Our Kitchens Are Laboratories

When I first had a chemistry class and saw the counter tops and sinks it immediately reminded me of a kitchen. We mixed different chemicals and heated things up with Bunsen burners. We wrote down notes on reactions. We measured solutions and wore rubber gloves. It made me realize our kitchens are really no different than a laboratory. It is supposed to be our place to experiment and create the things our bodies need to live a long healthy life. So many people use their kitchens to socialize or think of it as a fast food counter. Walk-in, grab-it, microwave-it and go. Taking an easy route to cooking says you don't care about your future. You lose the basic skills needed to be an independent being capable of nourishing your body the right way. The next time you go to your kitchen I urge you to experiment and discover what your body needs to make it through this life.

Cooking With Olive Oil

Everyone needs to have fat in their diet. It's a LOW fat diet we should strive for not a NO fat diet. Olive oil has been around for thousands of years. I use it for all my cooking because it has been proven to be good for the heart. There are other oils that have less saturated fat than olive oil but they have been engineered and thus are not completely natural like olive oil. It is high in monounsaturated fats which are proven to lower the risk of heart disease. I usually use it to make salad dressings or to saute some onions and garlic. Keep your bottle of olive oil in a dark cabinet where is cool to keep it fresh. If you don't use a lot just buy the medium sized bottle. The economy size can go rancid if you don't use it all in a month or two. Anything health usually spoils. Look at those Oreo cookies 6 months from now and they will still be ready to eat. That's Frankenfood for yah!

Shortening Started Our Love for Trans Fat

It all started in the early 1900s with the invention of hydrogenated oils. German chemist Wilhelm Normann patented the process that would create what we came to love as Crisco. Proctor & Gamble obtained the patent and began marketing Crisco and even gave out free cook books. The shortening stayed soft and smooth and never hardened like butter. It wasn't until 1994 that we discovered that trans fats have caused the death of 20,000 Americans every year since it's creation. Over 1.8 million Americans have had heart attacks from trans fat since the 1900s! It was only recently that the US required food companies to list trans fat amounts on it's products.

I know many of you never knew what trans fats were. We all heard about high sodium and saturated fats but who knew there was so much danger lurking in hydrogenated oils after we have been using it for over 100 years. Be smart and read the ingredients on what you buy. You will be better for it.

Making Healthier Desserts

The dangers of trans fats and saturated fats is a very real danger. Heart attacks are the biggest killer of people in the United States. We all love our desserts but we also love convenience. The easy access to processed dessert foods makes everyone susceptible to consuming massive quantities of chemically created products that slowly clog our arteries.

The solution is simple. Make your own desserts. I know it takes more time but it will pay off in fewer medical bills, medications and hospital visits which no one wants. Buy fat-free milk, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and a good butter substitute. Make some vanilla frosting that has no trans fats and is low in saturated fat. Just read a can of store bought cake frosting and see all the horrible amounts of trans fats and saturated fat they put in there. Sure it tastes great but it only raises your bad cholesterol and puts you at greater risk for getting sick. Buy cinnamon, flour, fruit and all the things you need to make your own treats. Its worth fighting for better health and a better way to live.

Eat Oatmeal

Oatmeal is an often overlooked food for good health. Its cheap to buy, lowers cholesterol and keeps you full so you don't overeat. The most difficult thing about oatmeal is how to cook it and making it taste the way you like it. I buy the 1 minute oatmeal in the giant tub. I cook it on the stove. First I boil the measured 1 cup water than add a 1/3 cup of oatmeal. I said measure because I mean measure. So many people just don't measure and that's where it goes wrong. You get a watery mess or lumpy dry glue. Keep stirring until you like the consistency. Add fruit, nuts or anything you like with oatmeal. Pour it into a bowl and add some Splenda to sweeten without the extra calories. Eat this every morning with a glass of water and your body will thank you. If you are not used to eating fiber, and most Americans are not, then just make a half of a serving and work your way up.

Measure and Mix

So many of us want to be healthy but we were never taught how to cook. We learned to microwave and maybe we learned how to fry an egg. Some of us even learned how to bake cookies from a tube of dough. Well that isn't really cooking. Sorry to bust your bubble.

Cooking involves measuring raw ingredients, mixing them and creating a real healthy meal. You can't measure if you don't have measuring tools and you can't mix if you don't have mixing tools. So if you don't have either I suggest you get yourself a set of measuring cups and spoons along with a set of metal bowls and pans. This will be the first step and the foundation for learning how to cook.

The Differences Between Fats

All fat is not the same. Unsaturated fat has a neutral effect on HDL or good cholesterol. The good cholesterol helps to keep your arteries clear of clogging which prevents a heart attack or stroke. Saturated fat has a negative effect on cholesterol by raising LDL or bad cholesterol. This clogs. Which is so bad. Trans fats which are the worst kind of fat because it is chemically made and will lower HDL and raise LDL cholesterol. There are no health benefits to eating trans fats and they only help to keep food from spoiling. That's great for the companies who make the food since they don't have to worry about lost profits due to spoilage. Meanwhile we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hospital or worse.

The Dangers of Packaged Foods

When you go to your kitchen cabinet read the ingredients on any box of instant food and you will find chemicals in the list. These chemicals aren't designed to make you healthy or give you a long life. They are designed for two reasons only. To make sure the food you bought does not spoil and that it will be pleasing when you eat it. That is it. Period. The maker of the food you are looking at did not make it so you could keep a healthy weight and avoid the many diseases that shorten our natural life spans.

If you cannot cook your food from scratch at least read the labels on the foods you buy and avoid hydrogenated oils, trans fats and never buy something that has more than 3 grams a saturated fat per serving.