Learn the Dangers of Eating Fried Foods & Healthy Alternatives

Fried Foods

Fried foods are often at the top of people’s food preference list. Unfortunately, consuming these foods frequently and for prolonged periods of time can lead to serious health complications. A common development related to fried foods is heart disease. The main reason why fried foods are not healthy to eat is because they often contain Tran’s fats. Luckily, there are alternative techniques that can be used to cook these foods. Although the taste is different, the health benefits of not eating fried foods is well worth the change.

The Dangers

Fried foods many people love are often cooked in vegetable oil, which contains Tran’s fats. Tran’s fats that are included in fried foods have shown to increase the risk for a person to develop cardiovascular diseases. Eating these foods frequently can increase LDL (bad) cholesterol and lower the HDL (good) cholesterol. Fried foods can raise blood pressure due to clogged arteries. This then raises a person’s risk of suffering from a heart attack. Not only can fried foods cause heart disease but can lead to Type II diabetes as well.

Trans Fats

There is an estimated 50,000 products available on the market that contain Tran’s fats. Tran’s fats are added to foods in order to make them less expensive. Many people find foods that contain Trans fats taste better than those without. Food can maintain a longer shelf life if Trans fats are added.

Alternative Cooking Technique

Although fried foods are known to cause health problems there are alternative cooking techniques that can be used to decrease these health dangers. One alternative way to cook food without frying them and maintaining the fried taste is to oven bake the food. This can be done by using a small amount of cooking oil. Roll the food in a thin layer of cooking oil and coat it with what ever seasoning you would like. Then, simply stick the food in the oven. This technique is much healthier and can even benefit people with pre-existing heart conditions.

Even with the health dangers associated to eating fried foods they can still be eaten in moderation. Limited consumption of these foods does not drastically increase a persons risk for developing medical conditions. In between the splurge of eating fried foods there are numerous recipes for different forms of cooking that can produce an almost identical taste to the delicious fried foods. Webmd.com has health wise recipes for alternative cooking techniques for fried food.

References:

The Dangers of Trans Fats” 2006 secretsofthehealthy.com