Healthy Cooking Tips

From the processing plants where cow manure gets ground into meat to the chemistry labs that create fast food flavors such as a "smoky, grilled taste," the story behind every perfectly round patty hamburger and golden fry is something the fast food industry would prefer you not know.

A slew of books and movies over the last decade have revealed the gnarly business of fast food, and it's anything but enticing.

Not Just Food

Any recount of fast food horrors would be remiss without a collection of sordid restaurant tales. Bugs, rodents, and unsanitary working conditions are the common pitfalls of making mass-produced food. These war stories shouldn't be surprising, yet they are. Here's a sprinkling gathered from former fast food workers and news reports:

* At a Long John Silver, an employee stirred a bucket of cole slaw with his whole arm immersed so deep that his armpit hair mingled with the shredded cabbage. 
* TV news cameras filmed dozens of rats scurrying around a Taco Bell/KFC in New York City. 
* Former fast food workers say that it's common to blend cockroaches and other bugs into dairy deserts. 
* Inspectors found dead rodents decomposing in a rattrap at a Wendy's in Texas. 
* A customer was served a cup dripping in blood at Hardee's in Florida. 
* A patron, taking a bite into a taco at a Chicago Taco Bell, bit into chewing gum.

Even though people are vaguely aware of these violations, Americans continue to consume vast quantities of fast food. Why? Convenience and price are good reasons, but that doesn't really explain why we eat so much of it. After all, a street vendor could be selling steamed fresh broccoli and spinach for a penny and do less business than a McDonald's does. The obvious reason is that fat, salt, and starches appeal to our palates. But there's more going on than good grease. Excellent frying techniques can't explain the allure of McDonald's fries. In fact, fast food flavor has little to do with the innate qualities of the food-it's all in the additives.

Engineered Flavors

The fast food industry has worked hard to engineer foods that will appeal to our every sense with manufactured flavorings, color, and what's called mouthfeel-the texture, weight, and consistency. In his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser described how companies-often the same ones that make perfumes-mix the chemicals that give our processed food their flavors. Schlosser lists nearly one hundred chemicals that make up the standard strawberry flavor in a milkshake. The flavoring for proprietors is kept secret. For decades, McDonald's used beef tallow to cook its fries. When the public started to worry about saturated fat, the company switched to vegetable oil, but it continues to use animal products to achieve the same flavor. McDonalds has refused to disclose what other ingredients they use. The FDA doesn't require food companies to list the ingredients in additives, as long as they are Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS).   

 How Can I Tell if a Recipe is Healthy?

 When I am researching recipes, there are three main characteristics I look for:

• The inclusion of healthy ingredients
• The exclusion of unhealthy ingredients
• The cooking method

Here is what you should look for when evaluating a recipe.

The healthiest ingredients are whole fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, healthy oils like olive oil, walnut oil, grape seed oil, and rice bran oil. Nuts, legumes and soy are healthy ingredients, and so are whole grain breads, and pastas. Meats and poultry should be lean whenever possible, and low fat dairy products are good too. I really like recipes that include several healthy ingredients, rather than just one or two. For example, Wild Rice with Cranberries and Apples is a great healthy dish with a great balance of whole grains, nuts, and fruit. Serve this with a lean chicken breast for an incredibly tasty and healthy meal.

Leave Out Unhealthy Ingredients

Unhealthy ingredients include sugar, processed foods, saturated and trans fat, white refined flour, and products made with refined white flour. Evaluating a recipe can be easy. For example, a recipe that calls for processed foods like luncheon meats, processed cheese-products or high fat products like mayonnaise isn't healthy and should not become a recipe you use very often.

Sometimes evaluating a recipe is more difficult. Spaghetti and meatballs seems like a healthy meal, but a large portion of the meal is pasta made from refined white flour and the meatballs may have a lot of saturated fat in them. On the flip side, the spaghetti sauce itself is very healthy with lots of tomatoes that give us vitamins and lycopene. Garlic, peppers, herbs seasonings and mushrooms are healthy ingredients you might find in a spaghetti recipe.

When you find a recipe that confuses you, just alter the recipe a bit. Make your meatballs from ground turkey meat and use a whole grain pasta, or decrease the serving size and add a big salad on the side.

Cooking Methods

The cooking method used in a recipe is very important. Deep-frying is the least healthy of the cooking methods, especially if the oil is used more than once. Pan frying might be a little better, but still not so good if you use a lot of oil and batters on your foods that absorb a lot of oil. Sauteing in a bit of olive oil or canola oil is better, and roasting in an oven is better yet. Boiling vegetables will not add any extra calories, but you will loose some of the valuable nutrients when you drain off the cooking water. Microwaving is a great way to cook vegetables because it is quick so not many nutrients are lost.

