Cooking Advice

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Renegade Roundtable. In this excerpt, Dr. Doug Graham shares some surprising information on diet, dental health and disease.

Dr. Doug Graham is a lifetime athlete and 27-year raw fooder. He’s been an advisor to top performers including tennis legend Martina Navratilova. He’s also the author of the lifestyle book 80/10/10.

Kevin Great. I wanted to talk to you about tooth care because a lot of people who get into the raw food diet have specific teeth issues that may arise. What are some of the challenges that people face? What are some of the things that you’ve done to kind of help reverse some of that?

Dr. Graham: Tooth care, it’s an interesting thing. Long ago people asked me to write about diseases. I said, “You know, I don’t really write about diseases because diseases are all pretty much the same. If you stop participating in the cause, the body won’t generate the symptoms.” Every individual disease, there’s thousands and thousands of human health conditions. I think it comes up the same with teeth. Oral hygiene and oral health is once again just one tiny aspect. It would be a shame if we were out there in the world telling people, “Look, we’ve got this diet. It’s the best diet in the world for everybody but it’s really terrible for your teeth.” Well that wouldn’t work. It turns out that the diet that we espouse is really wonderful for our teeth.

And obviously, but it still has to be said, because anybody that’s ever been to a dentist’s office has noticed that the dentist offices around the world are filled with people eating cooked food. So we can’t just look at raw food and say, “Raw food is really bad for your teeth because look what happens,” because we’re seeing the same thing happen on cooked food. At the same time we’re also seeing two other issues going on with our teeth that have to be at least allowed for. One is the fact, as disclosed in Pottinger’s Cat’s, that with every generation of cats eating a diet that was not species specific there was degeneration, both physical and physiological. In other words in the form and function and the design of the cat we saw decay.

We notice in human anatomy that changes have happened. One of the big ones that happens with malnutrition over generations is a loss of what is called the broadness, a narrowing of the dental arch. So for instance, if I smile at you, you might see 8 or 10 teeth whereas someone with a broader dental arch would smile at you and you would see 12 teeth or 14 teeth. The broader the front of that arch is, the wider the horseshoe, effectively, that the teeth make, the more room there is for teeth. So we’re seeing an increase with each generation. We’re seeing an increase in the number of children who need orthodontic work because there simply isn’t enough room for the number of teeth that are coming in, so they start crossing over each other instead of sitting alongside of each other.

We have inherited not only this problem but several others, with the health of our teeth, before we ever went raw. Then we have these issues with going raw. One of them is that a lot of people go raw and have a really hard time staying raw, so they’re switching back and forth between cooked and raw, which doesn’t do our teeth a lot of good, especially the kinds of foods that tend to get cooked, because as you become aware on some level, cooked food is really sticky. It sticks to our teeth like crazy. If we’re going to eat food that sticks to our teeth and a bunch of sweet foods as well, we’re going to have problems. In fact, anything that sticks to your teeth is a problem. All cooked food is sticky, all dehydrated food is sticky to some degree, stickier than its fresh counterpart. Nuts and seeds are sticky, they’ve been dehydrated.

The other problem that comes in is almost invariably some aspect of nature attack us when we go raw. We become ‘nature boys’ and ‘nature girls’ to a greater degree than we ever were before. A lot of people have come to me and said, “I went raw four years ago. I stopped using shampoo. I stopped using deodorant. I stopped using a toothpaste. No animal brushes their teeth. I stopped brushing my teeth.” The number of people who’ve told me that is just astonishing. And I’m going, “Yeah, you know, you didn’t really earn that right the first day you went raw to expect that your body could function as if you had been raw your entire life and your parents had been raw their entire life and it had gone back for generations.” I’m not really sure that no teeth care is the plan.

In fact, it’s not the plan that I recommend. I recommend a tooth care plan. I recommend that you do clean your teeth after you eat and that you do not only a careful brushing under the gum line, or right at the gum line – this is where our teeth are most vulnerable – but that you also get out the particulate matter that’s in between your teeth. Whether you’re doing that with a bristly kind of round brush or whether you’re doing that with floss or whether you’re doing that with pick or a brush pick, there’s a wide variety of ways to do it.

