Pretty ProgressiveThere are many different ways of cooking food, with some methods a lot healthier than others. Certain foods can only be cooked in a specific way, while others are much more flexible in how you can prepare them. Potatoes for example can be roasted, boiled or fried, while other vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower can only be boiled or baked.
Different cultures around the world have their own methods and ways to prepare and cook food, which is what makes travelling and dining out such a wonderful experience. Different ingredients can really change the taste, textures and aromas of food.
Fried Foods
One of the most common ways of preparing all sorts of food is frying. It’s cheap, quick and often very tasty. However, it is also probably the unhealthiest methods of cooking.
Most fried foods use oils that are high in trans fats, which are formed through a process called hydrogenation which unsaturated fats undergo. Many manufacturers of food use these fats as they can increase the shelf life of their products.
Health dangers of fried food
There are a number of health issues that are connected with fried food. Trans fats are associated with a number of serious health conditions including cancer, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
The constant eating of fried food can lead to higher blood pressure, along with a reduction in HDL cholesterol, which is a good cholesterol, both of which are factors that can increase the risk of heart disease.
Calorie Intake
Fried food also contains much more calories than other types of food, so eating them frequently will add to your calorie intake. As the food is being fried, it starts to absorb the fat from the oils that are being used to cook it.
The type of oil you use will have an effect on the calorie intake, but even if you are using olive oil, which is considered by many to be the healthiest oil to fry with, there is still the issue of an increased calorie intake.
At the end of the day, most people are fully aware that eating fried food is not good for you, but for many, it’s simply the only option they have. Some people may be working throughout the day and don’t have enough time to prepare a healthy meal at the end of the day, so they might simply pop something in the frying pan. Other people may simply grab a burger and fries on their way home from work.
A healthy alternative to frying
One of the biggest issues when it comes to switching from frying food to cooking with another method is the taste. The problem with fried food is that it tastes so good and there are lots of great recipes you can try such as those over at corriecooks.com. Compare chicken and burgers that have been fried and boiled. The tastes and eating experience between the two couldn’t be further apart.
However, there is now a healthier replace for frying with oils. Air frying is a cooking method that doesn’t use any oils, but can produce the same style and taste as that of fried foods.
If you are fortunate enough to own an Instant Pot, which is a very popular piece of kitchenware that combines several types of cookers into one single device, then you are in luck.
You can now pick up an air fryer lid for your Instant Pot. This great little lid can transform any 6 quart Instant Pot into an air fryer. You will need to make sure that your Instant Pot is compatible, as the lid won’t fit on every model.
Air Frying with your Instant Pot
The air fryer lid was developed with technology that guarantees that you will have perfect frying results every time. There are six different pre-set programs that you can use which will enable you to air fry a variety of different foods.
As with the Instant Pot in general, the air fryer lid is very easy to clean and small enough to store away when not in use so that you don’t have a cluttered kitchen top.
French fries cooked with the Instant pot air fryer taste just as good as if they had been fried in all of those unhealthy fats and oils. You really would struggle to know the difference between the two.
Some final words
Fried food is something we all love, even though we know it’s not good for us. However, the Instant Pot air fryer lid means that we can now continue to eat and enjoy our favourite fried foods without worrying about all the trans-fat and calories we are consuming, as well as the damage that fried foods do to our general health.