Here are a couple examples of recipes prepared with different methods. Potatoes are a nice source of vitamin C and fiber if you leave on the skins. A medium sized baked potato only has about 100 calories and is a healthy food when cooked in this manner. A french-fried potato is not so healthy. The fat used to deep-fry the potato is not healthy, and the potato absorbs a lot of oil, so the same size potato that is french fried has many more calories and fat. If you like french fries, try slicing the potato into strips and lightly coat the strips with olive oil. Bake them on a baking sheet until they are tender.

Another example of good verses bad cooking methods would be this example with a chicken breast. Baking a chicken breast in the oven with some salsa or chicken broth is a healthy way to prepare the chicken. If you take that same chicken breast, coat it with a batter and deep fry it, that piece of chicken becomes an unhealthy, fattening food.

Always look for healthy ingredients. Avoid unhealthy ingredients or find healthier substitutes. Choose recipes that let you bake, roast, or lightly saute your foods.

Courtesy of Healthy Cooking Tips

Chef Tim Johnson

Remember...Grace is upon you so eat to live!

Although the organic movement has certainly started to influence how Americans think about their food, it is still no match for the American fast food industry, which continuously finds creative new ways of piling sugar, salt and fat on a plate and charging customers $4.99 for the privilege of eating it.

In recent years, in fact, some of America's favorite chains have gone above and beyond the call of duty and concocted thoroughly repellent dishes that make the Double Quarter Pounder look like a celery stick. These companies have offered Americans these revolting meals despite the fact that roughly one-third of the country is now obese, a deplorable state of affairs that accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers estimates costs the U.S. health-care system $200 billion a year in wasted spending.

 We'll name and shame the very worst offenders, whether they're 1,400-calorie hamburgers or 550-calorie cups of coffee. So let's get things rolling with …

No. 7 -- The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Sundae

Two years ago, the brain trust at Krispy Kreme decided to answer the age-old question of how to make ice cream sundaes even less healthy. The solution, it turns out, is to remove bananas, strawberries or anything that looks remotely like it might contain nutrients, and replace it with a doughnut.

When the sundae -- known affectionately as the Kool Kreme -- premiered in Tacoma, Wash., customers had the choice of adding several toppings, including bits of Snickers, Butterfinger, Heath and Junior Mints. They could add some fruit as well, of course, but what's the point? If you regularly eat a doughnut sundae, no level of Vitamin C will save you.

No. 6 -- Starbucks's Mocha Coconut Frappuccino Blended Coffee With Whipped Cream

At first glance, the Starbucks Mocha Coconut Frappuccino Blended Coffee with whipped cream doesn't seem to belong on this list. After all, its 550 calories and 22 grams of fat pale in comparison to some of the burgers and pizzas we'll encounter a little bit later. But then you remember that the Frappuccino is supposed to be a breakfast drink. As in, something you drink the first thing in the morning while you eat your cereal. And then you understand that if you're willing to consume one-fourth of your daily caloric intake before you even arrive to work, there's nothing to stop you from wolfing down a 1,200-carlorie KFC Double Down (see Item No. 2) for lunch and dinner.

No. 5 -- Cheeseburger Fries

These treats were apparently made for people who love eating cheeseburgers and fries but who don't want to go through the hassle of mashing them together into a fine paste. Cheeseburger fries gained national attention when the New York Times reported that they had become a mini-sensation in the Midwest. The fries, said the Times, were "made of a meat-and-cheese compound" that was "breaded, then deep fried and served with ketchup or barbecue sauce." The caloric intake for these beasts was 75 calories per fry, meaning that eating 10 of them would account for more than a third of your daily intake.

No. 4 -- The KFC Famous Bowl 

KFC has a long and proud history of making Americans morbidly obese, but the company reached a new high in 2007 when it unleashed its Famous Bowl upon the world. The Bowl is really a variation on a classic American method of cooking that involves taking a bunch of unhealthy goo from different sources and then slopping them all into a bowl. In this particular example, KFC threw together mashed potatoes, corn, fried chicken, gravy and cheese to create a 720-calorie horror that contains 1 1/2 times your daily fat allowance. The thought of joylessly plowing through the Bowl's starchy potatoes, greasy gravy and processed cheese sounds about as soulless and monotonous as working in a puppy-slaughtering factory.

No. 3 -- Hardee's Monster Thickburger

Simply put, the Monster Thickburger is a fat, sloppy middle finger aimed at nutritionists everywhere. Clocking in at an artery-blowing 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat, the Thickburger premiered in 2004, when McDonald's and Burger King were starting to sell out and offer their customers salads. In defending his decision to sell such a gaping monstrosity, Hardee's CEO Andrew Puzder played George W. Bush to McDonald's and Burger King's John Kerry, essentially calling them out as wimps who didn't have the balls to dramatically shorten their customers' life expectancy with just one meal. Specifically, he said the Thickburger was "not a burger for tree-huggers" but rather "for guys who want a really big, delicious, juicy decadent burger." Yes, gents, nothing will show the ladies how manly you are quite like a belly made entirely of butter.