We eat raw food and our teeth feel so clean but in fact there’s still stuff, there’s still material. And organic material stuck between your teeth is going to be broken down by bacteria. The bacteria will produce acid that will harm your teeth. In almost every case, I would say in every case of dental issues that I’ve seen with raw fooders, it’s a matter of them having decay at the gum line. It’s always at the gum line. It’s not the enamel portion that they’re having such problems with, it’s at the gum line where there isn’t enamel. And this is because on a standard cooked food diet we actually cause a loss of gums but also an inflammation of the gums. When the gums are inflamed, even though we’ve lost some gum matter, the inflammation makes them bigger and it covers up that area of tooth that has no enamel. When the source of the irritation goes away, we start eating raw foods that are not irritating to the gums instead of the cooked foods that have irritants built right into them, the food additives all function as irritants to the gums and so they become inflamed.

When we go to raw foods and we get rid of that irritation, the inflammation also goes down at which point we start to expose the teeth at the gum line, areas of teeth that don’t have enamel, and without cleaning them on a regular basis you’re definitely going to have tartar build up. What happens is kind of like a pearl in an oyster; the pearl functions as an irritant. If you get a little tiny bit of tartar under the gum line. If you get a little piece of food under the gum line it’s like picking up the blankets on the bed, it pulls the gum off of the teeth and then anything else can get in under there. At every meal stuff starts getting under there and the gums just get worse and worse, they recede quickly.

The gums are supposed to be dull in color, they should not be shiny. They’re supposed to be sort of stippled looking. They should not be puffy looking in any way, shape or form. If your gums are puffy or shiny, if the color isn’t that of healthy gums, you need to take care of them. This idea that we can live without washing is just not founded. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, as the old saying goes. Certainly cleanliness is a huge part of health and hygiene for human beings. We have to take care of ourselves.

In a time of fast food chains with super sized servings and instant meals that contain nothing but empty calories, it’s no wonder why people seem to be packing on pounds rapidly. And if these extra pounds have already taken a toll on your health or on your self-esteem, then maybe it is about time that you try low fat cooking.

Sure, taking the time out to prepare and cook low fat meals might seem like an arduous task but the long term health benefits that come along with it will surely be worth the effort. And low fat cooking does not mean being deprived of scrumptious meals – a lot of delicious but healthy recipes are out there ready to cater to health conscious people who have hard to please palates too.

For those who fancy fish, a broiled salmon with lemon sauce might be a real treat for you. With only 212 calories per serving, this delightful meal done by serving salmon topped with a sauce made by mixing together cornstarch, lemon juice, chicken broth and honey gives us the omega 3 fatty acids that our body needs.

Fear you would never eat chicken again with low fat cooking? Contrary to that fear, there as many low fat recipes for chicken as there is for fish. Even the all-time favorite chicken teriyaki has now its low fat version, too. Still with its classic sauce made from ginger, honey, and scallions; this baked version has only 296 calories per serving. Just as delectable as any other chicken teriyaki’s out there minus the extra fat.

Even meat lovers need not to fret no more. Low fat cooking still includes options for those who simply cannot take meat out of there diet. Done by marinating beef with lime juice, cumin, chili powder and garlic then cooking it with red bell peppers and onions and separating them into tortillas; these mouth-watering beef fajitas contain only 253 calories per serving as long as you serve it with fat-free sour cream as garnishing.

Aside from choosing these delectable low fat meals over the calorie-packed ones, being familiar with some low fat cooking tips can be of a big help too. Instead of frying your food, why not grill, broil, bake, braise, steam, poach, slow-cook, or microwave them instead? Or instead of using butter or oil, make use of oil nonstick cooking sprays or liquid oils for a change. You could also substitute reduced fat cheese for the full-fat kinds, use phyllo dough in topping pies or lining tarts, and use herbs, spices, fruits and salsas to flavor your food. You could also cut all the excess fat noticeable in your meat and drain fat from cooked ones with kitchen paper.

