Secret Healthy Cooking Tips

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Alex-Peter

Cook
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
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98
Eating healthy is not just picking the right kind of food but also cooking them the right way. Food preparation is also important and contributes to how healthy is our diet. We often stay away from fast food and do home cooking instead, but in doing this, take time also to make sure that you get the most of your healthy food choice.


Tip-1 :

Do not begin planning your meals with a bunch of new recipes. Try them out first. Cook a small amount of food. You may want to cut down the amount of ingredients in those recipes by half and make smaller portions. This would do two things for you. For one, you would not waste too much food, in case you do not like the recipe. Plus, you would get a good chance to experiment with your recipe. In most cases, I change recipes, add some ingredients to them, or use the ones I can get more easily. This works well for me.


Tip-2 Skim Milk :

Instead of the regular milk, substitute them with skimmed milk coupled with low fat cheeses, too. Using skimmed milk in your daily cooking that needs milk will definitely reduce fat and cholesterol content especially in your baked foods. And instead of using other oils, replace them with Olive ones. In so doing, let the fat drain off with the help of the kitchen paper. It would also be good to chill the soup first before re-heating them so that you are able to skim the fat in the top side of the soup.


Tip-3 Avoid putting too overmuch salt:

Avoid putting too much salt in your cooking. It is reported that excessive use of salt or intake of salty foods can cause high blood pressure, heartburn, osteoporosis, gastric ulcers, among others. So the next time you're planning a meal or cooking one, use salt in moderation to avoid sickness and stay healthy.


Tip-4 wholesome cooking :

One way to do healthy cooking is to cut back on bad fat. When cooking, choose ingredients that are less fattening. For example, if you want to fry meat or sautee vegetables, use a cooking oil that has monounsaturated fat in it, like olive oil. According to studies, this is healthier compared to oils containing saturated fat.

Tip-5 colourful vegetables:

A great healthy cooking tip would be adding vegetables to all aspects of eating throughout the day. That could mean using carrots chopped up as a substitute for chips, broccoli and cheese whiz or even celery with peanut butter and raisin. In regards to main meals, a great healthy cooking tip would be to add peppers to stews or chow mein. Also adding other colourful vegetables to any dish also helps meet a recommended daily servings. Fruit chutneys and vegetable salads are also great substitutions for heavy gravies and sauces.


Tip-6 temperatures for steaks:

Cook meat to its proper temperatures. This will kill harmful bacteria in the food that cause diseases. Suggested temperatures for steaks and roasts is at least 45°F, ground meat at 160°F and poultry at 165°F. Bacteria that may be spread in grinding meat can bring higher risk of food-borne diseases. You can also reheat leftovers at 165°F, and wait for the sauces and gravy to a boil if you are reheating them.

Tip-7 If you need more help:

When you're new to cooking healthy foods, you need to consider careful planning, more brainstorming and sufficient information. If you need more help, you can read about what you need to know. The internet is a very helpful source but if you're not sure, you can also consult a dietician.

I hope you benefit from these tips :w00t2:
 
Only one point needs qualification. Before assuming that skimmed milk is simply whole milk with the fat skimmed off, do your own research into how skimmed milk is engineered. After looking into the process of creating skimmed milk, I concluded that, if there's something to say about milk and health, it's to use whole milk, thus using a milk that has food value, but take care to use properly produced whole milk.

This probably isn't a real big issue when milk is used strictly for cooking, but if consumed in great quantities, get to know you food.
 
Good information here. Most I already know, but need to be reminded often in order to stay on track with healthy eating.
 
When using olive oil, you can't always use it in a recipe that calls for vegetable oil. Such as making a cake or baking. And I don't fry with olive oil. I want a bland oil so that the taste of the food I am making comes through, not that of the oil. I don't fry often, but when I do, I want to taste the egg, not the oil. I rely on seasonings to flavor my foods. I too want whole milk in my diet. I need all the benefits of it. Calorie wise, there is very little from whole milk to skim milk. Being as label reader, I find that when a food is reduced to "reduced fat" content, it often will contain more chemicals. Something I make a very concerted effort to keep out of my body. Chemicals are not a natural food for humans. :angel:
 
Chemicals are not a natural food for humans. :angel:

Well, strictly speaking, all foods are chemicals and the human body is a chemical factory, breaking down foods into nutrients (also chemicals) our bodies can absorb. We can't survive without dihydrogen monoxide, for instance (H2O aka water). Some people like to add a solution of water, citric acid, ascorbic acid and potassium salts (lemon juice) to their water.

Just because we're not familiar with the name of a chemical does not automatically mean it's bad for us.
 
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Addie, light olive oil works great for cooking. It doesn't have the strong flavor that evoo has.
 
The type of oil used, depends on what you are cooking. For me, eating healthy is simply a matter of moderation and not eating the garbage produced by fast food places. In other words, Mc this!;)
 
When my daughter was younger I had a healthy eating secret. I would throw carrots, broccoli, green beans, tomato, onion and whatever veggie I could find in a pot, barely cover with water & a pinch of salt. Brought it to a boil, added spinach, parsley and sometimes beet greens & let it all cool. Then blend till smooth (& kinda gross looking) & freeze in ice cube trays. Always had a big bag of "veggie cubes" in the freezer. Add 1 or 2 or 5 to things she ate while cooking. Add to pasta sauce, stews, even Kraft dinner!

Eat your veg!!!!!
 
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