Complete Guide on How to Prepare Food for Healthy Living and Safety

It’s better to always prepare your food very well before cooking. A lot of people don’t really have time to do the necessary things before cooking their meals. But, why is it done that way?

Many people wake up late and when the realized it time for work. But, I know you will say that they are lazy because you know that, setting an alarm will help wake him/her up on time.

Do you know there are people who set alarm at home but yet still they don’t wake up early? It’s not because they are dead or something but because of stress and depression.

People; don’t always like eating outside their homes or even eating snacks because they won’t be satisfied like preparing food at home.

So, at this point what do you want such people to do? Do you think they should go and marry or something? What if they didn’t prepare for marriage yet, do you want them to die of hunger?

I know it sounds funny, but let’s just be realistic.

These are the people that really rush over-preparing food in other to meet up with their daily routine and other necessary things before the day is over.

But, even with that, you need to take time and prepare your meal in other to eat healthy food and stay safe.

Healthy eating also involves preparing food to preserve nutrients and prevent disease, as well as paying attention to food production issues.

How to Prepare Food for Healthy Living

When preparing food, aim to preserve the nutrient value of the food and utilize healthy fats, reasonable portions, and whole foods. Here are a few tips:

1. Use Healthy Cooking Methods

Using healthy cooking methods such as steaming, broiling, grilling, and roasting will help boost your healthy life. Frying requires adding fat to achieve the desired results and deep-fried foods add considerable fat to the American diet.

2. Use a Variety of Herbs and Spices

Use a variety of herbs and spices for additional flavor rather than relying on salt alone and it’s also further aiding in heart health. So, adding spices and herbs to your meal is very important.

3. Avoid Packaged or Processed Foods

Avoid packaged or processed foods, which are likely to contain added salt, sugar, and fats. Recognize that consuming these foods increases your intake of salt, sugar, and fats considerably (often without knowing specifically what or how much).

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As we eat more and more processed foods, we eat less of the phytochemicals and nutrients our bodies need. This was the sole reason I said that preparing food at home is much better than eating packaged or processed foods.

Know-How Your Foods Were Produced

Food production is another important component of nutrition and health. This is a complex issue with lots of factors, some of which you cannot control.

For example, food grown in healthy soil will supply necessary trace minerals to the food, but when soils are pressured for large-scale production, essential trace minerals can be lost.

However, you can make many choices:

• Buy organic foods for all or some of your diet (check the ‘dirty dozen’ list for those that are most heavily sprayed).
• Buy meat from producers who don’t use antibiotics.
• Reduce your intake of fish high in mercury. The EPA recommends eating up to 12 ounces of fish that are lower in mercury weekly, including shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish and avoiding shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish.

How to Prepare Food for Living Safely

Foodborne illnesses don’t just come from restaurants. In fact, they usually come from bad food preparation, serving, and storage at home. Follow the guidelines below to keep your food as safe as possible:

1. Wash Hands and Surfaces before Cooking.

Washing your hands and surfaces using hot, soapy water before started cooking should be adhering to. Wash your hands before and after you handle food or utensils, especially raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs. And, also wash all fruits and vegetables before eating.

2. Prevent Cross-contamination.

Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs away from other foods to prevent cross-contamination. If possible, use separate cutting boards for these foods.

If not, be sure to wash cutting boards carefully with soap between uses and also always cook foods to a safe temperature using a food thermometer. Uncooked or undercooked animal products can be unsafe.

3. Prevent Bacteria Growth

Keep hot foods hot (above 140 degrees) and cold foods cold (below 40 degrees) to prevent bacteria growth. Refrigerate foods within two hours of purchase or preparation (one hour if the temperature is higher than 90 degrees).

And also, if you are not sure that food has been prepared, served, or stored properly, throw it out. If food has been left out for more than two hours, throw it out. Eat cooked leftovers within four days.