Whoever thought low fat meals could get as tasty as these? Or that preparing these dishes was not that hard after all? With the proper know-how in preparing them and the motivation to make them a part of your regular diet, you will be saying goodbye to those unwanted extra pounds in no time.

mation is a major component in most Rheumatic pain conditions or rheumatic diseases, therefore it is adviceable to eat a good amount of food that reduces inflammation and reduce the consumption of food that contains inflammatory agents. Here are some simple dietary advices that may help reduce rheumatic conditions:

Things you should eat to reduce inflammation and rheumatism:

Fish, espesially fat fish, fish oil, olive oil, walnut oil and raps oil should be a part of your diet. The fat in these types of food, omega-3-poly-unsaturated fat or omega-9-poly-unsaturated fat, reduces inflammation. However, if you add these type of oils to your diet, you should reduce the intake of other types of fat, so that you do not get too much fat.

You should also eat much vegetables, since also these make a body chemistry that reduce inflammation

Things you should not eat too much of:

Do not consume much soya oil and corn oil, since these types of fat increase inflammation. Most food you buy that is ready to eat from the factory or restaurant contain these types of fat. You should therefore reduce the consumption of food you do not cook yourself.

Bread, cereals and products made of corn or cereals also increase the inflammation responce, especially if they contain wheat. Wheat causes a special type of inflammation in the intestines called celiac disease in some individuals, but may also trigger inflammation of non-celiac type. However, full-corn cereals and full-corn bread are valuable types of food, so you should not stop eating them. But if you eat bread or corn products at every meal, you should reduce your intake of these and eat more potatos, beans and peas.

Things you should ideally not eat at all:

You should absolutely not consume fat that has been chemically altered to give it another consistence. This type of fat has a very negative effect on the health and may be very potent inflamatory agents. Margarine, snacks, fast food and ready made cakes or cookies often contain this kind of fat. Unfortunately this type of fat is also often added to bread. A good idea could be to bake your bread yourself.

Health food enthusiasts often question Splenda. Is this sweetener really safe? Does it taste as good as regular sugar? Can I use it in all of my desert recipes? The fact of the matter is that Splenda is actually extremely easy to use, and it is as safe as regular sugar. Actually, there are even health benefits to using Splenda that you don’t find with regular sugar or other kinds of artificial sweeteners. Using Splenda regularly instead of sugar can help make some of your favorite sweet treats better for you. Here are some of the major health benefits of baking with Splenda:

Foods made with Splenda have fewer calories.

Splenda in and of itself is not completely calorie free. This is a version of sugar, but it is hundreds of times sweeter than actual sugar. That means for every calorie of Splenda you use, you are getting a much greater concentration of flavor. So, to add the same amount of sweetness to your food, you are adding a much lower number of calories. Many of the diet foods on the market today, including diet sodas, actually use Splenda instead of sugar so that they are sweeter. Remember, sugar is not the only source of calories in food, so replacing the sugar in a product with Splenda does not necessarily mean it is good for you, it means it can be actually be BETTER for you.

Splenda helps you care for your teeth.

Dentists love Splenda! While this product does not prevent problems if you do not take care of your teeth and will not fix problems if you already have tooth decay and other dental problems, it is a way to ward off the bacteria that causes cavities. Sugar left in your mouth after eating serves as a food for this kind of bacteria. Splenda does not have the same effect, so there is less “food” in your mouth to attract dental problems.

You can cook with Splenda even if you have diabetes.

Splenda is a type of sugar, but the body does not recognize it as sugar in the blood stream. Therefore, you can eat Splenda even if you have diabetes or another sugar-related medical problem. Eating foods made with Splenda should not cause your blood sugar levels to spike. Be careful, however, because many times, the foods using Splenda as a sugar replacement are filled with other ingredients not healthy for someone with a blood sugar problem. Splenda itself is safe, however, even for future mothers dealing with gestational diabetes.

Splenda can help you lose weight.

Because it adds few calories to food and does not have the same effects on the body as sugar, Splenda can actually help people lose weight. Unless you eat lots of sugar and switch entirely to Splenda, you may not see a significant different in your weight, but combined with a healthier diet and exercise, using Splenda can help you achieve weight loss goals. Losing weight is a great way to help you avoid more serious medical conditions like heart disease.

