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Eating healthy is a fantastic Lifestyle change. You should start to see home grown produce Springing up in local stores soon.

The Way You Eat and Cook Impacts Your Health

Try these five easy meal preparation tips that can positively affect your health for years to come.

Add more spice - Studies have shown that adding more spices to foods dramatically increases the anti-oxidant content per serving. Next time, try adding ginger or cumin to your salad to up the "anti" (oxidant) quotient in your diet!

Cook with Iron - A cast-iron pot or skillet that is. If you cook with high acidic foods like tomatoes, apples or lemons, heat them up in a cast-iron pot to spike the amount of energy-boosting irons you absorb by more than 2,000%. To achieve the same results without the pot couple iron-rich foods like beans with high acid ones like tomato sauce or whole grain cereal with strawberries.

Go Big - When slicing and dicing your fruits and vegetables, cut them in larger pieces to help hold on to more Vitamin C which helps keep your immune system strong. Smaller portions expose your foods to more nutrient-draining oxygen and light.

Peel no more - To retain key nutrients found in many fruits and vegetables, forgo the peeling process. Many essential vitamin and minerals are found in the outer skin or just below it. Try adding citrus zest to a favourite recipe as this has been linked to a 34% reduction in skin cancer. Keep in mind that unless organic, many fruits and vegetables may have traces of pesticide/ herbicide residues, so peeling in this case is suggested.

Sauté your greens - By sautéing your vegetables in a bit of olive oil you can absorb up to five times as much of the vision-protecting antioxidants beta-carotene. Steaming is still one of the best options when cooking veggies, try adding the oil after you cook. This will ensure the integrity of the essential fatty acids as well as increase the absorption of the antioxidants rich fat soluble vitamins!

Reference: Dietitians of Canada www.dietitians.ca & Prevention (magazine) February 2007

Cooking with Ease

The Way You Eat and Cook Impacts Your Health

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