Healthy Cooking
Healthy cooking emphasizes making informed dietary choices that contribute to better health and well-being. It plays a crucial role in preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity, which have become prevalent in modern society. By preparing meals at home, individuals gain control over ingredients and cooking methods, fostering a more nutritious diet. Central to healthy cooking is the adoption of dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet, which prioritizes whole foods, healthy fats, and an abundance of fruits and vegetables.
Cooking techniques also matter, with methods such as steaming, roasting, and sautéing being preferable to frying, as they generally require less fat. The Healthy Eating Pyramid, developed by nutrition experts, serves as a helpful guide for meal planning, highlighting the importance of whole grains, healthy proteins, and limited intake of processed foods. Additionally, healthy cooking can be an enjoyable and communal activity, providing opportunities for creativity in the kitchen. While trends in dieting may come and go, the focus on wholesome, nutrient-dense foods remains a timeless approach to maintaining health.
Healthy Cooking
Life expectancy for humans has increased thanks to medical advances, but many now find their lives cut short by cancer, diabetes, or the complications of obesity. Research has proven that a healthy diet can help prevent such diseases and offer hope for those living with these conditions. Cooking healthy meals at home offers the most control over food consumption, while providing a scrumptious activity that can be shared with others.
Long ago, humans ate only the foods they could hunt and gather. There were no pesticides or herbicides, no sugar or flour refineries, and no factory farms. People died early, often in war or childbirth, but rarely from modern-day diseases.
During the mid-twentieth century, medical researchers began to note the growing rate of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases among Americans. At first, they blamed sedentary lifestyles, but soon suspected the American diet played a role as well. Asians and those who enjoyed the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fish, nuts, olive oil, fresh fruits, and vegetables, were much healthier than Americans, who ate foods such as oil-drenched French fries, baked goods laden with sugar and refined white flour, frozen foods replete with artificial ingredients and preservatives, and junk food rich in salt or sugar.
For the last several decades, nutritionists have been promoting the Mediterranean diet and whole foods, many of which are good sources of fiber and thus help prevent colon cancer, another major killer today. More recently, researchers have been espousing the benefits of antioxidants, including beta-carotene, vitamin A, and lycopene, helpful in preventing many diseases, as well as foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish, which can help reduce harmful LDL cholesterol and raise the good HDL cholesterol levels.
The organic movement evolved along with a shift in the American diet after widespread warnings about the dangers of pesticides and herbicides. Now, most grocery stores stock organic produce. In addition, traditional grocers and newer specialty stores also feature many of the packaged and bulk foods that used to be found only at health food stores. Today, cooks can choose from a wide variety of healthy foods, including whole-wheat pasta, organic salsa, and natural meats from free-range animals not subjected to antibiotics and hormones.
In a nutshell, healthy cooking is all about making smart choices for overall optimal health or, in some cases, targeting the diet toward special needs, while relishing the many wholesome aromas that can fill a kitchen.
Things to Look For
A good source for planning healthy meals is the Healthy Eating Pyramid built by the faculty in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. The foundation of the pyramid rests on whole grains, healthy fats and oils, and vegetables and fruits. Next in importance are nuts, seeds, beans, tofu, and fish/poultry/eggs. At the top of the pyramid are foods that should be eaten sparingly: red meat and butter, white rice, bread and pasta; potatoes, sugary drinks and sweets, and salt. (In addition to foods, the pyramid also includes daily exercise and weight control.)
Also important are the techniques used for cooking healthy foods. Pan- and deep-frying are the worst methods, as they require large quantities of fat. Instead, cooks should look for recipes that call for roasting, baking, poaching (simmering in a liquid), broiling, steaming, stir-frying, sautéing, and grilling.
While many cookbooks today stress healthy cooking, cooks don't have to throw away old recipes. Substitutions can turn an artery-clogging dish into a healthy meal. Or one can decrease the portions of unhealthy ingredients or the serving sizes. For instance, instead of making a stew from a pound of meat and a few slices of vegetables, one can use a half-pound of meat and double or triple the amount of vegetables. Fans of spaghetti carbonara can substitute whole-wheat pasta for the spaghetti (typically made from enriched white flour), vegetarian or turkey bacon for the fat-laden kind, and white wine for the heavy cream.
Trends
Several high-profile, trendy diets over the years have proven to be either useless or actually harmful. The low-fat craze of the 1980s and 1990s has been shown to have been based on an incomplete understanding of fats and the body. While heavy intake of saturated fats and cholesterol does correlate with higher rates of heart disease, low-fat diets that promoted margarine over butter, for example, have been shown to be harmful because of what we now know about the "trans fats" in hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, including stick margarine. Healthier fats include olive oil and other liquid vegetable oils.
Popular diets in the twenty-first century have included low-carbohydrate diets, Paleolithic diets, ketogenic diets, and gluten-free diets. Each of these diets has passionate advocates as well as critics, with none having a scientific consensus behind them as to their long-term value.
Healthy Cooking for Fun vs. Profit
Profit is built in to healthy cooking if one considers the thousands of dollars that will be saved on medical expenses caused by too many unhealthy choices. However, for those enthusiasts who would like to realize more tangible profits, the restaurant and catering industries offer many full- and part-time employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. One can also become a dietician or work as a personal cook. Cooking contests can be lucrative for a few lucky winners.
Learning More
Organizations
American Heart Association: Healthy Eating <https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating>
American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness <http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/>
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Overweight and Obesity <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html>
Books
Bittman, Mark. How to Cook Everything. 10th anniversary ed. New York: Houghton, 2013.
Katzen, Mollie. Get Cooking: 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen. New York: HarperStudio, 2009.
Petusevsky, Steve. The Whole Foods Market Cookbook: A Guide to Natural Foods with 350 Recipes. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2002.
Swanson, Heidi. Super Natural Cooking: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Foods into Your Cooking. Berkeley: Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press, 2007.
Magazines
Cooking Light <https://www.cookinglight.com/magazine>
Vegetarian Times <https://www.vegetariantimes.com/>