Some Splenda products contain fiber.

If you purchase Splenda with fiber, you will be consuming one gram of fiber for every packet of Splenda you add to your food. Fiber is necessary for help with your digestion, and many people do not get enough fiber from their daily diets. Splenda with fiber does not taste any differently than Splenda without fiber.

Splenda has been found to be completely safe for consumption.

Other the past several decades, artificial sweeteners have been under fire for causing cancer, headaches, depression, and many other problems. However, hundreds of studies have been conducted to measure that safety of Splenda, and these studies showed that it is not a cancer-causing agent, nor does it cause health problems for the average person. Splenda is safe for anyone to consume, from children to pregnant mothers to senior citizens.

There are other benefits, unrelated to health, to using Splenda as well. Compared to other artificial sweeteners, Splenda is quite affordable. It also comes in a number of varieties, such as white granulated “sugar,” brown “sugar,” and a mixture of Splenda and regular sugar. Splenda can be used as a sugar replacement in most recipes, and in recipes that need sugar (like yeast breads); you can add a mixture of Splenda and regular sugar to reduce the calories in the recipe. Splenda reacts differently to heat than most artificial sugars, making it the perfect product to use in your baked goods. Your family probably won’t even notice the difference, so try Splenda today for a sweet new way to manage your health while still enjoying your favorite baked goods.

One way you can lose weight is to make your own food every day. In this way you can reinvent the way the foods you love are prepared and cut the number of calories that you ingest at the same time.

One tip is to roast your vegetables before you cook with them. This makes vegetables taste sweeter and makes it less necessary to add butter, sugar or creamy sauces. You can serve them on their own or puree them and use them as a base for stock, dips and sauces.  To roast vegetables all you need to do is spray them with low fat cooking spray, coating them lightly and then roasting in a pan. The result is a low calorie solution to flavouring foods.

One of the problems of eating low calorie foods is that they can taste so bland. One thing you can do is use spices to make them more attractive to your palate.  Adding spices and herbs to water oil also helps fibre rich foods like cous cous and rice taste better.

You can also prevent adding fat when baking by substituting butters, fats and oils with pureed substitutes. This allows you to retain the moisture in baked foods without giving up any flavour.

Yet another trick is to cook with fresh juices and fruits.  This can help you cut down on the consumption of fat and sugar in your recipes.  You can even add these to savoury dishes to give them more oomph.

Another thing you can do is to use a wire rack when you cook. Placing the wire rack above the roasting pan allows fatty juices to drip down into the pan.  You can also grill fish and meats in milk or coconut milk to save money.

It is advisable to use a cooking spray whenever you can. This can save you from eating thousands of calories. Most people fry foods using at least tablespoons of oil which is worth 2100 calories of fat.  All you really need is a spray that contains seven calories “per misting” of your frying pan or salad bowl.

You don’t have to buy commercially made vegetable oil spray either. You can buy a pressurised canister that you can put your own oils in.

If you need more moisture while cooking you can also add a little juice or low fat broth to help the vegetables cook faster while flavouring them at the same time.

The point is that you can cook with just about everything else but fat.  That way you don’t have to add unnecessary calories to the food you are eating.  In fact when it comes to being one of the most natural ways to lose weight making your own food is one of the best approaches to cutting calories.

Perhaps it shows through your fidgeting, your nail-biting, or your sleepless nights. You feel as if you are under a great deal of stress, and you are searching for relief. While there are many stress reduction strategies you could use, perhaps one of the best is one of the easiest: cooking.

Cooking is an art as well as a science. It takes a great deal of patience and persistence to become an excellent cook, and some of your experiments will inevitably end up in the wastebasket or down the garbage disposal.

Yet, there is something incredibly relaxing about sauting onions, grilling chicken, or barbecuing pork. You can become mesmerized by the scent of your culinary sensations.

The process of stirring, chopping, or slicing can be highly therapeutic. You can feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of a good meal which can further reduce your stress level.

If you plan to take up cooking as a serious hobby, it is best if you begin by purchasing a good cookbook. There are even cookbooks that promise you stress-free entertaining. Selecting the cookbook can be a relaxing experience in and of itself.

