With the improvement of living standards and the high incidence of chronic diseases, people pay more and more attention to health problems. Healthy eating has become a topic of concern. Many people choose to steam food instead of frying.
But, is steaming food healthy? Let me talk about it.
The temperature of fried foods is high, and carcinogens are easily produced at high temperatures. The steaming food uses water as the medium, and the required temperature is low, which is conducive to the preservation of food nutrition.
Less cooking oil and lowering the greasiness of food that helping people control energy intake, prevent obesity which is conducive to cardiovascular health. It is also conducive to the body’s digestion and absorption of nutrients.
When steaming food, the salt and other seasonings are less, and the taste is relatively light. It helps prevent high blood pressure caused by excessive sodium intake in sensitive people so that this is more beneficial to human health.
Steaming Food Is Also Delicious
Many people think that steam food has less oil and flavor is not good. It is a cooking problem and no relationship to the food.
For example, the most frequently eaten steamed fish, with onion and ginger to remove the fishy smell and increase the fish’s flavor.
Use soy sauce and other flavors, even if less salt, the taste will not be bad. It’s also applicable to other steaming dishes.
In fact, when you are used to steaming food, your tongue will become sensitive. On the contrary, if you eat fried, grilled, spicy and high-oil foods, the taste buds will become numb and the taste will become heavier and heavier.
Therefore, it is the reason that people who often eat heavy tastes occasionally eat steamed food will feel uninteresting.
The Features and Advantages Of Steaming
“Steam” is to put the raw materials in a vessel, place it in a boiling water pot, and heat them with steam. You can also add different seasonings for the taste.
Compared with cooking methods such as frying, the steamed dishes contain less oil and can preserve the various nutrients, and are more in line with healthy eating.
Moreover, in the process of steaming, the food is steamed at a high temperature, and the vessel is also sterilized by high temperature.
When you steam food, the boiling point of the water is only 100 °C so the nutrients can be retained more. When you cook, the boiling point of the oil can reach more than 300 °C. Cooking at such a high temperature will destroy many nutrients that beneficial to the human body.
Modern research has shown that the content of polyphenolic nutrients such as flavonoids in steamed foods is significantly higher than other cooking methods.
Importantly, because steamed food is easy to digest, it is very suitable for people with poor digestion. It is an ideal dish for the elderly and children.
For example, fish, crabs, shellfish and other seafood are very suitable for steaming. Dumplings, buns, steamed buns, steamed cakes, many vegetables such as potatoes, eggplant, kidney beans, pumpkins, etc. are also suitable for steaming that can eliminate the need for additional cooking oil.
Thus reducing the intake of oil and fat. It has a good preventive effect on solving various diseases caused by excessive intake of oil.
Vitamin
According to reports, there are 1 million to 5 million new vitamin A deficiency in the world every year. People consume an average of vitamin B per day, taking only 67% to 83% of the standard amount, and about 60% of people have insufficient vitamin C. Vitamin deficiency can cause dozens of diseases.
Fry and steam will also lose a certain amount of vitamins, but steaming will retain more water-soluble vitamins than cooking.
Prevent Harmful Substances
Scientific research has confirmed that the higher the cooking temperature of food, the more carcinogenic substances are produced. The more difficult it is to be digested, absorbed and metabolized by the human body.
The low-temperature cooking methods, such as steaming, boiling, stewing, etc., are the most beneficial to human health. Because its processing temperature is below 100 °C, it will not produce harmful substances.
Therefore, I should strongly encourage the use of steaming methods to cook food, avoiding the use of high-temperature cooking methods, which not only reduces the harm of carcinogens but also facilitates digestion and absorption.
In particular, children, the elderly and the infirm have a poor immune function and weak detoxification ability. Special attention should be paid to the prevention of harmful factors in food.
Reasons For Steaming
Simple
It is not easy to eat a meal for the modern rush people can calm down and make a meal. They often in a hurry, eat while walking and watching.
Even because of late work and overtime, the dinner is postponed or eaten outside. This will not only affect the health of the gastrointestinal tract but also easy to get fat because the calories of the food are too high.
The steaming process is simple and is not troublesome. Just cut the food into the dish and add a small amount of seasoning and steam.
And in the process of steaming, you can also arrange the time and do other things, such as cleaning, watching TV, etc.
Preserved Original Taste
Steamed food uses steam produced by boiling water so it has a high amount of moisturizes. At the same time, the original taste of the food is preserved which improves the freshness.
When the food is steaming, the food is in a sealed state and does not cause the moisture of the food to be lost and becomes dry.
Preserved Food Nutrition
We all know the foods cooked at high temperatures cause a lot of nutrient loss which is one of the reasons why fried foods are delicious but not healthy.
