Thursday, September 10, 2009

Ways You Can Improve Your Cooking

By Peter Hower

One of the funniest ways to improve your cooking is to adopt the policy in your kitchen of one new recipe a week. I had a colleague that used to do this. Every Sunday, he would take the one, rather hefty cook book down off the shelf, pick a recipe almost at random, and write himself a shopping list. He was married within 6 months, which suggests his cooking skills probably worked in his favor.

Another way of improving ones cooking though is to go healthy. Rather than trying one new recipe per week, incorporate one new health tip per week. For example, week one might be go green or to go heart healthy or to go herbal. Or even better, do both " the new recipe and the new health tip of the week. This means really paying close attention to what you are putting into your body, and what you aren't. Good health is affected daily by our disciplined choices " in what we eat, how much sleep we get and how much exercise we do. And what we eat is affected by what we cook. A lot of foods contain anti-oxidants and have the power to heal or help with disease prevention. The right foods will help you live longer, but also will have a positive impact on your emotional state.

Too often, we don't pay attention to the healing aspects of food, until something goes wrong health-wise. For example, a woman who suddenly experiences hair loss is likely to closely examine her diet and take drastic dietary measure. Why wait though. Go for proactive health and diet rather than reactive health.

Lets take a look at how introducing a new health tip per week might look:

Lets say you've just learn that deep-green vegetables are richer in nutrients than the light-green ones. This rule, actually, applies to any deeply colored vegetable " red, orange, yellow, orange, or green. The brighter the color, the better the health benefits, thanks to the phytochemicals. Once you've taken on board this new health perspective, you're probably more likely to reach for spinach than for Iceberg salad. Its as simple as that.

Once you start focusing on what you're eating this will steer you towards the better recipes. If the health benefits of dark green broccoli are your latest discovery, then look up broccoli in the index of your recipe book.

Do know that it will take your body a little time to adjust to a healthier diet. You cant expect to go completely green after a diet of fish and chips, and Red Bull, and to feel immediately better. You'll probably feel cravings for white bread and donuts and chocolate bars during your go healthy transition period.

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