When you are cooking for yourself or for your family, your two main considerations are usually: 1) Is the food tasty? And 2) Is the food healthy? You therefore need to find methods of food preparation that combine both of these elements in the most successful way. Let’s take a look at some common ways in which we prepare food and you can choose for yourself which ones best fulfill both of these criteria.
Frying – For many people, fried foods are absolutely delicious. Who doesn’t like the odd portion of French fries or fried chicken here and there? Of course, the main concern with fried foods is the consumption of too much cancer causing heated oils. The good news is, however, that you don’t need to cut fried foods out of your diet forever. Although you shouldn’t go crazy with them and should vary your diet a bit, you can still enjoy fried foods under certain conditions. For example, rather than using soya oil, try to fry your vegetables in olive oil. It might be a little more expensive, but the health benefits of olive oil can never be understated. Another alternative is to fry inside the oven rather than on the top in a deep fryer, which uses far more oil.
Slow cooking – The benefits of using a slow cooker, or crock pot, as it is often called are many. Apart from reducing the amount of prior preparation you need to make and the clearing up that you are left with afterwards, no one ever complains of negative side effects. Indeed, many crock pot recipes are delicious and use healthy ingredients, such as fresh vegetables, proteins, and pulses. In fact, this is a healthful method of cooking due to the low temperature at which the food is cooked. Certain compounds known as a potential cause of cancer do not form in such great numbers when this method of cooking is used.
Grilling and broiling – Grilled or broiled food (which includes barbecuing) is another great culinary favorite. The main health benefit of grilling is that in terms of meat, for example, the fat drips off automatically during the process, which is a clear benefit. The only health risk that comes from grilling or broiling is a result of the materials you may use. If you are using gas or charcoal, certain chemicals or fumes that are released from these materials may enter the food, bringing their own inherent risks. But the actual method is fairly healthy.
Baking and roasting – Oven-baked foods are very healthy because they are low in fat. They also cook in their own juices, preserving the natural goodness of the food. This method also preserves the taste of the food, far and away fulfilling the second criterion mentioned above.
Steaming – This is also a popular way of preparing vegetables, inside a steamer. Whereas boiling vegetables can cause them to lose their nutrients, steaming helps the food retain its cellular structures. The vegetables maintain their vitamins and flavonoids almost as well as eating them raw.
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