Forget
the salad bar and the health-food store. You can dish up “health foods” right inside the four walls of your kitchen if you’re equipped to go setting up a healthy spread begins with the apparatus and appliances if healthy cooking. Does your kitchen have what it takes? Check it out!
Pressure Cooker:
Steaming is one of the best methods of cooking as it has twin advantages; one, it cooks food in a shorter tine than conventional boiling and therefore the nutrient loss is greatly minimized. Also, since is no loss of water-soluble vitamin. Secondly, this method doesn’t involve the use of fat and therefore is naturally healthy.
Tip:
Try to cook vegetables by steam only avoid soaking them in water in the pressure cooker, as this leads to leaching of water-soluble vitamins and their loss if the water is discarded, e.g. pressure-cooking potatoes.
Grill:
Grilling is another method that uses very little oil and can therefore help in cutting down fat considerably. e.g. grilled kebobs or grilled fish instead of fish deep-fried in butter.
Tips: Lightly brush oil on kebabs to get the best flavour and color.
Conventional Oven:
Baking in an oven involves cooking food through dry heat and therefore there is no fat required in this method of cooking. E.g. baking a potato in its jacket is a healthier option than French fries or roast potatoes.
Microwave Oven:
This is the latest addition to our kitchen armament and it is a highly versatile one! Like steaming, micro waving also has dual advantages. It cooks food very fast - in a quarter of the time taken by conventional cooking. Consequently there is better nutrient retention. Also, no extra fat is required for cooking.
Non-Stick Cookware:
Using it is the cheapest way of cutting down on fat. Stir-frying or shallow-frying in non-stick vessels dramatically reduces the fat required for cooking. Stir-frying involves heating the food for a very short time on a high flame and therefore the nutrient loss is considerably less. This is very important in the cooking of vegetables which are one of the most important sources of a variety of nutrients and are very vulnerable to nutrient loss in cooking and handling.
Tip: When stir-frying it is best to use a steep-sided, round-bottomed pan like a wok. This allows you to fry your food using only a small amount of oil.
Well-Honed Knives:
Use sharp knives - bruising fruits and vegetables hastens the loss of vitamins A and C. Avoid the use of iron (non-stainless steel) knives and graters. Iron increases the rate of destruction of vitamin C.
Tip: Wherever possible, tear rather than cut green leaves! Why? When you use a knife to, say, chop up spinach leaves, you cut through the cells, thus releasing an enzyme that hastens the oxidation (destruction) of Vitamin C. On the other hand, tearing causes the leaves to break around the veins rather than across them: this prevents the disruption of the cell and the spilling out of the enzyme.
The proper storage of food also plays a vital role in keeping our diets healthy:
Refrigerator:
No longer is the fridge a luxury item - except in the imaginations of our budget-makers _ today it's a utility item in the kitchen. The length of time that raw vegetables are stored, as well as the temperature and humidity of the storage area, affect nutrient retention. If storage means freezing, the quality and nutrient content will deteriorate at temperatures higher than -18 degree C (0 F). Even at 0 F, losses occur over time.
Tips: Don't leave the fridge door open for longer than necessary.
· Allow very hot foods to cool to room temperature before they are covered and put into the fridge.
· If your fridge does not defrost automatically, make sure you defrost it regularly, otherwise it will not work efficiently.
· Store raw meat, covered, on a shelf below cooked food so that any drip will not contaminate food on a lower shelf which are not to be cooked before being eaten.
· Ensure the door seal works properly.
· Use a fridge thermometer to make sure your refrigerator is working at 5 degree C or colder.
Opaque, Non-Transparent Or Colored Bottles:
These inexpensive kitchen items can go a long way in the preservation of nutrients. Fresh fruit juice must be stored in non-transparent bottles as exposure to light leads, to a rapid loss of vitamin C - which is the most important nutrient in fruit juice.
Similarly, oil should be stored in a cool, dry place in dark bottles, as exposure to heal and light will hasten the development of rancidity and off-flavours. Exposure to light will also lead to the loss of fat soluble vitamin A.
