Contrary to popular belief, cooked food provides more energy than its raw version, which is particularly true of meat.

The finding suggests humans are biologically adapted to benefit from cooking, which played a key role in driving our evolution from an ape-like being into one that resembles humans today.

Here’s a variety of delicious vegetables you can cook

`It is astonishing that we don`t understand the fundamental properties of the food we eat,` said Rachel Carmody, evolutionary biologist at Harvard`s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

(more…)

India’s staple is also comfort food at its best – a variety of lentils cooked together with spices to make a flavourful side dish to be served with rice or roti.

Click here to view recipe

Small changes to your cooking style and efficient use of healthy substitutes can make your meals healthier. Add a handful of soy flour to your dough while making rotis, steam cook your vegetables and make quick and tasty upmas from broken wheat or jowar.

More tips on enhancing the nutritive content of your food

Cook vegetables in minimal water and for the shortest time necessary to prevent nutrient loss.

Here are some quick stir-fried vegetable recipes:

Potato brinjal stir fry
Spinach stem stir fry

Butter is rich in Vitamin A which is needed for proper functioning of the cardiovascular system. It also helps to fight cancer.

Read the full story here.

Now that you know about the calorie content of foods, how do you get to know your actual calorie consumption?

Here you have to use your math if you want to be specific. Many nutritionists have provided the calorie content of a portion of a prepared dish. How do they do it? By calculating the energy value of the total amount of foodstuffs in the recipe, measuring the number of portions and dividing the total by that number, for each portion. Simple, isn’t it?…Hold on – not so simple, because, the recipe varies in many ways, even if it is a standard recipe.

The variables are: food quality and size, the cook and his or her cooking habits, quantities of cooking ingredients like liquids, fats and sugar, measuring units and equipment like cups, spoons, etc., and portion size. And, finally, how you eat the product.

(more…)

Your husband has been diagnosed with high cholesterol and has been advised to follow a diet low in cholesterol and saturated fats. Now comes the challenge for the lady of the house – to serve healthy and tasty foods. This is as hard a task as changing the eating habits acquired over the past years.

It is a wrong notion that the more oil you use in cooking, the tastier the food. If you can follow the tips given below, your meals can be satisfying and healthy too! And believe me it is worth the change. It is also time to change the habits of everyone in the house and teach the younger generation about eating healthy.

Foods to restrict/avoid

Rich pastries, doughnuts, croissant, deep fried snacks and sweets, cream, butter, ghee, mayonnaise, shrimps, liver, sausages, hamburgers, red meats, full cream milk and yogurt, kheer, condensed milk, evaporated milk, all full fat cheeses, fast foods, coconut oil, palm oil,
Restrict use of coconut milk, dessicated or fresh coconut.

(more…)