While all of us shop for way too many things to make our kitchens effective and stylish, we must also think about items that would make healthy eating an easier goal.
The world has changed a lot in the last few decades. And with it, our lifestyle and food have changed majorly too. True, the majority of students and working people prefer to eat out.This comes with an immense risk of food-related illnesses. In the past three decades, a significant increase in the proportion of food dollars spent on food eaten away from home has been seen in the United States, much like in other parts of the world. But this trend comes with a lot of problems—the risk of food-borne illnesses and the effect it has on our general health.
Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shigella, Cryptosporidium, and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 continue to be the most common and common causes of laboratory-confirmed foodborne infections in the United States, according to two recent Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) reports.
Concerns about the worrying global trend of fast food consumption and its associated cardio metabolic consequences, such as being overweight or obese, are also on the rise. Consuming fast food and eating outside the home are major risk factors for poorer dietquality, higher calorie and fat intake, and lower micronutrient densities. Overweight and belly fat accumulation, poor insulin and glucose homeostasis, lipid and lipoprotein abnormalities, induction of systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress were all associated with frequent fast food consumption. Additionally, eating more fast food raises your chance of developing diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.
If you are wondering how these facts are relevant, we were just trying to remind you why eating at home is the best thing to do. But even while cooking at home, we tend to make food unhealthy—everything from mayonnaise, sauces, oil, and fried items can make you as sick as relying on outside food.
The hack is to learn to cook and eat healthy at home. And the first step towards that is to line up a few pieces of equipment that will help you eat healthy without much work. Here, we have brought together the top five lists of the most effective healthy-eating items to have in your home kitchen.
Want bone broth in 3 hours? Fluffy rice in 10 minutes? With an instant pot, everything is possible! It's great for making huge batches of nutritious soups, lean proteins (such as chicken breasts, beef roasts, meat ragu, etc.), or beans and lentils for all your plant-based protein requirements in half the time. Additionally, I enjoy using it on warm nights when I don't want to use the oven or the stove much.
One of the most useful and handy kitchen appliances is a food steamer. It consists of a sealed container with levels stacked one upon the other. It is made to cook food with steam heat. For instance, a stovetop steamer has an insert that may be placed inside or on top of a saucepan that has boiling water in it. One puts the item they want to cook in the insert. Following that, the insert's perforated base enables the steam to surround and heat the meal. It cooks food quickly and is simple to use. A food steamer needs minimum supervision and includes a timer. It is a rather nutritious method of cooking, as a steamer successfully locks in the majority of the nutrients and keeps the natural vitamins and minerals intact, alongside the food's structure. Vegetables maintain their shape and colour. It also uses steam to cook meals instead of oil and is hence believed to be the healthiest way to cook. It can save you effort, money, and time. A steamer is also easy to clean up after.
Having smoothies and juices is essentially a very important part of any diet. Start your mornings with a thick smoothie or have a pulpy glass of juice in the afternoon to keep yourself healthy without adding calories. This device is primarily used to prepare wholesome smoothies, thick juices, and dairy-free milk, as well as puree soups, sauces, and condiments. Using a blender, you may make smoothies that contain both the fruit's juice and its nutrient-rich pulp. This makes sure that none of the nutritional advantages are lost to you. On the other hand, you can just receive the juice without the pulp when using a juicer.
One of the newest and most well-liked countertop appliance categories is the air fryer. Contrary to popular perception, food is not truly fried in air fryers. Instead, they use convection heating, which involves moving hot air around food, to cook it. By doing this, a crispy, crunchy coating can be produced without deep frying. The cooking process is similar to utilising the fan-assisted setting on a standard oven, but in a more portable design.
