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Post # 1
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Join Date: 10 Apr 2011
Location:  UAEPosts: 42 |
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HEALTHY COOKING TIPS |
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HEALTHY COOKING TIPS:
The importance of a healthy diet for longevity and health, so maintaining healthy life starts with healthy cooking, healthy eating etc. The following tips could help for healthy cooking. LOW FAT COOKING TIPS: • Use low fat yoghurt or skim milk as thickener for cream based recipes. • Instead of oil use cooking sprays. • Select lean meat cuts and trim the fat. • Instead of frying, boil or bake. • Instead of mayonnaise on sandwich, use low fat spreads such as sauce or ketchup. • Use low fat milk instead of whole milk. • Use non stick cookware while you cook so that you don’t have to use much oil. • Use fat free chicken broth. • Cook fish, eggs and chicken in small amount of water. The method of cooking is known as poaching. • Use low fat cooking methods like steaming, baking, poaching, broiling, grilling or sautéing. • Use olive oil for medium cooking or for salad dressings. • To prevent excess oil absorption, remove and drain on kitchen napkins. COOKING TIPS TO RETAIN NUTRIENTS: • Steam or microwave vegetables instead of boiling them. • Avoid using copper vessels. It destroys vitamin content. • Avoid cooking at high temperatures; this may destroy some of the vitamins due to oxidation. • Wash vegetables before you chop them but not after chopping them. • Steaming is the good cooking technique; it retains more nutrients than boiling. • Use boiled vegetable water and dhal water for soups and gravies. • Instead of soaking vegetables, rinse quickly. • Boil potatoes and beetroots with the skin. • Instead of peeling the vegetables scrub them, as many nutrients are found in the skin. • Try to boil vegetables as whole and then cut it will retain nutrients. • Store vegetables in a refrigerator to retain vitamin content. • Add pinch of salt and soak vegetables. • While cooking do not strain starch water from rice. • Do not soak fruits for more than 15 minutes in water. LOW SODIUM COOKING TIPS: • Limit amount of margarine and butter as they contain lot of salt. • Use fresh or frozen vegetables, since canned vegetables contain salt. • Limit intake of cheese as it contain salt, or use salt free cheese. • Use lemon juice, vinegar or spices to reduce need for salt. • Limit intake of salty processed meats. • Reduce use of sauces because they contain salt in high amount. • Limit intake of pickles as pickles contain lot of salt. • Don’t add too much of salt to your food. GENERAL HEALTHY COOKING TIPS: • Use neat and clean tools for cutting, especially the knife and cutting table. • Use very small amount of water while cooking. • Avoid use of food colors as it raises serious health issues. • Use less soda or baking powder as it irritates intestine. • Keep the lids closed, especially in case of cooking green vegetables to preserve green color. • Avoid foods that are typically sprayed with pesticides. • Always cut as big pieces because they carry more vitamins. |
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