Everyday, more and more people are in search for healthy cooking tips. It seems like today's society is more health conscious than it has ever been. Good nutrition does not end with simply making the “right” food choices, it is equally important that you prepare the foods that you cook in such a way that they retain their wonderful nutritional benefits. Following healthy cooking tips allows you to get the most out of your food choices for better overall health. Below are the top 12 healthy cooking tips that you can easily apply to your daily cooking routine.
1.Use half the salt that you would usually use in your favorite recipes. Quite often you will not even be able to notice a change in taste. You may want to also consider replacing salt with a spice or herb, citrus peel or juice and don't forget about flavored vinegar. Onion or garlic powder (not salt) work suburb as a salt alternative in sauces, soups and on meats. Experiment with your seasonings! Try mixing paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and parsley flakes together, you may find that you never want to use salt again.
2.When stir-frying or grilling, use non-stick pans or veggie spray. You can also lightly coat your wok with olive oil for a healthy stir-frying choice.
3.One of the most important healthy cooking tips is to cook in a way that allows you to retain the most nutritional value. Vegetables should always be steamed instead of boiled and avoid cooking them at high temperatures unless you are doing a very quick stir-fry. Also, do not cook vegetables for extended periods of time. Liquid and extended heat will leach valuable nutrients out of your vegetables.
4.Use a lot of vegetables in your cooking. Experiment with different vegetables that you may not usually use in salads, stews and soups. Yellow and red peppers are ideal to really rev up the flavor of any dish. You want to add as many vegetables to you diet as possible. Fruit chutneys and salsas are fabulous toppings for poultry, meat or even wheat pasta in place of sauces or gravies.
5.One of the easiest healthy cooking tips to follow is to use low-fat alternatives in your recipes. Low-fat sour cream, cheese and salad dressing are good places to start. Also, try using a couple of egg whites in replace of a whole egg to reduce cholesterol and fat content. There are also fabulous low cholesterol egg products available that you should try.
6.Cooking should be done with canola oil or olive oil and if there is visible fat that you can see while you are cooking, you should drain or blot it with paper towels. Before reheating soups, scrape the fat off the top first.
7.Avoid slowly cooking meat on an open grill as this has cancer-promoting compounds and do not eat charred meat. Stir-frying, roasting or poaching are recommended methods.
8.When you are baking homemade goodies, replace half or all of the shortening with applesauce, mashed bananas, pureed prunes or yogurt. The end result has substantially less fat and is very moist.
9.Avoid using all-purpose flour. Soy flour is excellent for breads and biscuits or flax, whole wheat flour or oatmeal are ideal substitutes in muffins.
10.Instead of eating cakes and cookies, eat fresh fruit desserts and choose sherbet or frozen yogurt instead of ice-cream.
11.Add smoothies to your diet. Throw whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have handy into your blender with ice and either juice, soy or yogurt. You can get your recommended dairy fruit intake in one delicious glass.
12.The last of the healthy cooking tips on the list is to avoid canned vegetables, they usually have a high sodium content. Choose fresh options or even the frozen type that can be microwaved instead.
1.Use half the salt that you would usually use in your favorite recipes. Quite often you will not even be able to notice a change in taste. You may want to also consider replacing salt with a spice or herb, citrus peel or juice and don't forget about flavored vinegar. Onion or garlic powder (not salt) work suburb as a salt alternative in sauces, soups and on meats. Experiment with your seasonings! Try mixing paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and parsley flakes together, you may find that you never want to use salt again.
2.When stir-frying or grilling, use non-stick pans or veggie spray. You can also lightly coat your wok with olive oil for a healthy stir-frying choice.
3.One of the most important healthy cooking tips is to cook in a way that allows you to retain the most nutritional value. Vegetables should always be steamed instead of boiled and avoid cooking them at high temperatures unless you are doing a very quick stir-fry. Also, do not cook vegetables for extended periods of time. Liquid and extended heat will leach valuable nutrients out of your vegetables.
4.Use a lot of vegetables in your cooking. Experiment with different vegetables that you may not usually use in salads, stews and soups. Yellow and red peppers are ideal to really rev up the flavor of any dish. You want to add as many vegetables to you diet as possible. Fruit chutneys and salsas are fabulous toppings for poultry, meat or even wheat pasta in place of sauces or gravies.
5.One of the easiest healthy cooking tips to follow is to use low-fat alternatives in your recipes. Low-fat sour cream, cheese and salad dressing are good places to start. Also, try using a couple of egg whites in replace of a whole egg to reduce cholesterol and fat content. There are also fabulous low cholesterol egg products available that you should try.
6.Cooking should be done with canola oil or olive oil and if there is visible fat that you can see while you are cooking, you should drain or blot it with paper towels. Before reheating soups, scrape the fat off the top first.
7.Avoid slowly cooking meat on an open grill as this has cancer-promoting compounds and do not eat charred meat. Stir-frying, roasting or poaching are recommended methods.
8.When you are baking homemade goodies, replace half or all of the shortening with applesauce, mashed bananas, pureed prunes or yogurt. The end result has substantially less fat and is very moist.
9.Avoid using all-purpose flour. Soy flour is excellent for breads and biscuits or flax, whole wheat flour or oatmeal are ideal substitutes in muffins.
10.Instead of eating cakes and cookies, eat fresh fruit desserts and choose sherbet or frozen yogurt instead of ice-cream.
11.Add smoothies to your diet. Throw whatever fresh or frozen fruit you have handy into your blender with ice and either juice, soy or yogurt. You can get your recommended dairy fruit intake in one delicious glass.
12.The last of the healthy cooking tips on the list is to avoid canned vegetables, they usually have a high sodium content. Choose fresh options or even the frozen type that can be microwaved instead.