Some cooking habits that we follow in our day-to-day life can really be toxic to our health. It might be quite surprising for many of you that cooking food on high heat can increase the risk of heart diseases! We might be aware that the extra oil is injurious to our health, but how many of us knew that the temperature at which we are cooking our food is the real cause of concern and not the amount of oil that we use! Apparently, according to the recent study published in the journal of health and nutrition, when food is cooked on a high heat, free radicals are created and are settled on the food. This deposition of free radicals can make the food unhealthy, increasing the risk of heart diseases.
Thus, researchers further proposed that higher incidences of increased risks of heart diseases have been noted in the South Asian descents; as their cuisine demands too much frying of a food. Accordingly, some of the specific locations like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka are reported to have a high prevalence towards the risks of heart diseases. Added to this, the reports further compared the number of Trans-fatty acids in Chinese as well as Indian snacks and eventually declared that the Indian food is heavy in its fatty acids content as compared to its Chinese counterpart. Scientists believed the difference is mainly due to boiled, less fried, and stir-fried food preference of the Chinese cuisine. A study had been conducted in order to analyze the vast difference in the two cuisines, which could finally confirm that 1 kg boiled chicken can produce 1000 glycogen by-products, whereas the same can create 9000 free radicals upon frying.
In this regard, if you really wish to understand how to prevent heart problems, then your focus should always be concentrated towards the cooking methods that are being followed – and not on the food itself.
Below mentioned cooking habits have been proven to be unhealthy and should be avoided in order to reduce the risks of heart diseases.
Heating oil until it smokes
Scientific investigations have recently correlated cooking meat on high heat and heart diseases. Many of our cooking recipes require preheated oil. Until the cooking pan starts emitting wisp of smoke, we don’t start cooking. However, studies have pinpointed on the fact that heated oil not only imparts a bad taste to the food, but it is also responsible for generating free radicals and other toxic compounds, destroying beneficial antioxidants in the oil. They thus, increase the risk of heart diseases.
Interestingly, studies also confirmed that the healthy and safe way of using oil is just when it shimmers, below its smoke point.
Avoid too much cooking and stirring
Do you remember how our mothers taught us that we that we need to stir the food continuously to prevent it from burning? Well, according to the recent scientific declaration, too much of stirring can be very dangerous to your health, as it prevents browning of food and allows the breakdown of food, making it mushier. If you really wish to avoid risks of heart diseases, then please resist your urge to stir your food.
Over mixing of the batter
We tend to over-mix the batter of our cakes or cookies with an intention to get everything well combined. However, the mechanical action imparted on food to perform too much of mixing can cause gluten to come up and can make your baked goods tough. We all are aware of the fact that gluten is not a healthy ingredient, as it causes a hypersensitive reaction, triggering autoimmunity.
Let your meal rest
Often, when we are too much in control of our hunger, we never bother to allow food juices to get redistributed in our food. Instead, we start digging it when it is hot! However, without the nutritious food juices, our food is just like garbage. Thus, it is being advised to let the food rest for a shorter period of time to allow proper secretion of juices to be reabsorbed before we actually start munching.
Refrigerate immediately
Don’t follow the practice of refrigerating food items only when they come to the room temperature. As by doing this, you are indirectly keeping your food in a temperature zone that rapidly promotes bacterial growth, making it highly dangerous for eating.