Saturday, January 24, 2009

Learn How To Cook Healthy

By Althaf Ahmed

Nowadays, people are growing to become more and more conscious about their health. People are becoming more health conscious in terms of their lifestyle which includes the food they eat. In fact, it has already become like a trend. People dine out and look for places to eat that promote healthy foods. People look for means to enjoy their favorite dishes while being cautious of their health at the same time. If you are among those health conscious individuals looking for ways on how to cook healthy, youve come to the right place. Below are some tips on how to cook healthy for a longer life and a healthy lifestyle.

1.Always be cautious when choosing your ingredients. Are you always going for the fatty meats or do you always look for the leaner cuts? Do you always cook beef, chicken, seafood, fish, or pork? Aside from meats, you also have to take a look at the other ingredients you use. Do you use too much soy sauce or salt to make your dish more flavorful? Perhaps you can avoid too much salt in your dishes to lessen its sodium content. Opt for fresher and leaner ingredients. Dont always buy the frozen ingredients that have preservatives and other additives with it. Always opt for fresh. One of the ways you can learn how to cook healthy is by using fresh ingredients and not those frozen or canned ones that contains preservatives.

2. Look for options. If you use a lot of packed powders or pastes, such as garlic paste, why not try out making your own paste? It is not at all difficult to make garlic paste at home. This not only saves money, but the result is healthy and safe. Similarly, if you plan to make a dessert that require common diary ingredients like cheese, etc, look for low fat items. There are low fat cheese available today in the market. If you are a Chinese food freak, use light sauce and avoid add-on's such as monosodium glutamate. They are known to affect the liver in the long run. Another example is your daily cooking. If you are used to vegetable oil for cooking, switch to canola or virgin coconut oil. This can definitely contribute to the fight against cholesterol.

3. The methods of cooking also contribute to a unhealthy cooking. The most way to enjoy meat is by deep frying them, or in some case pan frying them. It is preferable to enjoy a combination of cooking mode. The next time you want to have an egg, boil it. If you want to eat chicken, grill it or maybe bake it. Trust me, they taste good, sometimes better than fried chicken. Let your cooking always contain a combination of steaming, boiling, frying, baking and grilling. Many of these methods literally take out the oil content in the food, saving you from a heart ache. Make it a point from today to try different methods of cooking.

4.Go for organic. Organic fruits and vegetables are healthier than your regular fruits and vegetables. If you can spend a little more for your health, it would be a wise choice to go organic. You can also opt for organic dairies.

5.Start adding more vegetables in your dishes. If you always cook meats with no vegetables to accompany it, then you arent living a healthy lifestyle. You need to start lessening the meats and start adding veggies with your dishes. Instead of cooking 2 pounds of meat, why not cook 1 pound or 1 " pounds of meat together with " to 1 pound of vegetables? Thus you get to lower your cholesterol and fat intake and get more nutrients from vegetables. - 16492

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