nuts, seeds, and raisins. I top it with a generous heap of cinnamon and a splash of unsweetened hemp milk. It’s delicious and keeps me satisfied for hours. In the past I used to sprinkle a smaller amount of dry muesli onto a serving of plain yogurt. Once you stir it around, the muesli softens, and the mix is really tasty. It’s good with cinnamon or fruit as well.

  8 Reasons Regular Guys Should Learn to Cook

  Some guys I know don’t consider cooking a worthwhile venture. Other than the occasional stint behind the grill, they’d rather bask in blissful ignorance than feed themselves in more than three steps: stab, chew, swallow.

  But ask any woman (or man who already knows how) why it is better to be a kitchen-savvy dude and you’ll start to see what these guys are missing. Whether it’s because they think it takes too much time or too much effort or wrongly assume it’s a woman’s job, men who never learn to cook are losing a huge opportunity to take their man skills to the next level.

  1. Chicks dig it

  There isn’t a woman alive immune to a man who can make her a delicious meal. Step up to the plate boys, we’re begging you.

  2. Life skills are manly

  You can fix your car, hunt wild animals, and build a campfire. Shouldn’t you know how to feed yourself without a drive-thru?

  3. You’ll save money

  Although there’s a good chance you’re single if you never learned to cook (see point #1), a home-cooked meal is a much cheaper date night (or singles night) than dinner for two at Chez Fancy—particularly with the 150 percent wine markup common at most restaurants.

  4. It’s faster than going out

  Fancy date meals aside, cooking at home is almost always faster than going out—as long as you know what you’re doing. Once you have a few basic skills down, you can stop wasting your time in fast-food spots simply because you don’t know what else to eat.

  5. Guy Fieri shouldn’t be better than you at anything

  Food Network star Guy Fieri has bad hair, bad clothes, and ridiculous sunglasses, but the dude knows how to cook. Are you going to let him upstage you like that? Of course you aren’t.

  6. Your puppy (aka girl magnet) will eat better

  My notorious, adorable puppy, Toaster,* loves salad scraps (sugar snap peas are his favorite), eggs, meats, fish, and pretty much anything else we’re willing to share. A balanced diet is as good for dogs as it is for people (just don’t give them onions, garlic, or grapes).

  7. You might lose weight

  Cooking is one of the easiest ways to improve your diet and stick to reasonable portions. This is a recipe for weight loss, if you’re willing to swallow it.

  8. You might like it

  Cooking is relaxing, fun, creative, and purposeful. It can also result in delicious eats. Why wouldn’t you want to add it to your tool belt?

  Scrambling, frying, or boiling eggs is another easy, tasty, and satisfying breakfast. I typically pair them with something spicy, like salsa or kimchi, and something green, like sautéed kale. Try sprinkling a little smoked paprika on a fried egg for an absolutely mind-blowing breakfast experience. If I don’t have any greens, I’ll sometimes start with some beans or lentils, add a few chopped herbs and vegetables (think carrots, cucumber, tomato, etc.), splash on a little oil and vinegar, place a fried egg right on top of the pile, and dig in. Yum. Whatever you choose to have for breakfast, just make sure you enjoy it, because habits don’t form without a reward.

  8 Reasons Awesome Girls Should Learn to Cook

  I know a few girls who enjoy cooking, and even more who like to bake. But there is also a group who can’t even boast the grill skills my regular guys have in spades. I know these girls well, because I used to be one.

  When I was in college, saying I was a “bad cook” would have been generous. I couldn’t cook anything—I even burned water on occasion and was generally afraid of stoves, pans, and ovens. I couldn’t prepare any food that required more than a can opener and microwave, and fixing these flaws was not high on my priority list.

  I only changed my tune when I got to graduate school, learned how amazing food could taste when great ingredients are prepared properly, and realized I could no longer afford to eat out in all the fabulous restaurants on my student salary. Unwilling to sacrifice the quality of food I was eating, I forced myself to start shopping at the farmers market and preparing my own meals. This switch changed my life for the better, and I would never go back to my kitchen-free days.

  But why was I such a brat about it in the first place? Honestly, I thought I was above cooking. I was busy building my career and had better things to do than slave away in the kitchen, thankyouverymuch. Cooking was for stay-at-home moms, I thought, not for ambitious girls like me. Who has time to be so domestic? I was a jackass and have since learned the error of my ways. This one is for all you awesome girls out there who still don’t know the value of being kitchen savvy.

  1. It’s still hot

  I’m sure you have no trouble attracting men with your intellect, but no matter how smart and beautiful you are, guys always melt for a girl who can cook an amazing meal. You may have already gotten into college, but extracurriculars still matter.

  2. Cooking makes you beautiful

  Nothing is more attractive than a woman who radiates health. Cooking nutritious food at home will give you sparkling eyes, shiny hair, healthy nails, and glowing skin.

