Healthy Cooking Tips from Dr. Weil

Even if you use the healthiest of ingredients in your recipes, certain cooking techniques can literally eradicate the goodness from foods. Try the following techniques for healthy cooking:

1 Avoid using charcoal or gas grills, which can increase the production of cancer-causing chemicals. Instead, use an electric grill.

2 Steam your vegetables. Boiling can deplete vegetables of many of their nutrients, while steaming removes far less of the good stuff, and leaves vegetables with a wonderful taste and texture.

3 To reduce the amount of fat when cooking, use broiling, baking and roasting pans (drizzle your items with extra-virgin olive oil instead of drowning them in butter or margarine). Chinese steamers or stir-fry pans are also good low-fat cooking options.

4 Never microwave anything in plastic wrap or plastic containers. If you must microwave, use glass containers and covers.

5 Replace all saturated fats in your kitchen with extra-virgin olive oil, canola oil (organic, expeller-pressed), grapeseed or walnut oils - these monounsaturated fats are far healthier than their saturated relatives.

Pesticides and the Dirty Dozen

Pesticides are chemicals used to eliminate the pests in farmer’s crops to help reduce loss and increase yield. While their toxicity is intended to be limited to the pests alone, much of the produce in these crops absorb the chemicals, which can then be transferred to humans when they are consumed.
In approving the use of pesticides, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses whether they pose an “unreasonable” risk to humans. However, your own unique body chemistry in combination with the types of foods you eat and your level of exposure will determine if you are susceptible to some of the known side effect of pesticides. These side effects include headache, nausea, tremors, diarrhea, chest pain and sweating to name a few. All of which result from damage to the nervous, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems.
Adjusting your eating habits can lower your intake of pesticides -- sometimes dramatically so. Substitute organic for conventional produce that is consistently contaminated with pesticides. When organic is not available, eat fruits and vegetables with consistently low pesticide loads.

“The Dirty Dozen” most contaminated foods.

*Nectarine
*Pears
*Peaches
*Cherries
*Raspberries
*Strawberries
*Apples
*Grapes
*Celery
*Spinach
*Potatoes
*Sweet Bell Peppers

Consistently Clean, least contaminated foods

*Sweet Corn
*Avocado
*Cauliflower
*Asparagus
*Peas
*Onions ((Pesticides were still found on onions, but at lower levels)
*Broccoli (Pesticides were still found on Broccoli, but at lower levels)
*Pineapples
*Mangos
*Bananas
*Kiwi
*Papaya

For more information on these foods and pesticides check out the following links:
http://www.foodnews.org/reportcard.php
http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/facts-slides-self/facts/gen-posaf-health.html

Failure

"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down." -Mary Pickford