31 Cooking Tips to Make Your Foods Healthier

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Everyone wishes to eat fresh and healthy food. However, we ignore some basic aspects while cooking and deteriorate the quality of the cooked food.

Here are some of the healthy cooking tips that you can follow:

1. Include sprouts and lentils in your cooking preparations as they are high in protein. Use green veggies also as they include a lot of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.
2. If you prefer meat in your daily diet, use lean cuts of meat as they contain less fat and more protein.
3. Do not forget to sprinkle lemon juice while making fruit salads and other fruit preparations which require the fruits to be cut. This will avoid blackening of fruits like banana, apple, etc.
4. You can also add lemon juice to the rice grains before cooking as they will prevent the rice from breaking.
5. Control your daily consumption of sugar and salt. Though they are an important aspect of your diet, consuming an excess of salt and sugar is not healthy at all. Verify the sugar and salt content on the packaged food before purchasing them as they can be on the higher side.
6. Steaming veggies or microwaving is a better option than boiling since steaming keeps the nutrient content intact and you can also use the steamed water for cooking.
7. You can reduce the oil and butter content of your recipes by using non-stick cookware.
8. Always add salt at the end as adding it in the middle might prolong the cooking process.
9. Do not overcook the vegetables as it will result in loss of nutrients and color.
10. Use low-fat sour cream or yogurt instead of butter or whole milk for baking since they have less fat content.
11. Add more colors to your salads by using veggies like carrot, tomato, broccoli, etc. as it will make them more appetizing. Avoid creamy dressing in the salad to cut down their fat content.
12. Prefer seasonal fruits and veggies instead of off-season ones. They are not only healthier and nutritious but easier to find in local markets as well.
13. Many researchers have underlined the importance of consuming the fruits, vegetables, grains and other food items which are grown in a location nearby to you. The reason for this is that such food items grow in a similar habitat and complement your health in a much better way.
14. Prefer fresh vegetables and ingredients instead of using stocked or canned items.
15. Avoid overindulging creamy buns, soups pureed with cream and all the food items which are stashed with calories. Enjoy a light meal and breakfast to keep your digestive system and weight in control.
16. Make ice-creams with low-fat milk as it will contain fewer calories as well. You can prefer milk thickened by using gelatine as they give the same type of consistency and firmness to your ice-cream as the full-fat milk.
17. You can add diced veggies in meat preparations to balance out the nutritional value of your recipes.
18. Coriander leaves, dill and other ingredients which are mostly used for garnishing and adding a peculiar flavor to your curries, need to be used only when fresh. Therefore, avoid storing them in open places and refrigerate them instead to maintain their freshness for a longer period.
19. Instead of using artificial red colour or extra red chili powder to make curries red, you can always use a pinch of sugar as it makes your curries red naturally.
20. Do not purchase excess quantities of spices as they tend to lose their aromatic flavour after a few days. Therefore, it is advisable to purchase them in small quantities.
21. Always serve food while it is still hot and fresh. Re-heating might reduce its flavour and it also reduces the nutritive value of the cooked food.
22. Do not overcook food, especially the veggies as they will lose some of their nutrients and texture.
23. Fruits and vegetables are treated with pesticides these days. Therefore, you can wash them in a container which has water mixed with lots of potassium permanganate. After that, you can clean them with plain water again before cutting them.
24. Pressure cookers do tend to overcook ingredients especially when it comes to the veggies. Therefore, always use a low flame and turn off the gas after a few whistles to avoid overcooking. You can always cook them again in boiling water or while you cook the recipe if it is still a bit raw.
25. Buy unpolished grains and pulses since some of their nutritive value is lost while processing or polishing.
26. Onions are full of quercetin, an anti-oxidant which is healthy for our body. However, it needs to get activated first and therefore we must cut the onions at least 7 to 10 minutes before consuming them.
27. Avoid using cookware which is painted with toxic chemicals like lead or silver. Decorative cookware and accessories do tend to have these chemicals which might lead to digestive issues and even food poisoning.
28. It is found that people suffering from Alzheimer’s diseases have aluminium content in their brain cells. Therefore, one must avoid using aluminium utensils as it becomes hard to eliminate aluminium from the body afterward.
29. Stainless steel utensils are the best to use. You can use Pyrex cookware as well.
30. Boil milk at least for 10 minutes before using it in any dish or recipe. The boiling eliminates germs and bacteria from milk which might induce digestive disorders.