  3. Good food makes you smarter

  Junk food creates spikes and dips in blood sugar that make you tired and kill your ability to concentrate. Cooking healthier food at home will give you the focus to stay sharp all day.

  4. Cooking is more efficient

  Going out may seem quicker because there is no prep or cleanup, but in the long run it actually takes more of your time. Once you have it down, you can make yourself a solo meal and have your kitchen back in working order in about thirty minutes. Win.

  5. You’ll save money

  Being a girl is expensive. And if you’re the type who likes to splurge on designer brands, every dollar counts. Cooking at home is a great way to save money on food, freeing it up for you to use on other things.

  6. It keeps you slim

  For most people I know, eating out is the single biggest factor in their ability to control their weight. At home you have complete power over everything you eat, and when you cook healthy foods, this works to your advantage.

  7. You might one day be a mom

  You may have your eye on the prize today, but if you ever plan to raise a family, your life will be a lot easier if you pick up some kitchen skills beforehand. Processed foods are bad for you and even worse for kids. Plan ahead for your future healthy family.

  8. You might love it

  Cooking is like art and science all rolled into one. It allows you to build skills, be creative, and de-stress, and when you’re finished, you have a wonderful and delicious product to enjoy (and show off on Instagram). Cooking is more mentally stimulating than I ever imagined, and it is worth exploring for its own sake.

  WHAT IF I’M NOT HUNGRY IN
THE MORNING?

  If you aren’t in the habit of eating first thing in the morning, it can sometimes be difficult to start. Many people complain that they are not hungry in the morning and forcing themselves to eat makes them nauseated. There could be a few reasons for this. Dehydration is a common reason people do not feel hungry in the morning. Get in the habit of drinking plenty of water, particularly before bed and in the morning. Another reason you may not be hungry in the morning is that you’ve eaten too large a dinner or eaten too late at night. These things can also be associated with insomnia, so if you are having trouble sleeping, eating a lighter, earlier dinner might be helpful. Make an effort to build consistent eating habits, so that all your meals occur at roughly the same time each day. If you get to the point where you wake up hungry in the morning, you know you are making progress.

  COFFEE AND TEA

  It’s hard to mention breakfast without also mentioning everyone’s favorite morning vice: caffeine. We love it, so it’s got to be bad for us, right? Actually, it’s fine. If we’re talking about real coffee and tea—not the blended sugar bombs that cost $4 at your local coffee chain—then the science is pretty convincing that both tea and coffee do more good than harm.

  Coffee is in fact a rich source of polyphenols and antioxidants and has long been known to protect against liver disease.2 It also appears to protect against several kinds of cancer, including cancers of the liver, uterus, and potentially the colon.3 Coffee also improves insulin sensitivity, and type 2 diabetes is less common in both people who drink regular coffee and those who drink decaf.4 Caffeine and coffee enhance cognitive performance as well and appear to protect against Alzheimer’s disease,5 Parkinson’s disease,6 and other forms of dementia and cognitive decline.7 For you jocks, it also helps with athletic performance.8 The greatest concern about coffee and caffeine for many years centered on individuals with high blood pressure. However, recent reviews of the data indicate that, although caffeine does temporarily raise blood pressure for about three hours after consumption, there is no long-term increase in risk of hypertension from drinking coffee.9 In fact, at high levels (four cups per day or more) coffee seems to have a protective effect,10 possibly from the polyphenols or other antioxidants. Impressive, right?

  There are still downsides to coffee, but they are pretty tame compared to those of some of the other horrors we eat. Because coffee has a mild diuretic effect, some have suggested it can be dehydrating. However, this hypothesis is not supported by the data, and coffee drinkers ultimately get a net increase in fluids from drinking their morning brew.11 The biggest issue with coffee is how it can affect your quality of sleep. If you have difficulty falling or staying asleep, cutting back on coffee or limiting the hours you consume it to earlier in the day could probably help.

  Another serious reason to be careful with coffee is the addictive element. Although great coffee is one of nature’s most wonderful gifts to humankind, there is a huge difference between enjoying coffee and needing coffee. At several points in my life I’ve fallen in the latter category, and I can attest that the headaches and mood swings that appear when you don’t get your morning fix are very unpleasant. After I defended my thesis I made an effort to switch from coffee to tea, and I’m happy I did. My goal wasn’t to ditch caffeine completely, just to moderate the dose, so that if I’m on vacation I don’t need to inject myself with espresso to get out of bed. Tea has been a wonderful substitution, and its spectrum of flavors is far more nuanced than I ever imagined. The health benefits of tea are equal to if not better than those of coffee, and I still get to enjoy the occasional cup of joe.

