Cooking Healthy - The Top 5 Healthy Cooking Tips for Beginners

Cooking Healthy - The Top 5 Healthy Cooking Tips for Beginners
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Healthy Cooking Tip #1 - Your Cooking Technique Counts

Steaming or stir frying will not only preserve the color and nutrients in your vegetables, but will allow less cooking time. Always use extra virgin olive oil and replace salt with fresh herbs and spices. Baking is an excellent way to incorporate healthy fruits and vegetables in your family’s diet. Adding shredded carrots or zucchini to quick breads or chopped nuts and fruit to muffins, is not only healthier, but provides a moister batter. Adding whole grains or oats provide extra fiber needed in a well balanced diet.

Healthy Cooking Tip #2 - Be Informed

Read the labels if you want to be proactive with your healthy cooking diet. Avoid food additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), used in many processed foods. Restaurants, especially those serving Chinese food, canned soups, frozen dinners, school cafeterias and baby food use MSG as a flavor enhancer. Since this is labeled as “generally recognized as safe”, but the chemical term is 78% free glutamic acid, 21% sodium and 1% contaminant, this may not be what you’d like to include in your diet. Other additives that you should avoid are high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil, natural or artificial flavoring, artificial color, palm oil, dextrose, sucrose and fructose, as in Splenda or Sucrulose sweetners. A known carcinogen, nitrates, is found in most cold cuts and should be avoided.

Healthy Cooking Tip #3 - Be Heart Healthy

Be kind to your heart with whole grains that help lower the “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, regulate blood sugar, blood pressure and weight control. Include sources of fiber, such as whole wheat bread, leafy green vegetables, fruit skins, nuts, flaxseeds, carrots and brown rice. Substitute ingredients for lowfat, less calories and an overall healthier diet for you and your family.

Healthy Cooking Tip #4 - Get Your Daily Recommendations

Vegetables and fruit eaten daily should be a minimum of 5 cups, and included in your daily healthy cooking. Purchase from a Farmer’s Market or grow your own, if possible. Eat dark, leafy green vegetables and fruits, a recommended minimum 5 cups of either fruits or vegetables or a combination of both.

Blend a smoothie loaded with fresh or frozen fruit and yogurt to provide a portion of the daily amount of fruit and dairy needed in a balanced diet. For a novelty idea, freeze the smoothie into molds. This snack is sure to be a healthy cooking tip for beginners. Since you know what’s in it and they absolutely love it, everyone is happy.

Healthy Cooking Tip #5 - Practice Safe Cooking

Be aware of the “buy by” date on the package. Healthy cooking should also be safe cooking. Always wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly before serving. When preparing poultry, thaw in the refrigerator, if frozen. Marinade is a great way to add flavor and tenderness , but a safe cooking tip is to throw out any unused marinade that was used on raw chicken. Grilling is an easy form of healthy cooking for beginners. As with chicken, marinating meat prior to cooking, not only enhances the flavor and texture, but provides a coating that is beneficial for preventing “reasonably anticipated compounds known to as HCAs or heterocyclic amines”, a human carcinogen, which causes cancer.

If you’d like to learn more about food safety, please visit the Food Safety section of Bright Hub’s Diet, Nutrition & Healthy Eating channel. Here you can learn more about healthy cooking tips for beginners and seasoned cooks, techniques and meal ideas.

The information in this article should not be considered medical advice. Always check with your physician concerning health issues before taking any advice you have read on Brighthub.com.

Resources

https://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/expert-q-and-a-heart-healthy-eating

https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-cooking/NU00201