Fitness and Health: A Practical Guide to Nutrition, Exercise and Avoiding Disease

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process. Most supplements don’t use foods carefully con-
centrated because they cost up to 10 times the prices of
foods dried with high heat. The most common process is
a high-heat (400° F) process.

Kitchen Tips and Equipment
Preparing food should be enjoyable and result in delicious meals. A
problem for many people is they are not familiar with real food
preparation, or don’t have the right tools to make the work easy.
While there’s nothing like experience, jump right in. Here are some
helpful tips.
A well-stocked kitchen also contains various hand utensils, elec-
tric items and other gadgets to accomplish interesting things. For
example, a simple spiral vegetable slicer can create long thin
“spaghetti-like” pieces of raw zucchini. Top it with a beef and tomato
sauce for a delicious Italian meal.
Other useful utensils include a mandolin slicer, glass bowls for
mixing and storing, wooden cutting boards, high-quality knives, a
garlic press, a grater (including a fine one for fresh ginger), a citrus
peel slicer, and a small hand citrus juicer for use in recipes.
In addition, the two most frequently used appliances in my
kitchen are a food processor (I have a Cuisinart but any good brand
will work) and a very good blender (I have a Vita-Mix). If you’re buy-
ing organic meat in bulk, a grinder (to make fresh ground meat)
and/or a slicer is very useful.
Glass and heavy-duty stainless steel pots and pans provide the
cookware. Avoid all aluminum, copper and non-stick products due to
the potential for food contamination. Iron cookware is also good
except avoid using high-acid foods in them, including tomato and
vinegar.


Shopping for Health
An important step you can take for better dietary habits is to proper-
ly shop for the food items that will bring about the greatest health.
Bad food has less of a chance of getting into your body if it never gets
into your grocery cart. With proper planning, you can make sure only
healthy items get into your cart and your body.


164 • IN FITNESS AND IN HEALTH

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