Healthy cooking tips

Eating healthy food doesn’t mean giving up your favourite foods. Your favourite recipes can be adapted easily to provide a healthier alternative. There are many ways to make meals healthier. Limit fats, sugars and salt and include plenty of vegetables, fruit, grains, lean meats and low-fat dairy in your cooking. Foods with added fats, sugars or salt are less healthy than food in which these are found naturally.
Keep fats to a minimum – Choose lean meats and reduced-fat dairy products and limit processed foods to minimise hidden fats.

–    If you need to use oil, try cooking sprays or apply a small amount of oil with a 
pastry brush.
–    Cook in liquids (such as stock, wine, lemon juice, fruit juice, vinegar or water) 
instead of oil.
–    Use low-fat yoghurt, low-fat milk, evaporated skim milk or cornstarch instead of 
cream in sauces or soups.
    
Cutting down salt – Salt is a common flavour enhancer, but research suggests that a high salt diet could contribute to a range of health problems including high blood pressure.

Suggestions to reduce salt include:

–    Don’t automatically add salt to your food – taste it first.
–    Add a splash of olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice close to the end of cooking time 
or to cooked vegetables – it can enhance flavours in the same way as salt.
–    Choose fresh or frozen vegetables, since canned and pickled vegetables tend to 
be packaged with salt.
–    Iodised salt is best. A major dietary source of iodine is plant foods. 
–    Margarine and butter contain a lot of salt but ‘no added salt’ varieties are 
available.
–    Most cheeses are very high in salt so limit your intake or choose lower salt varieties.
–    Reduce your use of soy sauce, tomato sauce and processed sauces and 
condiments (for example mayonnaise and salad dressings) because they contain high levels of salt.
  
 Healthy cooking methods include:

–    Steam, bake, grill, braise, boil or microwave your foods.
–    Modify or eliminate recipes that include butter or ask you to deep fry or sauté in 
animal fat.
–    Avoid added oils and butter; use non-stick cookware instead.
–    Don’t add salt to food as it is cooking.
–    Remove chicken skin and trim the fat from meat.
–    Eat more fresh vegetables and legumes.
–    Eat more fish, which is high in protein, low in fats and loaded with essential 
omega-3 fatty acids.
 

Sources: Better Health