Health and Beauty

Health&Beauty

TIME TO PUT A PING! IN IT

Quick, easy – and healthy too!

Whether you’re working your way through Christmas leftovers or cutting down on energy costs, the microwave can be a surprisingly healthy ally, says Dr Tanja Harrison

January can be a challenge, perhaps never more so than this year. We’ve gone all out to make it the best Christmas ever, and now it’s back to the cold reality of rising costs and energy bills. One way to mitigate the worries of choosing between heating the house or heating the oven is to (re-)acquaint yourself with the possibilities of microwave cooking.

Hear me out! Yes, you might remember that back in the 1980s when microwaves became popular, a deluge of cookery books tried to teach us how to make the most of this new and convenient appliance – only to be collecting dust on the shelf soon after. Most of us now only use one to heat up a ready meal or last night’s leftovers for lunch. But your microwave can be an invaluable ally in providing healthy, affordable meals.

Protecting nutrients

During conventional cooking the vitamin content in food can be drastically reduced due to the amount of time it is exposed to heat. Studies have shown that Vitamin C in particular is vulnerable to high temperatures. Microwaving reduces this exposure time and therefore you are not only able to cook your veg quicker (remember to add a little water) but you are also more likely to retain valuable nutrients. This is even more the case when you steam veg in the microwave, using only the minimum water required.

For some vegetables, such as green beans, carrots, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, the antioxidant content can be retained or even increase during microwave cooking. And cooking pre-soaked cereal grains and beans in the microwave can reduce the activity of compounds such as phytates, which reduce absorption of minerals such as iron and zinc in our gut.

Sure, microwave cooking won’t brown your food – you won’t get the same roasted flavours from meat, or lovely golden toast. However, it can be useful when negotiating your Sunday roast or finishing your cheese on toast. The trick is knowing what works best for each part of the meal on your plate.

Preserve those antioxidants

“Phyates can reduce absorption of iron and zinc in the gut”

Take a refresher course…

To get started, download the BBC’s handy guide (bbc.co.uk/food/articles/healthy_ microwave_meals) and then blow the dust off that cookery book on the top shelf! Dr Tanja Harrison, is a registered nutritionist and Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Chester

MYTH BUSTER

No bones about it, there are some weird and wonderful theories about our human skeleton. Let’s crack a few…

There’s nothing funny about a funny bone

TRUE – Anyone who has ever banged their elbow on exactly the most uncomfortable point will know it wasn’t hilarious. If you’ve ever fallen on your elbow, chances are you didn’t laugh either, as it really hurts – but it can do so in an unusual way, causing a ‘funny-peculiar’ sensation you don’t normally feel. That’s one reason why it’s called a funny bone. The other is because the sensation you feel is actually caused by the ulnar nerve in your elbow rubbing against the humerus (hence, ‘funny’ ) bone, which extends from your elbow to your shoulder.

A fracture is less serious than a broken bone

MYTH – Many people believe this, but in reality the two are identical. Severe fractures can result in a bone breaking into two or more separate pieces. Minor fractures involve a crack in a bone that remains intact, and are sometimes called ‘hairline fractures’ – but all need proper care and medical attention to heal properly.

Babies have more bones than adults

This is actually TRUE. When you’re born, you have about 300 bones. By the time you’re an adult, you’ve only got 206. The reason is that as babies grow, some of their bones fuse together. Some infant bones are made entirely of soft, flexible tissue called cartilage, which is slowly replaced by hard bone as the baby develops.

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