Tikachu's Kitchen: My 10 Healthy Cooking Techniques

3/26/10

My 10 Healthy Cooking Techniques

4:53 PM |

Postedby Kartika Christensen |

Most people think that healthy cooking is a hassle, but the truth is, it only requires a little change in your kitchen rules. By replacing or adding several cooking ingredients with healthier ones, you do not only reduce the amount of fat contained in your food but also add those extra nutrients necessary for faster metabolism! Here are 10 simple and healthy cooking techniques you can apply at home:

1. Replace vegetable oil with monounsaturated oil when applicable. Olive oil is naturally a lot healthier than palm or vegetable oil. If you’re a little tight on budget, however, use olive oil only for sauteeing, grilling patties or as salad dressing. For deep frying, mix it with non-cholesterole oil.

2. Use herbs. Salt and pepper are generally the ingredients that you need to flavor most food. However, usage of additional herbs such as thyme, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, chilli powder, cinnamon, ground paprika, mint leaf, celery, etc., does not only add to the taste and flavour, but certain spices are also known to increase your metabolism and help fight certain diseases. There are various herbs and there are basically no rules to using them in your dish. Just experiment with mixing and matching them!

3. Use less salt. When you experience with different herbs, it is the best reason to reduce the amount of salt you pour into your food. Modern civilization’s addiction to salt contributes to the high rate of hypertension, cardiovascular, and obesity cases. Salt makes you crave for more food and makes greasy, unhealthy food taste better when you are supposed to stay away from them!

4. Steam, not boil! When dealing with vegetables, it is best to steam instead of boiling to keep the nutrients within the veggie.

5. The lower the better. When it comes to fat content, the lower the better. Stay away from full-cream milk, butter, jelly jam, sugar coating, saturated fat, canned food, and instant food packages. Use skim milk, non-cholesterol vegetable oil, canola oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, corn oil or olive oil.

6. Always have greens in the refrigerator. Remember to always include vegetables in your food when applicable. There are hundreds of vegetables to choose from, so don’t say it doesn’t go with your dish!

7. Smaller cuts. When serving red meat or potentially high-calorie food, cut the food to smaller pieces so you’ll eat less and slower.

8. Go nuts. Nuts and beans are great source of nutrition. Put extra red beans in soup and black beans/walnuts in your salad, or put nuts in a jar with a little bit of salt and fried garlic as your choice of healthy snack!

9. Be stealthy! If your children refuse to eat vegetables as it is, make puree out of the vegetables and sneak it in their food, such as in pancakes, waffles, meatballs, nuggets, or omelette!

10. Prevent preservatives from entering your stomach. When you’re in a hurry, instant noodle or pasta might be practical and fast. But remember, factory-produced instant food are packed with preservatives. When you boil instant noodle and pasta and wants it soupy, replace the cooking water that’s full with preservatives with a clear, newly boiled water.

And that’s your simple tips of healthy cooking! =)