Food is awesome. Food is also imperative to the survival of virtually every living thing on the planet. Many times, the emphasis is the flavor more so than the function that food feeds into your body. With that comes some sacrifice of the healthy perks of a lot of the foods that are consumed. The main extractor of nutrients in food is heat and time. So, the hotter and longer something is cooked, the more nutrients that are derived from it.
So, what are the healthiest ways to prepare food? You may be surprised.
- Raw
Nothing beats raw food because there is no heat involved in preparing the food. Rawists will tout this because you also get a lot more natural flavor as well. The downside of course is bacteria. Heat is good in the sense that it kills a lot of bacteria that is harmful to people. So, if you are thinking about going raw in your eating approach, be mindful of the foods you decide to eat.
- Microwave
This is not a joke. Microwaving is one of the healthiest ways to prepare food because the food is cooked from the inside out and usually very quickly, so many of the nutrients are still in the food. The downside is food that gets microwaved can get dry very quickly and lack in flavor.
- Grilling
Grilling maybe provides the most balance between flavor and still being healthy. Also, grilling helps keep a lot of the moisture in food, so it is still desirable, along with the smoky flavor as well. The downside to grilling is time, preparation, and options. A suggestion would be keep your grilling to veggies and meat.
- Baking
Baking is seen as healthy because of its counterpart; frying. Baking however sucks a lot of nutrients out of food because of the time and heat elements. This is not to say that baking is unhealthy, it is simply saying it is not THE healthiest way to cook food.
- Boiling
Still one of the more popular ways to cook, boiling provides an easy and quick method for preparing foods. Nutrients leave the food in this method but are actually preserved somewhat because of the water. The downside to boiling food is if you do not add at the very least a small amount of salt, the flavor will be not so desirable.
