6 Tips to cook in a healthy way

Not everyone possesses great culinary skills but making sure you are cooking healthy meals is possible even if you aren’t a master chef. It’s only a matter of choosing the right method to cook your food and avoiding common cooking mistakes. Here’s a dummy’s guide to get you started.



 1 Use fresh ingredients: One of the best ways to ensure that you are eating healthy is to use fresh, local produce in your cooking. These will have no or fewer preservatives than packaged foods.

2.  Include all food groups: Healthy cooking consists of including foods from different groups. A wholesome diet comprises a variety of food groups combined together to give you all the essential nutrients that you need. Both macro and micro nutrients are essential for your body. A good portion of whole grains, dairy, nuts and oil seeds, fruits and vegetables should comprise one’s daily diet.

3  Use the right cooking oil: The type of though olive oil is healthy, if you are cooking on a high flame, it is best to avoid using it as it does not have a high smoke point. Use rice bran oil instead.

4  Add herbs and spices: One misconception people have about cooking is that more oil equals more flavor. The truth is, it is the other ingredients including herbs and spices which add flavor to food.

5  Keep salt to a minimum: Excessive salt intake can make you prone to several conditions including high BP. According to WHO, the daily salt intake for an adult should be just about a teaspoon. So when you cook, do not add too much salt. You can squeeze a lemon on your dish or add herbs to flavor your food. 

6. Avoid these cooking mistakes   

Re-suing oil: Many a times, people use the same oil to fry foods again and again to save oil. This is a very unhealthy practice as it increases the trans-fat content in the oil which can be carcinogenic especially if it used for deep frying.

Keeping cut, raw vegetables uncovered: If you often chop veggies much in advance before the actual cooking, you lose out on several vitamins and minerals as they get destroyed upon exposure to light or heat. So chop them just before you have to cook.

Reheating food too many times: We often have leftovers which we consume over the next few days but an important point to remember while reheating food is to make sure you reheat only what you want to eat and not the whole dish as it will lose its nutrients.





Source: http://www.thehealthsite.com