No. 2 -- The KFC Double Down

Apparently determined to take the Atkins Diet to its most insane and illogical conclusion, KFC has released a new sandwich that succeeds in eliminating carbohydrate-packed bread by replacing it with two slabs of fried chicken. And oh yeah, in between the chicken they lay down heaping gobs of bacon and Swiss and pepper pack cheese. The KFC Double Down is really the ideological heir to the Thickburger, as it was seemingly designed for the sole purpose of pissing off nutrition advocates.

You can imagine future commercials where a rugged Ford-truck-style announcer comes on and says, "The next time some fruity bureaucrat tells you to exercise, look him in the eye and say, 'Hell no! I'm doublin' down with the KFC Double Down!' " The Double Down is slightly wimpier than the Thickburger as it only contains an estimated 1,200 calories. However, it more than makes up for this because it also contains something called "The Colonel's Sauce," which probably contains at the very least 2 percent all-natural radioactive waste.

No. 1 -- Domino's Oreo Cookie Pizza

Sure, everybody loves pizza. But what do you do when traditional pizza has lost its magic? How do you retain your love for it when all the fatty toppings -- pepperoni, buffalo chicken, Alfredo sauce and so forth -- just aren't satisfying you the way they used to? If you're Domino's, you take one of the world's least-healthy cookies and couple it with large doses of frosting to cover an entire pizza crust. Were Dr. Jack Kevorkian still practicing his trade, he'd surely use consumption of the Oreo pizza as his preferred method of assisted suicide. Truly, the only way this sucker could be any worse would be to put it in blender with a bucket of cheeseburger fries and then pour the resulting mixture into a bowl and then cover it with processed cheese.

Courtesy of Healthy Cooking Tips

Chef Tim Johnson

Remember...Grace is upon you so eat to live!

Various shelves throughout every aisle of your grocery store are stocked with wolves in sheep's clothing. Colorful packaging, appetizing pictures, and nutrition claims hide the truth: unhealthy chemicals are lurking in many these seemingly harmless foods. Here are some tips to help you steer clear of hidden toxins that masquerade as safe products.

1. Stay away from processed meats like bacon, hot dogs, and sausage. Sodium nitrate accounts for their appetizing red hue, but this additive can also cause the formation of nitrosamines in your system, which can lead to cancer.

2. Stick to low-mercury fish like American-farmed tilapia instead of swordfish or tuna. Overexposure can cause memory problems, fatigue, and other health issues, and besides, most wild fish stocks are threatened these days. (Looking for an alternative? There's branzini, the fish you've never heard of.)

3. Reduce the amount of canned food you consume. Cans are commonly lined with bisphenol-A, an organic compound that, according to the Lang study, may be associated with diabetes and heart disease.

4. Cut back on meat and dairy products. These animal products may contain trace amounts of harmful contaminants like polybrominated diphenyl ethers, polychlorinated biphenyl and dioxins. Although many of these toxins have been banned, they are still present in the soil. Reducing your intake of animal products is also more friendly to the environment.

5. Skip the diet soda and artificial sweeteners. Prolonged exposure to aspartame, a neurotoxic chemical additive in these products, can lead to nerve cell damage, dizziness, and headaches. Besides, anything that gives rats brain tumors is worth avoiding in my book.

6. Choose the farmed fish carefully. Studies show that farm-raised fish contain more polychlorinated biphenyl and over ten times the amount of dioxin.

7. Opt for organic chicken. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy discovered traces of arsenic in non-organic chickens. Exposure to this dangerous chemical can lead to cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Another study also found numerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria in conventional poultry.

8. Only drink milk that says "no rBGH" on the carton because recombinant bovine growth hormone has been linked with breast cancer. Better yet, opt for responsibly-produced, unsweetened soy, nut or rice milk.

9. Avoid manufactured snacks. Hydrogenated oils are used to lengthen the shelf life of products like crackers and cookies, but they are also associated with diabetes and heart disease. Another reason to stay away from the middle aisles: snack foods are generally loaded with salt, corn syrup and other unhealthy ingredients.

10. Stay away from artificially-colored foods like candy, maraschino cherries, and gelatin. Mice and rats exposed to blue 1 and 2, red 3 and yellow 6 suffered from brain, adrenal gland, thyroid, and kidney tumors.

11. Always buy organic produce. This one's a no-brainer, but the list wouldn't be complete without it. Lingering pesticides can lead to nervous and reproductive system damage, not to mention cancer.

12. Use stainless steel or cast iron cookware to prepare your meals. The Teflon used to create nonstick surfaces can release noxious gases when exposed to high temperatures, which puts you at risk for heart disease.

13. Never microwave food in plastic bowls, containers, or dishes. Exposure to heat causes the bisphenol-A found in plastics to break down and potentially contaminate your food. Also, make sure to hand wash them.