The Role of Healthy Cookware in Cooking Healthy Food
What makes your food healthy? The presence of life-sustaining nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and so much more… but have you ever considered what role your cookware plays? Studies have found that popular metal and ceramic cookware not only affect the nutritional value of food but also make it toxic. Want to find out how? Keep reading…
The most commonly used materials for making cookware are stainless steel, aluminum, cast iron, and ceramic. While they are used widely, they are not the best choice. They are not only too harsh on nutrients but also leach chemicals into food while cooking. Food gets contaminated and causes health problems when consumed regularly.
When cooking is in progress, heat acts as a catalyst and metals like aluminum, iron, nickel, magnesium, molybdenum, lead & cadmium react with the oxygen molecules, the hydrogen molecules, and nutrients that are in the form of halogens, acids, and bases. These toxins get assimilated with food and are sent to both cells and organs in body. They not only weaken the immune system but also cause chronic health problems.
Also, while cooking in these metal or ceramic pots, the heat is too harsh and causes serious damage to the nutrients and cooks by dissolving them rather than preserving them intact. Additionally, water-soluble nutrients evaporate as steam.
The result — food contaminated with toxins and lacking in nutritional value. You can hardly imagine the serious damage done to your health when you keep consuming such food regularly for a long time. Worried? Let’s focus on the solution.
A Viable Alternative
The only viable alternative is a material that is not only 100% non-toxic but can also keep the nutritional value of food intact while cooking. Recently, clay has gathered some popularity as a healthier alternative. But few people are aware that in order to make cookware from clay through any mechanized process, it needs to be treated with chemicals. Like metal cookware, these leach toxins into food while cooking and defy the whole purpose of using clay.
Read about an easy and reliable home test to identify what is leaching from your cookware?
It is important that the clay used is 100% pure and free from any kind of chemicals. Tests have shown that food cooked in pure clay pots is free from toxins. But this is not the only benefit. Such pots generate a unique far-infrared heat that penetrates deep into food and is distributed evenly without damaging the nutrients.
Also, the steam can be managed well with an ergonomic design of pot and lid. It can uniquely allow steam to circulate inside and let food cook with its own steam pressure. With straight walls of the pot, if it’s made in concentric circles with an inner flute on the lid and a cool underside of a knob will allow for steam to rise, get condensed and drop right back into the pot. This does not allow the water-soluble nutrients to evaporate as steam. Unlike metal pots, the heat produced in pure clay pots is food-friendly. It cooks food gently by spreading out evenly to every grain of food.
All these features not only keep the food healthy but also retain the natural taste.