Healthy Cooking - what does it mean? Generally speaking, healthy cooking means,
using finest ingredients, low fat, low calories, and low – cholesterol food. The green vegetables, lean meat, fresh fish, freshest fruits that you can
ever get, organic, gluten free, no to GMO’s and the long list continues. But,
does using all these healthy option food really define what “Healthy Cooking”
truly means? With everyone’s quest to achieve healthy body, to fight against
different diseases which is caused by eating unhealthy food and a
life style that will define the true meaning of being healthy, are we really
getting what we are exactly aiming for?
Healthy Cooking
can also be defined as combining all healthy ingredients together, with proper
sanitation while food is being prepared, the type of cooking utensils used and
the cooking process that took place while food is being cooked.
Considering that
you have picked and selected to cook organic, pesticide free vegetables which
you grew in your backyard, fresh meat/poultry that you get from a trust worthy
butcher and an organic and home grown fruits you picked from a friend’s farm.
Well then you can finally come up in a little while with a sumptuous, healthy
and nutritious dish you can serve to your family and friends. Will that be the
end of it?
Does it ever
cross your mind what is something beyond cooking? Like what process is taking
place when your ingredients reach the heat and all of it are “on fire”? How flavors blend well with each other, how one distinct taste compromises with
the distinct taste of the other?
Like in any
other process, there is an interaction that took place between the food and the
cookware that, it is very dependent on the type of material a cookware is made
of.
Stainless steel cookware
is considered “acceptable” material for cooking because it does not rust
easily. But because of its lesser capacity to conduct heat easily
and evenly, stainless steel is not considered as high-grade cookware. Plus it
allows the chrome and the nickel to bleed into the food when salt and acids of
the food reacts with the pan. The result would be, the taste and flavor of the
dish will change, and it could normally become a bit bitter or bland.
Cast Iron cookware
is considered not “conducive” to cooking because it has pores and ‘pits, which
make it so. Normally, we uses oil when we cook, this oil leaves a thin coat
around the surface of the pan and on those pores. They pass through the inside
pores which makes it durable and strong. It also prevents the cast iron from
rusting and also the reason why it is “non stick”. Although cast iron is not
good conductor of heat, the oil that gets inside the pores of the cast iron
helps it to distribute heat evenly while cooking. Now, speaking of those oils
that have been trapped into the pores, have you ever thought that those trapped
oils can also blends in and combine with your food while you are cooking? Imagine
the effect of those trapped oils that gets into the food and then gets inside
your body.
Glass/enamel
coated- basically this type of cookware has a poor heat distribution, food
easily sticks and burns and it contains Lead. When lead is combined with food
while cooking, it can also get inside your body while eating. Who wants lead
inside their body?
Polytetraflouroethylene- is popularly
known as Teflon, a product of DuPont. It has polymer as coating which makes it
non stick cookware. But this coating can be scratched off over time and will
get into your food during cooking process. Polymer is a chemical and
can be very fatal when it enters our body.
Aluminium
- it has been documented that there was an extreme chemical reaction
between food and cookware made of aluminium because it produces hydroxide
poison which causes digestive problems during the cooking process.
Surgical
Stainless Steel Cookware this is the revolutionary in cookware product. More
and more cookware companies are already offering this type of material similar
to what is being used for surgical purposes, as obviously as the meaning
implies. All these cookware offers the same promise of healthy cooking. Features
vary, warranty clause differs and price range competes with each.
What happen now
when they are on “fire”? The decisions are all yours, you can always stick to
the traditional, old school, “this is what my mama told me to use” or “I can’t
afford that”, whatever is your decision towards your goal to healthy cooking,
and it all depends on you.
Happy cooking
and stay healthy!