Usually, cookbooks are loaded with interesting, eye-catching pictures. You can also pore over delicious recipes, imagining how to prepare them in your kitchen.

Next, you might want to invest in some sensible cooking supplies. This will help to alleviate your stress when the time to cook arrives.

Make sure that you have aprons, a grater, a good set of knives, a colander, an array of sauce pans and skillets, and a collection of interesting plates to set your creations on. The better prepared you are, the less stress you will experience in the kitchen.

Then, it’s time to head to the grocery store. It’s best if you have prepared a list in advance based upon the recipes you hope to make. This will save you time, stress, and possibly money at the supermarket.

Make sure that you schedule enough time to go through the grocery store you don’t want to be rushed.In addition to the items needed for your recipes, it’s a good idea to pick up some staples. For instance, you should always have flour, sugar, milk, eggs, and a collection of spices on hand.

In order to minimize your stress level, it’s best if you can start by preparing meals for yourself or for close family members. After you become proficient, you might want to graduate to dinner parties, but don’t expect to produce a seven-course meal during your first few attempts at gourmet cooking. Select menu items that appeal to you; chances are they will appeal to your family as well.

Another possible stress-reducer is a cooking class. Such classes are often offered at local community centers, YWCAs, or community colleges. Don’t take the course for credit take it for fun. The idea is to have a relaxing time by the stove.

You’ll enjoy camaraderie with other students and you might even socialize with them after class. Taking a course can expand your horizons, helping you to become a well-rounded person.

It is true that cooking can be stressful. After all, if you have five children to feed, you’re low on food, and you have a baby who’s crying, meal time can be stress time.

However, if you permit yourself plenty of time to cook, you choose recipes that you enjoy, and you look at it as a hobby rather than drudgery, cooking can be quite relaxing and can actually help lower your blood pressure.

One thing you’ll want to watch when cooking is portion control. If you make too much pasta, you might be tempted to overeat, causing health problems on down the road. Also, it can be important to cook meals that are heart-healthy and that are not loaded with sugar and calories.

Otherwise, you could face the stress of battling a weight problem. However, if you make sure that you cook plenty of vegetable dishes, you limit the number of desserts you prepare, and you keep close track of your carbohydrate intake, cooking can be a pleasant, stress-reducing experience.

The more practiced you become at gourmet cooking, the more you will look forward to it, and the less stressed you will feel.

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These days when people who are trying to lose weight search for the best diet cooking tips they search for milk shake diet cooking tips or fruit juice diet cooking tips. Or it could be any other diet cooking tips that are easy to prepare.

There are some basic diet cooking tips any one can learn to prepare in the kitchen. With life ever so busy these day you need to know great diet cooking tips.

The following are a handful of diet cooking tips that will save you money and time especially: Eggs(boiled) – When boiling the eggs and salt and vinegar to it. This tip will keep the egg in its shell should it crack.

Bacon- Make sure you run cold water over it to stop shrinkage before frying.

Salads – Make sure you cut your lettuce into wedges instead of tearing them up to save time when you make salads.

Unripe fruits and vegetables – Make sure you put your ripening fruit and veg in a brown paper bag in a dark cupboard or box for a few days.This will again save you time and money.

Pancakes – One of my favorites: To turn them more brown more quickly add a small amount of sugar to them.

Sauces – To make them, to prepare quick sauces, use condensed cream soups such as cream of chicken, mushroom, and tomato. these will aid in making fast and easy sauces.

Tenderization. You can use vinegar as a quick meat tenderizer. Just add a tablespoon of water when boiling meat for stews.

Frozen vegetables – you just run boiing water over them to stop them sticking together.

With corn – place the corn directly into boiling water, not adding salt. Make sure you do not overcook the corn orit will lose its taste.

If your grating cheese – freeze for twenty minutes before grating. this will make the cheese shred much easier.

Spaghetti sauce – Now these are great diet cooking tips: To your spaghetti sauce just add a pinch of bicarbonate soda to lower the acidic taste of the tomatoes.

