Integritus Prime

Staying healthy and avoiding lifestyle diseases is becoming a huge challenge for everyone in this busy world of ours. More and more people are consuming fast foods or buying pre-prepared frozen meals to eat at home. There never seems to be enough time to mindfully cook healthy meals at home.

Dining out or eating takeaway foods really does not tell us much about the nutrient content of food. It may be high in salt, sugar, and may also contain saturated fat, flavor enhancers and preservatives.

However, if you are concerned about your health and are cooking your own meals at home, then here’s some useful information for you. Plan ahead and during your time away from formal work; then buy your ingredients and either cook and freeze your meals or freeze raw ingredients for easy cooking during the week.

According to Lifestyle medicine practitioners (these physicians advise on lifestyle changes that effectively prevent and control non-communicable diseases or NCDs such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases), we need to eat in ways that promote wellness:

• Consume more unprocessed whole foods like vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains
• Eat less or eliminate fatty meats (mainly red meats), solid fats (butter, lard, ghee), full dairy products (cheese, cows milk and highly processed foods
• Prepare foods less often by dry heat cooking such as grilling, baking and frying
• Use moist heat cooking methods such as boiling, stewing and broiling more of the time

Their research shows that when food is cooked at very high temperatures for a long time then certain chemical substances called Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) are produced. The AGEs are associated with inflammation, which is then related to an increased risk of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.

Barbecuing and grilling can create cancer-causing substances, and there are some ways to reduce the risks. Air frying hasn’t been researched as well, but we think it’s similar to baking. Of course, the food you start off with (red meat is worse than veggies) matters, as well as oil or fat content.

Advice from World Cancer Research Fund also supports using moist heat cooking methods, such as the following, to reduce your risk of cancer:

• Boiling
• Steaming
• Stewing
• Stir-frying and sautéing (with little oil or fat)
• Baking (without too much fat or oil)
• Microwaving (for short periods, such as for reheating)

When we cook with water or moisture for a short period of time and avoid using too much fat or oil, nutrients are preserved better. The best is always to eat fresh, raw or least processed foods.

Share with us your challenges and wins for healthy cooking.

This blog is written by our intrepid Wellness Advisor, Dr. Margaret Cornelius.