Healthy cooking is a lot more than salads and extra vegetables. A lot of cooking habits and recipes can be tweaked for healthier living, including the amount of salt and oil used. In addition, an individual can be pickier about the kinds of meat he or she eats to stave off cancer. Even sandwiches can be prepared in healthier ways, like replacing white bread with wheat and mayonnaise with fruit or nut spread.
Cooks can try not to cook with salt, especially when recipes call for salt to taste. The salt can be added to taste at the dinner table rather than guessing at the perfect amount. Some people choose to omit table salt altogether, from both the kitchen and dining room.
A cook can use less cooking oil whenever possible; for example, switching to cooking oil in spray form to make a tiny amount go further. Some people also choose to switch to healthier cooking oils, but there is no major difference between them when only using small amounts. When using these oils, anything more than enough oil to stir fry vegetables is likely too much. No amount of recipe tweaking will make deep frying healthy cooking.
In addition, a cook can choose leaner meats, eat less red meat, and only go overboard on the portion sizes on special occasions. Some studies show that vegetarians live longer than omnivores, even if they occasionally eat eggs, poultry and fish. Excessive portions of red meat is linked to an increased risk of numerous cancers. It is usually fine to eat it now and then, but red and fatty meats in general are not part of a healthy diet.
White flour goes through a process called milling to make it white, which removes important vitamins. When white flour is turned into white bread, it is significantly less healthy than wheat bread. As a healthy cooking practice, cooks can opt for whole grain flour that includes all of the healthy bits. The downside to unmilled flour is that it has a shorter shelf life than milled.
Instead of butter or cream, a cook can engage in healthy cooking by using salsa, nut spreads, or soy products. For example, instead of using whole milk in a recipe, the cook can use skim milk or soy milk. As another example, many people use avocado, hummus or other spreads on sandwiches instead of mayonnaise. Sometimes it is even possible to get a similar taste, but with a much healthier alternative.