Under normal conditions, the steam temperature will not exceed 100 °C. The cooking time is short, depending on the food, 5-30 minutes is possible. It can retain 95% of the food itself.
If you fry, oil can reach about300 °C. It greatly destroying 80% of the nutrition in food, vitamins almost completely disappeared.
Research has also proved that steamed food retains more nutrients than any other cooking methods.
Experts believe that the rice, flour, cornmeal use steaming method, its nutrients can be stored more than 95%. If fried, the vitamin B2 and niacin lose about 50%, and vitamin B1 is almost lost.
Similarly, for people with a poor stomach, eating steamed food is easy to be digested and absorbed after entering the stomach.
Less Oil And No Fumes
Steamed food is seasoned with a small amount of oil and most of the time does not even need to be seasoned with oil.
This greatly reduces the amount of oil in the food which is more healthy. The fat content is reduced by 90% or more compared with fried food.
In addition, daily cooking and braised dishes use edible oil may cause soot during the frying process. It not only pollutes the kitchen environment, but excessive inhalation of fumes is also detrimental to the health of the lungs.
Less salt
Compared to other cooking methods, steamed food uses less salt, but uses less salt and does not reduce the saltiness of the food.
Moreover, in the process of steaming, the steamed food is blended with the flavor of the food itself and the flavor of the seasoning to achieve a perfect taste. It is not necessary to add too much salt, and if the intake of salt is too high, it’s not good for the body.
For people with poor cooking skills, steamed food can better preserve the beautiful appearance of the food, the taste is delicious, and the cooking requirements are low.
Therefore, these reasons are enough for us to choose to eat steamed food. And if you want to make your cooking a new level, the food tastes more delicious, so let’s learn some steaming food skills.
Let’s Steam Everything
No matter what kind of food, you can basically steam all of them. When steaming food, it is often made from a variety of vegetables. Potatoes, celery, carrots, eggplant, lotus root, sage, and even wild vegetables are always steamed together.
Steamed vegetables are colorful and fully embody the idea of diversified diets.
Without adding fat, the meat oil will directly penetrate into the vegetables during steaming to enhance the body’s absorption of fat-soluble nutrients.
Steamed Food Tips
Pre-treatment
No matter you want to steam meat or vegetables, the quality of food directly affects whether the food is flavored and whether it can be steamed.
When steaming meat, pay attention to the initial processing. Pay attention to the meat to be cleaned to avoid the residue of animal skin.
Blood should be removed first. It is best to marinate it in advance, and then steam it. You can also add some seasoning after the food is steamed.
Steaming Fish
I personally love steaming fish so much. I think it’s no other way better than steam.
It is necessary to control the steaming time according to the size of the fish. Generally, the fish does not exceed 1 kg of weight. You can choose medium fire for no more than 5-6 minutes.
If the fish is more than 1 kg, the relative time can be extended, and it can be steamed for about 8 minutes.
If the steaming time is too long, it will cause the fish to age and affect the taste.
Reminders
1. The nutritional content of the ingredients themselves. For example, very fat meat (including pork ribs, fat sausages, etc.), chickens, ducks, although there is no additional cooking oil when steaming, the meat itself is very fat that can cause arteriosclerosis. The content of saturated fatty acids is high, such dishes are fat and energy very high, it is better to eat less.
2. The food is first fried and steamed, and the oil is high. For example, some meatballs have been fried first, and there is a lot of fat in the meat. Therefore, despite the steaming method, it is also a high-energy food.
3. The ingredients contain many health-threatening ingredients. For example, salted fish, ham, pickles, etc., the raw materials themselves contain a large amount of nitrite and a large amount of edible salt, these ingredients can not be removed by steaming.
4. Add a lot of cooking oil, sugar, salt, or bean paste, chili sauce, soy sauce, salted pepper and other seasonings with high salt content during steaming. It is best not to add cooking oil to steamed dishes, or to add less. If more oil, sugar or salt is added, it is also unhealthy.
Conclusion
Honestly, I agree with the fried food from the deep fryer is much delicious than steam food. But, in view of healthy, steam food is absolutely better than fried food.
I personally like steam food very much. Fast and convenience are the most important reason. I just only need to add water to my mini hot pot and press the button. After that, I can do other chores. It’s easy to use and easy to wash because of no oil. Just a few minutes. The food is ready.
If you want to be healthier, you can consider trying steam food. If your dishes are bigger, I suggest you buy the food steamer. You can read my post 15 Best Electric Food Steamers to get more ideas.
I hope my post is helpful for all of you making the best and right decision. If you have any questions, please leave them below. I’d like to hear that.
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