  BATCH COOKING

  Once you get past breakfast, cooking at home requires a bit more thinking. Oftentimes what holds us back from entering the kitchen is not knowing what the base of our meal is going to be. Even if you have a decent supply of tasty, fresh vegetables in the house, you need something with a bit more protein to make it feel like a real meal. But figuring out what this should be can be daunting, since protein-rich foods like meat and legumes can take a while to prepare.

  Enter batch cooking. The best way to avoid having to start a big meal from scratch every time you want to eat is to cook a lot of something at once and save it for later. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it would certainly be more challenging for me to cook at home as often as I do if I didn’t prepare foods ahead of time. Beans, lentils, and grains lend themselves particularly well to batch cooking; it takes only a small amount of additional planning to prepare them in large batches that can be used as a base or supplement for meals throughout the week. If you’re extra clever, you can even freeze some and have them on hand at any time. A scoop or two of beans, lentils, or grains make an excellent base for a salad or can be thrown into a vegetable stir-fry to make it more substantial. They add texture and flavor to salads and soups and can be mixed with almost any other ingredients you have on hand to make a meal more filling.

  BEANS, BEANS, THE MUSICAL FRUIT

  Beans get a bad rap. No matter how enthusiastically I tell people that beans and lentils are a game changer for weight loss, I inevitably get a sideways glance followed by an overly polite question about the potential for unpleasant digestive issues. No, beans don’t make you fart. At least they don’t have to, if you prepare them right. The gas-producing quality of beans comes from your body’s inability to digest some of the carbohydrates in beans called oligosaccharides. When these oligosaccharides reach your lower intestine, bacteria break them down, producing gas.

  Super Simple Beans

  Place a few cups of dried beans in a bowl and cover with water. Let them soak for several hours on the kitchen counter. Cover them with a plate if you’re worried about dust or bugs or put them in the fridge if you live in a warm climate. The skins will crinkle for the first few hours of soaking; add more soaking water if it looks as though they need it. When the skins are smooth again and the beans have plumped up, they’re ready to be cooked. Be sure to pour off the soaking water and rinse the beans thoroughly.

  There’s no wrong way to cook beans. Personally, I prefer to cook them in a simple beef stock. Vegetable stock works nicely too if beef stock isn’t your thing, and even water will suffice. (You may need to add a little salt when the beans are done cooking if you use water instead of stock.) Beans absorb flavors and seasonings easily, so adding onions, peppers, garlic, celery, carrots, bay leaves, and other spices is wonderful, but your beans will then have those flavors for all the dishes you use them in. I keep the flavors simple during the initial cooking and then add spices later to match the mood of the dish I’m making.

  Since I like my time in the kitchen to be as efficient as possible, I always cook my beans in a pressure cooker, which shortens the cooking time substantially. If you aren’t in a hurry, feel free to simmer them for 1 hour or so on the stovetop instead. They’re done when they’re tender, but not falling apart. Follow the instructions on your pressure cooker for optimal cook times, but in my experience soaked beans take about 10 minutes under pressure.

  Fortunately, removing these oligosaccharides is easy, because they are water-soluble. If you start with dry beans, an overnight soak will wash out all the offensive sugars and sap the music-producing qualities of these lovely legumes. Soaking also helps beans cook faster and makes their nutrients more digestible. After soaking your beans, discard the soaking water and use fresh water for cooking to prevent digestive issues. Similarly, if you use canned beans, thoroughly rinse off the canning liquid, which contains most of the gas-producing oligosaccharides.

  I strongly recommend cooking with dried beans rather than canned, since their flavor and texture are light-years better. You’ll also find a more interesting variety of dried beans,* which makes your cooking adventures a lot more fun. There’s nothing wrong with canned beans per se, and if you’re in a time crunch, they can really come in handy. But your food should be delicious and life should be awesome, and spending a little more effort to make yourself food you’re actually
excited to eat is more than worth it.

  Cooking beans tends to take a similar amount of time no matter how many you make, so cooking big batches and using them throughout the week is a fantastic way to save time. Beans can be used at breakfast, lunch, and dinner to add substance, flavor, and texture to almost any ingredients you have in the house.

  5-Minute Lunch

  The Tastiest, Healthiest Bean Salad on the Planet

  Don’t worry, this is not one of those nasty three-bean salads your well-meaning aunt brings to picnics. Beans are one of the absolute best go-to foods when you want something tasty and satisfying.

  Feel free to substitute any vegetables you have or like better for the ones in the recipe or use lentils instead of beans. This dish turns out differently every time I make it, depending on what I have in the house, my mood, and of course the season. In the summer, for example, I tend to use cucumber, French radish, and a handful of arugula. Also feel free to experiment with different oils, vinegars, citrus, herbs, salts, and spices (smoked paprika is a great addition).

  I use this dish most often for a light lunch or substantial snack. It can be served warm or cold or can be made into a full meal by adding a fried egg (or other protein) on top with a side of greens. These instructions are for a single serving, but it scales easily.