So you've cleared your cupboards of hormone-disrupting processed
foods and stocked up on fresh vegetables and fruits, organic meats,
low-fat organic dairy products, and whole grains. Excellent. You've
replaced high-calorie cooking methods like frying with low-calorie
methods like baking, roasting, and steaming. Awesome! Now let's take a
closer look at another aspect of healthy cooking: your cookware.Believe it or not, the pots and pans you cook your food in can have an impact on your metabolism. Some choices are better than others, and I'll start with the good ones:
- Cast iron. This classic material conducts heat well and can even add a little iron, an essential nutrient, to your food. Cooking experts recommend seasoning cast-iron pans with vegetable oil so foods won't stick to them.
- Porcelain-coated cookware. Pots and pans coated with porcelain are naturally low-stick and easy to clean.
- Stainless steel. An alloy of iron and other metals, stainless steel is nontoxic and doesn't react with acidic foods.
- Glass. Glass cookware is great for baking and roasting and has the advantage of being microwave safe.
What I'm not so crazy about are pans with chemical nonstick coatings. For years, nonstick pans had a great rap because they made cleanup easier and required less butter and oil for lubrication. But in recent years, organizations like the Environmental Working Group have spoken out against nonstick coatings because they contain the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which may be released when heated. The Environmental Protection Agency has labeled PFOA a likely human carcinogen, and some research has linked it to abnormal levels of thyroid hormone, liver inflammation, and elevated cholesterol. You're better off using healthy alternatives.
Sourced: Losing It With Jillian Michaels
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