Lids:
Finally, keep the kitchen well stocked with different types of lid, and covers. It is very bad cooking practice to keep freshly-cut fruit and vegetables exposed to air and light: the loss of vitamins is tremendous
the salad bar and the health-food store. You can dish up “health foods” right inside the four walls of your kitchen if you’re equipped to go setting up a healthy spread begins with the apparatus and appliances if healthy cooking. Does your kitchen have what it takes? Check it out!
Pressure Cooker:
Steaming is one of the best methods of cooking as it has twin advantages; one, it cooks food in a shorter tine than conventional boiling and therefore the nutrient loss is greatly minimized. Also, since is no loss of water-soluble vitamin. Secondly, this method doesn’t involve the use of fat and therefore is naturally healthy.
Tip:
Try to cook vegetables by steam only avoid soaking them in water in the pressure cooker, as this leads to leaching of water-soluble vitamins and their loss if the water is discarded, e.g. pressure-cooking potatoes.
Grill:
Grilling is another method that uses very little oil and can therefore help in cutting down fat considerably. e.g. grilled kebobs or grilled fish instead of fish deep-fried in butter.
Tips: Lightly brush oil on kebabs to get the best flavour and color.
Conventional Oven:
Baking in an oven involves cooking food through dry heat and therefore there is no fat required in this method of cooking. E.g. baking a potato in its jacket is a healthier option than French fries or roast potatoes.
Microwave Oven:
This is the latest addition to our kitchen armament and it is a highly versatile one! Like steaming, micro waving also has dual advantages. It cooks food very fast - in a quarter of the time taken by conventional cooking. Consequently there is better nutrient retention. Also, no extra fat is required for cooking.
Non-Stick Cookware:
Using it is the cheapest way of cutting down on fat. Stir-frying or shallow-frying in non-stick vessels dramatically reduces the fat required for cooking. Stir-frying involves heating the food for a very short time on a high flame and therefore the nutrient loss is considerably less. This is very important in the cooking of vegetables which are one of the most important sources of a variety of nutrients and are very vulnerable to nutrient loss in cooking and handling.
Tip: When stir-frying it is best to use a steep-sided, round-bottomed pan like a wok. This allows you to fry your food using only a small amount of oil.
Well-Honed Knives:
Use sharp knives - bruising fruits and vegetables hastens the loss of vitamins A and C. Avoid the use of iron (non-stainless steel) knives and graters. Iron increases the rate of destruction of vitamin C.
Tip: Wherever possible, tear rather than cut green leaves! Why? When you use a knife to, say, chop up spinach leaves, you cut through the cells, thus releasing an enzyme that hastens the oxidation (destruction) of Vitamin C. On the other hand, tearing causes the leaves to break around the veins rather than across them: this prevents the disruption of the cell and the spilling out of the enzyme.
The proper storage of food also plays a vital role in keeping our diets healthy:
Refrigerator:
No longer is the fridge a luxury item - except in the imaginations of our budget-makers _ today it's a utility item in the kitchen. The length of time that raw vegetables are stored, as well as the temperature and humidity of the storage area, affect nutrient retention. If storage means freezing, the quality and nutrient content will deteriorate at temperatures higher than -18 degree C (0 F). Even at 0 F, losses occur over time.
Tips: Don't leave the fridge door open for longer than necessary.
· Allow very hot foods to cool to room temperature before they are covered and put into the fridge.
· If your fridge does not defrost automatically, make sure you defrost it regularly, otherwise it will not work efficiently.
· Store raw meat, covered, on a shelf below cooked food so that any drip will not contaminate food on a lower shelf which are not to be cooked before being eaten.
· Ensure the door seal works properly.
· Use a fridge thermometer to make sure your refrigerator is working at 5 degree C or colder.
Opaque, Non-Transparent Or Colored Bottles:
These inexpensive kitchen items can go a long way in the preservation of nutrients. Fresh fruit juice must be stored in non-transparent bottles as exposure to light leads, to a rapid loss of vitamin C - which is the most important nutrient in fruit juice.
Similarly, oil should be stored in a cool, dry place in dark bottles, as exposure to heal and light will hasten the development of rancidity and off-flavours. Exposure to light will also lead to the loss of fat soluble vitamin A.
Lids:
Finally, keep the kitchen well stocked with different types of lid, and covers. It is very bad cooking practice to keep freshly-cut fruit and vegetables exposed to air and light: the loss of vitamins is tremendous
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