Salted Peanuts – Great diet cooking tips for these will be wraping them in damp cloth to remove as much salt as you can. This will enhance your health.

As you can see there are a lot of diet cooking tips out there. Ihave just scratched on the surface of the possibilities when it comes to diet cooking tips. These diet cooking tips are not carved in stone. With a little bit of creativity and imagination one can come up with plenty of diet cooking tips to you in his or her kitchen.

The different foods and beverages that Americans typically consume contain an overwhelming amount of sugars. It is often argued that these sugars are not essential to our bodies, and in many cases provide little benefit. Some experts believe this is one reason why obesity in children and diabetes in both children and adults is on the rise.

Too much sugar can also be bad for the teeth as well, causing cavities and decay.  Yet many individuals eat as many sugary foods and beverages with as we can. Why do we do this? Because sugar tastes sweet and our diets have conditioned us to crave a sweet taste. Cutting out sweets because it would be a healthier choice is not a reason enough to give up sugar for most of us. Even some people with diabetes or weight issues, who have to watch their sugar intake a lot closer, fall into having sweets they should not have, because sugary foods are enticing to the taste buds and stomach..

Splenda is a sugar-alternative that has the sweetness of sugar because the processing of it begins using pure sugar. That is how Splenda gets the sweetness of sugar and ends without the calories and insulin-raising affects of pure sugar.  Splenda can help you and your family to eat healthier without having to sacrifice the sweet taste from foods that you and your family love.  Splenda also permits diabetics and those watching their weight to have sweet-tasting foods while reducing their sugar and calorie intake. Splenda offers an easier way for you to cook and bake Lo-Cal meals and snacks for your family.

It is not hard at all to transform your family’s favorite meals and snacks into great-tasting, healthier versions of themselves. Breads, cookies, glazes, pies, muffins, and sauces that generally call for sugar for its sweetness effect, are best transformed into healthy alternatives you and your family will enjoy using Splenda granules. For chewier cookies, it may be better to use Splenda blend instead of the granules to make chunkier cookies. If the sugar is more for providing substance to hold all the ingredients together in a recipe than for its sweetness, a blend of sugar and Splenda with a ratio of 25 to 30 percent of Splenda to the amount of sugar needed, will work best in these recipes. You will still be cutting calories and making healthier foods for you and your family.

You may have to use different cooking and baking pans (usually a little smaller) with certain recipes than you had to before to obtain the same consistency as with the old versions of those recipes. Printed right on Splenda packages are recipes to help you in cooking and baking with Splenda. If the recipe you want to prepare is not on the package, hop online and search for a version of that recipe that uses Splenda.

Are you concerned that your family will notice the change from pure sugar to Splenda and not give your healthier baking and cooking a chance? Try substituting ½ to 1 cup of Splenda in a pie or cookie recipe calling for 2 cups of sugar. This will at least give your family more of the sugar taste they still crave while cutting calories they are consuming by a third. Once they realize that there is no bitter aftertaste in foods cooked and baked using Splenda unlike many of those other sugar alternatives, they will be more likely to try recipes using Splenda in the future. You can slowly wean them off pure sugar and before long; they will not be missing the sugar-laden meals and snacks they used to eat at all.

The website provided by Splenda is an excellent resource for learning about how to use this sugar substitute in recipes for better health for both you and your family. On the site, you will find baking and cooking tips, educational resources for coping with diabetes, a store to purchase items to help make your Lo-Cal baking and cooking with Splenda even easier, and a whole lot of other useful information. Do check out the recipe collection where you will find many delicious recipes made using Splenda for you and your family to try.

Make the choice to begin baking, and cooking healthier foods and snacks for you and your family. Let Splenda help make your family’s move from unhealthy to healthier eating an enjoyable experience. With Splenda you can create Lo-Cal meals and snacks the whole family will enjoy. Share your recipes made using Splenda with friends so that they might also begin using and benefiting from Splenda, the great tasting, zero-calorie alternative to sugar. What’s for dinner at your house tonight? It could be a delicious Lo-Cal meal with the sweetness of sugar, but without the calories and harmful effects of sugar. Make tonight a Splenda-Terrific mealtime for you and your family with Splenda.

