If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, it is important that you start in the kitchen, where food is prepared and eaten. While you may be trying to prepare healthy meals, the cookware set you are using may be causing health issues, some that may not even be felt until later in life. What constitutes a healthy cookware set? That is a good question, considering there are many different companies that say they have healthy cookware, but don't.
There are a number of different products out there that claim to be a healthy cookware set. Healthy cookware starts with pans that have raised bottoms, ones that drain the oils and fats away from the food you are cooking. Even lean cuts of meat still have some kind of fat, and without the right cooking tools, these unhealthy ingredients could be winding up inside you.
Did you know that certain metals can actually be harmful to your health? A couple of these are aluminum and copper. The problem is that these are reactive cookware, meaning that at high temperatures, or with certain acidic foods like tomatoes, the metals can actually be absorbed by the food and these heavy metals wind up in your body, causing all kinds of medical problems later on, including Alzheimer's.
With Teflon or other 'non-stick' coatings, you have to same kinds of problems. Most people that use that kinds of pans don't realize that they can't be heated to high temperatures because the coating starts to break down, winding up inside you. Another thing about non stick cookware is that while you are only supposed to use wood or plastic spatulas spoons and forks, many people forget, or get lazy and use metal utensils anyway, again, allowing the non stick surface to peel of and be eaten. Sounds terrible to think about what these materials are doing to your body, and there is no real way to get rid of them.
A real healthy cookware set is one that is made from inert and non reactive materials, such as earthenware, or ceramic pots and pans. These don't react with acidic foods, and there are no coatings on the cooking surface that could potentially be harmful. Other examples of healthy cookware includes enamel, titanium, and glass. Enamel is a glass surface that is fused with the cookware, and with the proper care can last a lifetime.
Make sure that if you are going with enamel that is a quality product. Poor quality enamel is just a thin layer, and can chip off, not only getting into your food, but exposing the metal underneath which can be interact with your food as well. Titanium, while it is non reactive, as well as light weight, is a poor heat conductor. Typically, this cookware has titanium fused over aluminum as a non stick coating. While these are durable and a healthy cookware set choice, they are also expensive.
When it comes to some of the best non reactive healthy cookware sets, try glass. Glass in not reactive, retains and distributes heat evenly, and is an excellent choice for storing food in. If you have any aluminum cookie sheets or muffin pans, these can be made into healthier cookware if you line them with cooking paper.
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