Food Preparation & Production
Healthy eating also involves preparing food to preserve nutrients and prevent disease and paying attention to food production issues (Nestle, 2003).
Food Preparation
When preparing food, aim to preserve the nutrient value of the food, as well as control the fat and caloric content. Here are just a few tips:
- Healthy cooking methods include steaming, broiling, grilling and roasting. Frying requires adding fat to achieve the desired results and deep-fried foods add considerable fat to the American diet.
- Don’t add extra salt. Use a variety of herbs and spices for additional flavor rather than relying on salt.
- Cook foods in as little water and for as short a period of time as possible to preserve all water soluble vitamins (Bs and C). (As we eat more and more processed foods, we eat less of the phytochemicals and nutrients our bodies need.)
Food Safety
Foodborne illnesses don’t just come from restaurants. In fact, they usually come from bad home food preparation, serving, and storage. Follow the guidelines below to keep your food as safe as possible:
- Wash hands and surfaces often.
- Separate raw, cooked, and ready-to-eat foods.
- Cook foods to a safe temperature.
- Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
- When in doubt, throw it out.
Food Production
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 production, essential trace minerals can be lost.
However you can make some choices:
- You can choose to buy organic foods for all or some of your diet.
- You can choose to buy meat from producers who don’t use antibiotics.
- You can choose to reduce your intake of fish high in mercury.
