Healthy or unhealthy?
Do you ever have doubts about the healthyness of microwave food? There is no need for that: food from the microwave is healthy. However, you do have to pay attention to a number of things, such as what you prepare in the microwave and how you do it.
In our fast-paced society you can rightly call the microwave a super invention. You can prepare all kinds of dishes with it in no time. The electromagnetic waves with which the microwave heats your meal will do you and your meal no harm. Although scientists in the alternative circuit think otherwise.
Healthier
In general, microwaved food is even slightly healthier than food prepared differently. For example, when you cook broccoli, a lot of vitamin C is lost in the water. If you cook it in a microwave, no water is involved at all. All vitamins that normally dissolve in the water are therefore neatly preserved.
Not much salt and little fat
There are other benefits of cooking food in the microwave:
• You do not need a lot of salt and that is good for your health. Dishes that you prepare in the microwave have more flavor than when you cook them. The reason: When cooking, you throw away a lot of the flavorings along with the cooking water.
• You use less fat, because you do not need packets of margarine in a microwave.
In short, preparing food in the microwave is very healthy. However, you do have to pay attention to a number of things, such as what you prepare in the microwave and how you do it.
What do you and can’t you prepare in the microwave?
You can prepare many different things in the microwave. Basically anything that you can normally cook, steam or poach, you can also prepare in the microwave. Chicken, minced meat, fish and all kinds of vegetables can be easily prepared in the microwave. You can also heat up previously prepared dishes or defrost food from the freezer.
What you should not prepare in the microwave is egg. To avoid unwanted popping effects, it is better to keep cooking or baking your egg!
How do you prepare your food in the microwave?
It is important to cover your food well in the microwave. You have special microwave dishes for it. If you don’t cover your food, it dries out quickly and that makes the food less tasty.
Even more important is that you put small portions in the microwave and stir them regularly. Only then can you be sure that you heat all your food properly. Put your excess in the microwave and forget to stir in the meantime, there is a chance that spots in your food will remain cold. That is not tasty and can also be unhealthy.
You should pay attention to this, especially with meat dishes. For example, if you don’t properly heat parts of your chicken piece, bacteria can remain in that chicken. These bacteria can make you very sick!
Extra attention: ready meals
Ready meals are a special case. In addition to being shockingly expensive, they’re usually not nearly as healthy as home-cooked microwaved meals.
For example, the manufacturer has often added a lot of salt to it. In addition, the meal can contain a lot of unhealthy saturated fat. Also, there are often not enough vegetables in it. You should eat 250 grams of vegetables every day, but you can’t do that with the average ready meal.
So take a good look at the label in the store to see how much salt, saturated fat and vegetables the ready meal contains. If the dish has less than 3 grams of salt, less than 20 grams of saturated fat and more than 200 grams of vegetables, you know you are buying a healthy meal.
