What is natural cooking and why should we care about it? Natural
cooking is simply defined as food preparation using only natural and/or
whole foods. This means that if you want to eat mashed potatoes, you do
not buy a box of potato flakes from the dry goods aisle of the grocery
store, instead you buy a bag of potatoes from the produce section and
you peel, boil and mash those potatoes into a delicious pile of
nutritious mashed potatoes. Your homemade mashed potatoes will taste
better and be more nutritious than the box of potato flakes could ever
hope to be.
While convenience foods like potato flakes, flavored rice mixes, frozen entrees, and frozen pizza are easy and quick to prepare, they are generally prepared with far more fat, salt and/or sugar than you would add if you were to prepare the item yourself. In addition to high levels of fat, salt and sugar, most prepared foods contain a shocking amount of non-food ingredients including chemicals, preservatives, flavor enhancers, stabilizers and food colorings which have no nutritive value and, in fact, can be very harmful to your health.
Food allergies are on the rise in our population and there is some belief that they are related to non-food ingredients in our foods. The common food additive MSG has been in the news for years now because it is said to cause migraine headaches in people with chemical sensitivity. Recently, medical studies have discovered a correlation between processed meats such as hot dogs and lunch meats and colon cancer. There are some people who have even theorized that the preservatives and other non-food ingredients in convenience foods are actually causing our bodies to store fat.
Although our modern society has come to rely heavily on convenience foods in meal preparation, it is quite possible to feed our families without them. Our grandparents for the most part prepared meals from the fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products that were available to them. Old fashioned cooking techniques are still applicable in our modern kitchens and we have the benefit of some very sophisticated kitchen tools to help us in the kitchen. Old favorites like pressure cookers and slow cookers are great for families who have less time to prepare foods and today's high tech food processors and rice cookers ease the labor needed for food prep.
Although it does take more effort and time to prepare foods from scratch without the help of boxes and mixes, the results are far healthier and usually far more delicious as well.
While convenience foods like potato flakes, flavored rice mixes, frozen entrees, and frozen pizza are easy and quick to prepare, they are generally prepared with far more fat, salt and/or sugar than you would add if you were to prepare the item yourself. In addition to high levels of fat, salt and sugar, most prepared foods contain a shocking amount of non-food ingredients including chemicals, preservatives, flavor enhancers, stabilizers and food colorings which have no nutritive value and, in fact, can be very harmful to your health.
Food allergies are on the rise in our population and there is some belief that they are related to non-food ingredients in our foods. The common food additive MSG has been in the news for years now because it is said to cause migraine headaches in people with chemical sensitivity. Recently, medical studies have discovered a correlation between processed meats such as hot dogs and lunch meats and colon cancer. There are some people who have even theorized that the preservatives and other non-food ingredients in convenience foods are actually causing our bodies to store fat.
Although our modern society has come to rely heavily on convenience foods in meal preparation, it is quite possible to feed our families without them. Our grandparents for the most part prepared meals from the fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products that were available to them. Old fashioned cooking techniques are still applicable in our modern kitchens and we have the benefit of some very sophisticated kitchen tools to help us in the kitchen. Old favorites like pressure cookers and slow cookers are great for families who have less time to prepare foods and today's high tech food processors and rice cookers ease the labor needed for food prep.
Although it does take more effort and time to prepare foods from scratch without the help of boxes and mixes, the results are far healthier and usually far more delicious as well.
If you want to learn more about natural cooking and recipes, please visit my blog at http://www.jensnaturalkitchen.com.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jenn_L_C
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