The world is replete with information about healthy foods, ranging from whole food diets to healthy diet recipes that promise to help you lose weight. However, while these are certainly important topics, the way in which you cook your food is also vital. Healthy cooking means knowing the drawbacks to many of the standard ways in which we cook in the modern world and learning how to avoid it. What should you know about more healthful cooking?

Avoid the Frying Pan

Of course, this advice has been touted for decades. Everyone knows that fried foods are bad for them – but they’re just so darn good. From fried chicken to grilled cheese sandwiches, anything that comes from the frying pan almost has to be good. However, it is essential that you stop eating fried foods immediately. If there is one single most important step in healthy cooking, it is eliminating the use of the frying pan in your food preparation.

Bake the Right Way

Baking has long been proffered as a better option than frying. You will even find baking coatings designed to mimic the delightful crust achievable only with a frying pan. However, baking is not as healthy as you might believe. If you do it correctly, though, it can be a good way to get into healthy cooking. When you bake, make sure that you place your food on a rack within the baking pan. This keeps it out of the rendered fat and juice that will accumulate at the bottom of the pan and increases the healthfulness of your meal.

Learn to Steam

If you don’t like the taste of vegetables, it might just be the way that you’re making them. Don’t boil that squash – put it in the steamer. Most people find that healthy cooking is a difficult task to master when the food is unpalatable. However, if you begin steaming your veggies, rather than boiling them, you will find that they are much tastier than you imagined. You should also opt for fresh vegetables, rather than canned. If possible, buy your veggies from a local farmer, or head to your local farmers market to peruse their offerings. Fresh vegetables are always better tasting and will help you stay the course with healthy cooking.

There are other tips for healthier cooking, such as avoiding the grill, not using butter and other essential information, but the above will help you get started on the right foot.