Eating Problem: I Don't Cook

Recently, I've been talking about "a thousand trees," referring to what seems to be countless little eating problems I appear to have that may have contributed to my getting obese. I've talked about the habit of allowing myself more than I need because something tastes good, for example. I think if you've got a serious weight problem, you'll identify with some of the problems I write about and maybe think of some of your own. You may or may not, however, identify with this one: I don't know how to cook.

Not cooking leads to more unhealthy choices like consuming processed foods (often high fat, high calorie) and fast food. It also prevents me from having good quality, satisfying meals. And it likely keeps healthy foods like vegetables out of my belly.

I was so bothered by this last summer, I made efforts to find someone to teach me basic cooking skills. I've come across this problem in other obese people as well. A lot of us can't cook and there's really no one to teach us as adults. I checked into basic cooking classes and as far as I can see, they don't exist in my area.

But I'm not a man who gives up easily. I've wanted to have a decent house to live in so over the past decade I taught myself how to renovate. A couple of books and hours watching home improvement shows helped me build upon basic skills I learned in high school woodworking class. But there are two things in high school I wish I had taken: auto mechanics and home ec (so I could cook.) It'd be nice to fix my own car then cook up a tasty meal!

I've tried watching The Food Network to see if it would rub off on me like the home renovation shows did but they don't teach basics. I am, however, quite inspired by watching them. They get me all worked up to try cooking dinner.

In the fall I made progress by getting over my fear of cooking meat. Instead of buying precooked hamburgers like I usually do, I finally tried cooking raw burgers on the barbecue. I have always worried that I would not cook them thoroughly and it would be gross and I'd make my family sick. Chalk it up to a minor phobia.

Since then, we've had the most obscenely delicious burgers at home, much better than the ones I've been choking down in the drive through line for most of my life. I make them how I like them, with old cheddar, red onions, mustard and relish. Oh, and lettuce, tomato and half fat mayo. We use PC brand Blue Menu lean burgers. We tried the Safeway version and they tasted like hockey pucks (and don't think I've never tasted a hockey puck.)

Tonight I boldly attempted to make a stir fry. I got the idea from watching my wife eat at a food court last week. I began watching YouTube videos on making a chicken stir fry with rice. It all seemed so easy and, like the reno viewing I did, I cross referenced different videos. You watch a bunch of videos on one subject and they begin to fill in the blanks (doubts or questions you may have.)

Cooking is big on the Internet so there's no shortage of info out there.

I get queezie about eating my own experimental cooking but what I made tonight was palatable. We decided the "Chinese style" soya sauce was a little different than your normal run of the mill soya sauce (don't ask me why) and it was a little off in flavour. But there I was chopping yellow onions, green onions, etc. using the rocker chopping method (thank you, Food Network!).

It's a baby step but it's a big one for me.

• Here's a short playlist of videos teaching basic cooking of a handful of foods.