Tag Archives: weight management

Questions & Answers

Cooking Methods for Weight Loss

What’s the best cooking method for weight loss?

It’s important to know the best way to cook food in order to maintain vital nutrients.

If you search online, you’ll probably find that microwave cooking is described as the “ultimate” way to cook. However, I’m not a fan of microwave cooking. I prefer to steam and stir-fry foods.

Boiling is not a really good food preparation technique. Boiling almost guarantees that nutrients will be lost during the cooking process. It’s estimated that 35 to 65% of nutrient loss occurs by boiling food.

I also think boiled vegetables, boiled potatoes, and a slab of meat is a bland and boring way to eat.

Steaming is a much better way to prepare food as the nutrient loss is only 10 to 15%. I prefer steaming my vegetables very lightly.

You should always be looking for ways to cook without destroying the valuable nutrients. For example, if we look at folic acid, it’s a vitamin that is exceptionally easy to degrade. Deep greens should be minimally processed to avoid this degradation. Folate is essential for cancer prevention, so protect it, if at all possible.

Further readings:

My general philosophy is to cook for less time, cook smaller portion sizes, and cook for flavor.

In terms of cooking for weight loss, the best method is the quickest with the lowest heat that can achieve a satisfactory product.

Personally, I don’t have to cook food overly well. I prefer to eat meat that is semi-cooked and still juicy.

Stir-frying is a fantastic technique for weight loss. I love stir-frying using my steel wok and a little bit of sesame oil and the secret ingredient, water.

I will only boil certain tubers, such as sweet potato.

Stewing and grilling are also good options.

In the winter, I recommend hot pot cooking and stewing.

Having flavorful meals is another great weight to encourage weight loss. When food is tasty, it’s more satisfying. Some of the flavors I like are ginger, garlic, lime juice, chili sauce, anchovy sauce, Worchester sauce, and salt and pepper.

Over time, your taste buds will come to appreciate tasty, crunchy food.

Ensure that you are cooking healthy, high fiber foods. This will help you feel full on less food.

And don’t forget to keep your body moving.

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Questions & Answers

Activity: The Key To Weight Management

I’ve read studies that claim genetics can explain why some people never gain weight and others end up obese. But, I’m not buying it.

It wasn’t that long ago that people were slim. It’s over the last sixty years or so that obesity rates have sky-rocketed. There is no way that we’ve had huge change in our gene pool over a few decades. The reason for the obesity epidemic lies somewhere else.

To my mind, one of the main factors that determines body weight is activity level.
People are big all around the world at the moment. 60% of adults in England are overweight. One in four adults are obese.

I think that technology plays a large part in the obesity epidemic. People have slowed down and become inactive.

People like me who remain active their whole life don’t struggle with their weight. I have brothers who aren’t very activite and they are bigger people. They also eat different food than me and spend more time on their screens.

The lifestyle change that has occurred in recent decades underlies weight gain in a lot of people.

When I’m active, I put in significant effort. If I’m in the garden and I see weeds, I’ll make sure I bend down and pick up those weeds, or pick things up. I’ll stretch, I’ll bend, I’ll move, I’ll walk. I do that every single day, and I will do for the rest of my life.

Further readings:

I haven’t met any very active people who are obese. I’ve met some who are overweight, but never obese.

Once you are very large, it can be hard to increase your activity overnight. You have to give it some thought.

To me the most important factors in weight are activity versus passivity and caloric load.

Eating less calories, eating fresh, healthy food, eating smaller portion sizes, and moving your body is the recipe for losing weight.

Of course, there are exceptions. For some people, their weight is impact by an overactive or underactive thyroid. There may be medical conditions that need to be fixed up so that you can lose the weight.

Still, common sense says to me that is lack of activity and lack of understanding food quality and quantity that explains most obesity.

An activity tracker like Fitbit can encourage you to up your activity level. Increasing your activity is going to pay off in the long run. There may be some discomfort at first but you’ll benefit for years to come.

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