Cooking mix needs recipe fix

Cooking is a fine science similar to pharmaceutical one. The difference is that we do not mix drugs ourselves and trust this business to the professionals, while in cooking we have to rely exclusively on ourselves. In the meantime, basic knowledge of chemistry and medicine would be useful for any responsible cook.

This is the knowledge that products matching is based on, and it will help you make your food the most healthful and safe.

Recommended

Grilled meat with broccoli

The "arithmetic" of healthfulness of one or another combination is extremely simple. Grilled meat is one of the major carcinogens on our table that largely increases the risk of developing stomach and intestinal cancer. Broccoli, in turn, lowers the risk and even has the ability to remove harmful carcinogens from the body.

Grilled fish and marinade

Marinating is also able to protect fish and meat dishes from the formation of carcinogens. Meat and poultry should be marinated in vinegar, tomato paste, and spice mixtures for 30-60 minutes before cooking, while fish can be simply marinated in soy sauce or already prepared marinade during cooking.

Liver with potatoes

Beef and pork liver are the best natural sources of iron. This mineral is necessary for normal hematopoiesis, as well as for transporting oxygen throughout the body, but, unfortunately, it is iron deficiency that occurs most frequently. First, we receive extremely small amounts of iron with food, and secondly, only about 8% of it is digested.

Therefore, the compatibility of iron-rich products should be given special attention. Vitamin C improves iron absorption. It is found in citrus fruits, berries, tomatoes and potatoes. Choose which of these products taste better with liver, but tomatoes and potatoes seem to be the simplest and most obvious options.

Peppers with vegetable oil

Vitamin A contained in yellow and orange vegetables and fruit is fat-soluble, which means it is digested in the presence of any fat. This is why carrot juice is recommended with a small amount of cream, but if you do not have a juicer, this drink could be expensive. There are more affordable - and no less tasty - ways to get a required dose of vitamin A. For example, grate some carrots, add a few raisins and a spoonful of sour cream. Or cut sweet pepper, cabbage and onions into thin slices and dress with salt, sugar and vegetable oil.

Scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes

This is not just tasty and nourishing: onions and tomatoes are among the few suppliers of selenium. This mineral is important for maintaining sexual health, especially for men, since there is evidence that selenium is lost at each ejaculation of seminal fluid.

Selenium is processed by the body most efficiently in combination with vitamin E, when both substances are supplied to the body at the same time. Eggs, greens and vegetable oil are excellent sources of vitamin E. Fry some eggs and add the named ingredients. Keep in mind that tomatoes and onions cannot be pre-fried, and eggs should be on the pan for no longer than one or two minutes. Lengthy cooking destroys both selenium and vitamin E.

Mushrooms with arugula and nuts

Sulforaphane has triple healthful effect - anticancer, antidiabetic and antibacterial. It is found mostly in cabbage, but its largest amounts can be found in arugula, very expensive and uniquely tasting type of greens. To save yourself the trouble of eating pounds of it, beneficial effect can be strengthened as much as by 13 times (!) by adding it to a salad combined with mushrooms and cashew nuts. These foods contain selenium, which repeatedly improves absorption of sulforaphane.

Not recommended

Ground meat with olive oil

Watching the ads, many housewives were quick to replace the sunflower oil with olive oil because the latter supposedly does not contain cholesterol, but on the contrary, contributes to lowering of its level. To begin with, no vegetable oil can contain cholesterol in principle. As for the beneficial properties of olive oil, they "die" as soon as the miracle oil gets onto a pan.

Do not waste your money and just add olive oil in salads. Burger patties are better thoroughly steamed and baked in the oven, because oil produces carcinogens when fried.

Rye bread with coffee

Sandwich on rye or whole grain bread is a great lunch rich in vitamins and minerals. A cup of coffee is full of antioxidants that protect us from cancer and premature aging. There is one issue: caffeine prevents the absorption of many nutrients, which means all your efforts to eat healthfully will be in vain.

Alcohol with Coke

Even ladies who watch their weight sometimes allow themselves to have a drink. Yet, at the same time, they do not forget to count calories and dilute liquor with diet coke or other sodas.

In terms of weight loss, it may be the right thing to do, except that such sugar free soda is very rapidly absorbed by the intestines and contributes to faster processing of alcohol. As a result, the number of ppm in your blood is much higher than if you drank a sweet cocktail. This means that intoxication will be stronger, and the hangover will certainly be tougher.

Peanuts with beer

This legume (peanuts refers specifically to the family of legumes, not nuts) combines a large amount of vitamins B, E, PP, and D, as well as minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, manganese, phosphorus and iron. Yet, alcohol destroys most of these nutrients, so if you are accustomed to eating peanuts only as a beer snack it will not do you much good.

Alexander Rylov
Medpulse

Read the original in Russian