BEST COOKING METHODS TO LOSE WEIGHT

To say that people are concerned by their appearances and their weights and their shapes is probably an understatement. To say that people are always trying to learn methods and techniques to lose weight is probably a bigger understatement (in my research for this article, a friend provided me with data that monthly search for keyword weight loss on Google is approx. 2 million times and if you put fast or rapid as a prefix to it, things get really crazy!).

Probably, the biggest understatement of them all is considering weight loss as a simple process of creating an energy imbalance of losing more and gaining less. Yes, this simple statement is absolutely true and fundamental but unfortunately this is the point where all the simplicity ends as how this imbalance can be created and sustained is as complex as the human body itself is. A testament to this complexity is the fact that after 100’s of years of scientific research on the subject, the only validated agreed upon consensus is that one needs to lose weight to become healthy!

The truth is that lose weight is a very individual phenomenon and requires tailor made routines and efforts as everything doesn't work for everyone. Think of it as a battle in which you have to use everything small or large to your advantage. Whether its portion control, calorie distribution, exercise, switching to natural raw veggies and fruits etc., every action counts and creates an impact and this compound impact basically will do the job in the end.

One of the little things that we can use to our advantage is the choice of cooking methods for food preparation. The purpose of this article is to present a simplified approach to cooking methods that will help you understand how to cook intelligently and use cooking to your advantage for losing weight.

How cooking effects food and weight loss?

Whenever food is cooked, there will be some loss of nutrients in the food and secondly, caloric value of the food changes. For purpose of simplicity, we will ignore the changes to the nutritional make-up of the food and focus on the caloric changes that cooking incurs.
Basically, we can divide cooking methods into following categories:

1. cooking with oil like frying.

2. cooking with dry heat with roasting, grilling.

3. cooking with wet heat like steaming. 

The effect of cooking on 100 grams of skinless chicken breast

What has happened?

What happens during cooking is that calories are added to the food in form of fat as the cooking material. Fat has the most calories among the food groups so much so that 1 gram of fat gives 9.2 kcal that is twice more than carbohydrates and proteins give at 4.1 kcal/ gram. So it’s not at all surprising that cooking method involving the most usage of oil is giving the maximum number of calories. This clearly shows that best method of cooking is steaming.

How this will impact weight lose?

Let’s do some maths:

100 grams of skinless raw chicken has 116 kcal.

100 grams of steamed chicken has 150 kcal or 34 more calories.

100 grams of fried chicken has 198 kcal or 82 more calories.

Average consumption of chicken in USA in a year is 27.50 chickens.

Average consumption of chicken in a month is 27.50/12=2.2 chickens.

Average weight of a chicken is 850 grams.

Calories in 1 chicken skinless raw is 986 kcal.

Calories in 1 steamed chicken are 1275 kcal i.e. 425 kcal more.

Calories in 1 fried chicken are 1683 kcal i.e. 697 kcal more.

Calories from raw chicken in a month is 986x2.2=2169 kcal.

Calories from steamed chicken in a month is 1275x2.2=2805 kcal.

Calories from fried chicken in a month is 1683x2.2=3702 kcal.

Calories saved just by cooking chicken intelligently every month is 3702-2805=897 kcal.

People never like statistics but irony of life is that they do make sense especially when one considers weight loss diet plans.

This was calorie saving for one edible only. Imagine if you start cooking all your food by steaming, you will save tons of calories eventually losing weight and getting fitter will become inevitable.