Healthy Cooking Methods

Imagine you buy the healthiest foods in the world and then end up with zero nutrients just because you used a wrong cooking method? Unfair right?

Healthy cooking methods are basically methods that minimize food and nutrient losses while making the nutrients in the food easy to digest and easy to absorb. Minimizing food loss means you don’t waste too much food in the preparation and cooking process while minimizing nutrient loss means retaining all the nutrients you can during preparation and cooking.  The main rule of thumb for healthy cooking is to avoid methods that require excessive fat. I always recommend avoiding deep frying, which not only adds lots of calories but also exposes you to the health risks of unhealthy fats.

When cooking, heat can destroy 15 – 20 percent of some of the vitamins especially in vegetables especially vitamin C, B vitamins, Folate and Potassium.

My top best cooking methods include;

Baking

I don’t mean cakes and cookies. You can bake so much from potatoes to vegetables. Good thing about baking is you don’t use lots of fat but I also love it because the food basically cooks itself and it’s perfect for a busy person.

Poaching

This is when you gently simmer ingredients in water or a flavored liquid, e.g. broth or vinegar until they're cooked through and tender. While poaching, food retains its shape and you do not have to use any fat. I also like that you can make the broth you are cooking your food in as nutrient dense as possible.

Stir frying

To stir fry, make sure all the pieces of the food you intend to cook are the same size, put some oil in a non stick frying pan and toss them in when the oil is hot and stir as you fry. This method is not for huge chunks of food because you want it to cook quickly. Although this method of cooking uses cooking oil, the oil should only be used in moderation. Actually, if you have an oil spray (those oils in a bottle where you just spray the pan) use it. I like it because it is quick and I especially like it for vegetables because they don’t overcook. Also, the oil helps in the absorption of all the fat soluble vitamins in your food.

Steaming

This is when you use steam from boiling water or another liquid to cook some food especially vegetables. The best thing about this method of cooking is that you could be cooking a dish (one with enough liquid to create steam) and have a basket with your vegetables suspended in it. It is also a good way to cook food that you don’t want oil in because it requires zero oil.

Boiling

This is one method that can be very detrimental for your food. Most of the times we boil food in so much water (my mom calls it a river of water) then pour all the water. When boiling food, most of the nutrients seep into the boiling water and when we pour the water we pour all the nutrients along with the water. The best way to boil food would be to use as little water as possible (it doesn’t even have to cover the food) and trust me your food will still cook well. If you have water remaining in the cooking pot when you are done you can use it in other dishes.

Microwave cooking

This is a controversial topic because some people hate microwaves. For those who don’t mind them, this could be a good way to cook vegetables because it has minimal nutrient losses. Microwave cooking tends to dry food out but you can fix that by splashing a little water and maybe a little oil before you put food in the microwave. Make sure that you use microwave friendly containers.

Going raw

This is when you eat your food without cooking it, especially vegetables. The reason behind it is to make sure that none of the nutrients are damaged or lost during cooking. Some food however could benefit from cooking. Tomatoes for example give you more lycopene (an antioxidant that is very good at fighting cancer) when cooked and you also get more beta carotene (an antioxidant found in plenty in foods with orange, yellow, and red colors and also in dark leafy vegetables.) from carrots when they are cooked. Vegetables have fiber which is which could bind to the nutrients that the body cannot access them when you eat the vegetables raw. Cooking breaks down the fiber making it easier to get the nutrients.

NB: when I say cook vegetables I don’t mean boil them till they change color. Remember the stir frying method we looked at above, that would be a good method to cook vegetables because when well done, the vegetables should still have their original color and be a little bit crunchy.

You could also blanch your vegetables. This is when you dip vegetables in very hot and remove them just before they change color.

My advice, for vegetables, use the quickest method you know for cooking because the shorter the preparation and cooking time the more nutrients you get from your vegetables.