Healthy cooking is an art that involves careful selection of ingredients and then cooking them "gently" while keeping nutrients intact. The nutritional information of various ingredients is not a mystery these days as we have labels and the internet to help us with this knowledge. On the contrary, keeping our food nutritious even after cooking is a bit complex and confusing, not because it is difficult but due to a lack of correct information related to choosing the right cookware. So how to keep food nutritious even after cooking? Let's find out:
A clear and confident answer to this question is rare these days because there is so much misleading information on the internet related to different methods of cooking. For instance, you might find a few blog articles defending cooking in the crock pot as being a way to keep nutrients intact by cooking slowly at low heat. But you may also find some articles that claim otherwise. There are numerous references to inconclusive and sometimes, outdated researches in favor of or against certain cookware that make choosing the right one a great challenge!
By the end of this post though, you will have a good idea about which cookware is the healthiest and how to keep the nutritional value of food intact after cooking - information substantiated by verifiable and time-honored information.
The Secret: Using a cooking pot made from the right material!
The conventional cookware (metals, ceramics, porcelain, enameled etc.) are known to leach toxins into food while cooking because they contain certain metals, oxides, chemicals etc. in varying amounts. All metals are highly reactive to food which is a biochemical entity. They combine with nutrients in food and form compounds that are harmful in the body and cause health problems. Also, heat from these pots mercilessly destroys delicate nutritional cells while cooking!
In order to cook nutritious food, the cookware has to be completely inert so it doesn't leach anything into your food, and it should cook gently without destroying nutrients. The only material known to have such abilities is pure clay or unglazed primary clay. Clay pot cooking has been the only method of cooking among settled civilizations from time unknown. There is no alternative to natural clay that can give you the same features.
Unfortunately, though, many of the clay pots we see in the market today are mostly glazed with chemicals. Little do we realize, the chemicals used in glazes contaminate our food and the semi-porous nature of pure clay is what makes it perfect for healthy cooking (can "breathe" in Oxygen while cooking, push out toxins in food, etc.)
The gentle far infrared heat, unique to these pots, cooks while keeping nutrients intact. Those who have switched to pure clay have reported tremendous improvements in health with regular use and better-tasting food. If you haven't tried pure clay cooking until know, you are missing out on extremely nutritious and healthy meals every day, so it's high time you get a pure clay pot for your kitchen today!