Changing Your Cooking Method to Make Unhealthy Food Healthy
If you are serious about eating healthier you need to shake up, and change certain cooking habits. Healthy cooking doesn’t mean you need to be a chef or a cooking expert. By just following some basic cooking techniques you can prepare the best food in healthy ways.
Here in this section, we have listed down some simple cooking tips. You can use them often to transform unhealthy recipes into healthy ones.
Change Unhealthy Cookware
Many people choose non-stick Teflon cookware because it’s convenient and ubiquitous. But not everyone knows that this cookware contains perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – which is further linked to several types of disease.
There is a rise in the cases of precocious puberty in young girls nowadays, and studies have shown a relationship between Teflon cookware and precocious puberty.
Go back to the basics, and use cookware made of stainless steel, cast iron, ceramic, etc.
Bake, Broil, Grill, Roast and Steam
Instead of frying food, choose for other healthy cooking techniques like baking, broiling, grilling, roasting, and steaming. By using these techniques, you can cut fats from your diet.
These techniques require less or no oil and reduce the risk of many lifestyle disorders.
Choose Healthy Substitutes
Always include healthy substitutions in your diet plan. Healthy substitutions not only reduce the amount of fat, calories, and salt in your recipes but can also improve its nutritional content.
For example:
➢ Instead of white pasta, choose multigrain or whole wheat pasta
➢ Amaranth or rajgira is another super food to boost the immune system. It can be used instead of rice in various preparations.
➢ Use toned milk instead of whole milk
➢ Instead of sour cream use Greek yogurt
➢ Use nuts and seeds as cake/muffin toppings instead of cream
➢ Prepare frozen fruit sorbets with banana as a sweetener instead of consuming store-bought ice creams
➢ Use jaggery or honey instead of refined sugar as a sweetener
Explore New Ways To Flavor Foods
Try creating meals with natural flavorings. It is one of the best ways to add colour, taste, and aroma to foods without adding fat or salt.
Tips:
➢ Use homemade spice powders, instead of packed ones
➢ You can add pinches of dried herbs in the earlier stages of cooking, instead of prepackaged seasoning mixes.
➢ Some vegetables and fruits like mushrooms, chilies, cranberries, cherries — give away a more intense flavor when dried than when fresh. Add them when you want a burst of flavor.
The tips outlined above will significantly improve your health. It will boost your immunity, lower the risk of disease and help you maintain an appropriate weight.
You can also seek guidance from a registered dietitian before making significant dietary changes. The dietician will help you prepare healthier versions of your favorite recipes, in simple ways.
Kanupriya Khanna is one such dietitian in Delhi – who can give you concise advice on how and what to eat. Check her website at https://kanupriyakhanna.in for some healthy diet plans and food recipes for kids. You can also get in touch with her at https://kanupriyakhanna.incontact-us/
