Healthy Cooking

Healthy Cooking This chapter is divided into the following sections: In the Refrigerator, The Budget, Food Labels, Kitchen’s Ready, Healthy Entertaining, Eating Out and Healthy Recipes. In the refrigerator Plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables (occasionally buy something you haven’t tried before) Low fat milk, yoghurt and cheese (try ricotta or cottage cheeses) Margarine (canola or olive oil blend) Lean meat, lean chicken and fish Eggs Frozen vegetables Frozen bread (for emergencies) Healthy leftovers (for when you are in a hurry) Ice-cream (buy those really creamy decadent ones—hey it’s an occasional treat!) A fruit basket in easy reach The budget Ask any university student and they will tell you that there are three food groups: beer, bread and the $5 roast at the local bowling club! While this is not our suggested eating plan, some planning and astute decision- making will result in good economy. The proposition that healthy eating is expensive is simply not true. Here are some cost saving tips. Keep the pantry well stocked—shop once a week for fruit and vegetables and fortnightly for groceries. Consider the meals you intend preparing before you go to the supermarket. This ensures you have all the necessary ingredients, helping to avoid the need to buy one-off items at a higher cost. Base meals around what is in season or on special. Buy bulk—it is often cheaper. Perhaps shop with someone else and split the cost. Take your calculator shopping to make it easier to work out which size option is the best value. Buy modest amounts of meat, chicken and fish. Leaner meat cuts can be more expensive but if your goal is to eat less meat, then the cost is relatively unchanged. Ever considered growing your own vegetables? It’s cheap, good exercise, great stress management, and you can brag to your friends about the produce. Minimise ‘luxury’ items. If ice-cream, chocolates, biscuits, cakes and sweets are only occasional treats they will not blow the budget. Look for marked down products—often items are significantly reduced when they near their expiry date. Only buy what you need. It is not a bargain if you don’t use it. Cook at home and limit eating out—you have more control over both content and cost. Cook in bulk. Leftovers can be a cheap lunch the next day; soups, stews, casseroles, pasta bakes all reheat well for another meal. Use leftovers to create new meals. For example; bolognaise sauce can make a great pizza base or goes well on a toasted sandwich, leftover roast meat can be used in a warm salad or pasta dish, boiled rice can be used to make fried rice. Food labels Labelling and advertising on foods has been quite confusing and occasionally, despite our best intentions, we buy products that are not as healthy as we expect. The good news is that since the end of 2002, all foods must carry a mandatory nutrition information panel. Prior to this, companies included this information voluntarily and it was only compulsory when they made a nutrition claim such as low fat or low salt. The mandatory information must include: • Energy (to convert kilojoules to calories divide by 4.2) • Protein • Fat—with saturated fat listed separately • Carbohydrate—with total sugars listed separately • Sodium (salt) • Any nutritional information about claims made on the product. For example if the claim is that the product is a good source of calcium, calcium content must be listed. The only exception to this is very small packages (like herbs or tea) and foods that are made at the point of sale such as a steak sandwich. Understanding labels The following list states all the requirements for food labels. Once you become familiar with the labelling you will find it a positive influence on your shopping decisions. • Ingredients must be listed from greatest to smallest by weight including added water. For example, the first ingredient on the list for peanut butter is peanuts, because it is present in the largest amount. • The percentage of key ingredients in a product must be shown. For example, you will be able to tell what percentage of blackberry jam is actually blackberries (useful in comparing different brands). • The amount of saturated fat in the product must be declared—no differentiation was previously required about the types of fat in a product. • The name or description of a product must not be misleading—you cannot call a product blackberry jam if it does not contain blackberries. • Foods in a product that are known to cause allergies must be declared, such as peanuts, fish, gluten or eggs. • There must be an advisory declaration if a possible health risk can be caused (e.g. unpasteurised milk, unpasteurised egg, aspartame, quinine, caffeine, guarana). A warning statement must be present where people may be unaware of severe health risks; for example, the bee product royal jelly can cause severe reactions in asthmatics. • Additives must be identified (usually by number) and included on the ingredient list. All food additives must have a specific use, must have been assessed and approved by ANZFA for safety, and must be used in the lowest possible quantity that will achieve their purpose. • If the shelf life of a product is less than two years, it must have a ‘best before date’. The product may still be safe to eat beyond this date, but may have lost quality and some nutritional value. Foods that should be consumed by a certain date must have a ‘use by date’. • Specific storage conditions must be stated on the label if it is required to keep the product safe before its use by date. • In Australia, packaged and some unpackaged foods must state where they were made or processed. If the ingredients originate from overseas, a statement must say that ingredients are imported or imported and local. • Labels must have a name and business address in Australia or New Zealand of the manufacturer or importer in case the food needs to be recalled (a rare occurrence). Claims on labels There is certainly plenty of competition out there for your food dollar. Companies realise that generally people are looking for the healthiest choice and will therefore use their labels to entice you to buy their product. You have probably seen such things as no artificial colours, lite, reduced fat, 97% fat-free, cooked in vegetable oil, polyunsaturated, salt-reduced, natural or wholesome, organically grown, high-fibre, or no MSG. What do these things really mean? Reduced fat This does not mean low fat. Certainly these products will contain less fat—usually twenty-five or thirty-three percent less than the regular version and at least three grams of fat less per 100 grams of food. Remember, even reduced fat versions of food can still be relatively high in fat. Foods to watch: cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and dairy desserts such as ice cream. 97% fat free Means three percent of the product is fat—not that there is ninety-seven percent less fat! If a product has more than ten grams of fat per 100 grams it should be consumed in moderation, particularly if the predominant fat is saturated. Low fat Low fat or low in fat must contain no more than three grams of fat per 100 grams or one and a half grams per 100 grams if it is a liquid food. This is a better statement to look for on packaging. Lite or light This can be quite deceiving. It does not always mean that a food is low in kilojoules (calories) or fat, as is often interpreted. Light potato crisps for example, are lightly- salted and thinly sliced, but still have about the same amount of fat; light beer is low in alcohol; light olive oil has a milder flavour but still the same amount of fat as regular olive oil; light cheese has less fat and occasionally less salt; light cake has a light fluffy texture. Read the label well before you buy. Whichever characteristic is being ‘lightened’ it should be stated along with a comparison with the regular food. Cholesterol free or no No cholesterol does not necessarily mean no fat. For example, crisps that are cholesterol labelled cholesterol free never had any cholesterol in them to start off with, as cholesterol is never found in plant foods. Again be aware that a healthy claim for one ingredient, such as cholesterol, does not necessarily mean that the food is not high in other ingredients such as fat, salt or sugar. Cooked in vegetable oil This does not necessarily mean polyunsaturated or monounsaturated. One of the most common oils used to fry snack and fast foods is palm oil which is fifty percent saturated. While it qualifies as a vegetable oil, it differs greatly from canola, soybean and olive oils, which are predominantly unsaturated. If one of these healthier oils is used in the food, it is usually indicated on the packaging. If not, you can assume it is palm oil or another not so healthy vegetable oil. Polyunsaturated This can be perceived as being healthy and if the fat used is an omega-3 fatty acid then it probably is—i.e. canola oil. It doesn't mean you can eat bucket loads, remembering that all fats supply the same number of kilojoules (calories) regardless of whether they are polyunsaturated, monounsaturated or saturated. So if you are watching your weight you still need to minimise total energy intake. There is concern by some nutritionists that we consume far too many omega-6 polyunsaturated fats in comparison to the more beneficial omega-3 fats.

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