If you have a wheat allergy than you know cooking can become a real hassle. The good news is as more and more people are being diagnosed with wheat allergies, more food manufactures are making more wheat substitutes, so that you can have the food you like without the bad reactions.

One of the first things I realized is that you must really read the labels to avoid wheat. Products that you would never even think have wheat in them. For instance, for whatever reason, frozen French fries have wheat in them.

The other thing you will also begin to realize is that almost all processed food has wheat. If you have a wheat allergy, you will now need to learn to cook whole foods and completely avoid processed foods. This is not only a healthier way to eat but for food allergy sufferers, the best bet for you.

In the last few years, the food manufactures have noticed that there is a niche in the market and are developing good tasting food without the wheat. With a little time and research you are now able to eat almost anything you like, minus the wheat.

You can now find dozens of different types of flour. They have rice flours, oat flour, and soy flour just to name a few. You can try using these in your favorite recipes. The thing to remember though is I have yet to find a substitute flour that will trade equally to wheat flour. That means if your recipe calls for a half cup of wheat flour you cannot use a half-cup of soy flour, you will have to do a little finagling. As you learn the different flours, you will learn how to mix them and get the same results. For instance, if you need a thickener for gravy try potato starch. It will thicken a gray just like wheat flour but you will need to use more of it. Just keep adding it until you have the results that you want.

You can purchase from some manufactures already combined flour combinations that will work for certain items. Take pancake mix. There are many food manufactures that offer pancake mix with no wheat in them; all you do is add egg and milk. And the best a part is they really taste just like a regular pancake.

What I have found is that if I use whole food, I can, after a little trial and error figure out how to make any recipe I want without having to have wheat in it. If you are not that patient a cook, take a look at either your local or internet health food store, there are now lots of pre-made mixes that have everything you need in them except maybe milk and eggs.

Because of my young children, I have leaned towards healthy cooking choices. In addition, my husband who always eats out due to his frequent business meetings, desperately needs to lose weight. Being a Chinese and growing up with a mum who likes to cook, I have been educated in more ways than one on the various ways to whip up a dish. The following are some helpful tips that are practiced from my own kitchen.

The major thing to keep in mind when cooking is what hurts the foods and takes the nutrients out of them. You can eat a complete meal and end up not having adequate nutrients in any of the foods because of how you cooked. The major types of cooking that will burn away the vitamins include frying, boiling, saute methods and microwave. It is important to consider these methods before deciding on how you will cook your food.

One of the better methods used in preserving the nutrients in food is steaming. Steaming will actually preserve the vitamins and minerals that are in it. Because you don’t have to add any oils or fats, it can also help you with taking away things that you don’t need. A medium sized fish takes only 10 minutes of steaming time. It can be really that fast.

Boiling is also another healthy cooking method. However, do not overboil vegetables as this will kill all the nutrients and enzymes in them. If you need cooked vegetables, boil the water first. In boiling water, put your vegetables in for about 3 minutes. For some taste, you can always make a sauce to pour over the boiled vegetables.

Another thing that you should consider when cooking is what you are putting into the foods while they are on the stove. For example, adding extra salt can lead to a change in your blood pressure over time that isn’t necessarily healthy. In relation to this, you should stay away form flavors and ingredients that have high sodium or fat as part of the recipe. Use the healthier sea salt if you really need to.

All of the foods that you eat should be balanced with raw fruits and vegetables. Having these on hand will help in adding to nutritious value in your diet. Adding a salad or different fruits is always important to your meals.

Healthy cooking does not necessarily translate to bland food. Sure the food may not be as tasty due to the less salt and the cooking method used. But there are ways to getting round them like using natural ingredients; such as, garlic, onions or herbal leaves for flavoring. Take the steam fish for example.

Add in stir-fried chopped garlic, ginger and spring onions for extra punch! As a meal planner, your job lies in seeking these healthy recipes out.

Cooking for better health has its rewards in better nutrition and healthier food for the body. If you and your family are working on implementing a healthier lifestyle, then it means adopting these cooking tips and making healthier eating choices. Everyone stands to benefit in being nourished, feeling energized and looking well.