Why trying out oil-free cooking?
There is evidence that reducing or cutting out oil in total has improved patients with heart disease, autoimmune disease and cancer. It is also a great tool for patients that like to lose weight as the cutting out of oil and any other food in this category like nuts, seeds and avocado supports with losing weight. Patients that follow this approach have reported that the excess weight easily falls off them.
And often we are not aware that most of the food we eat contains a substantial amount of oil. This excess of oil can be an empty filler, add calories, have no nutritional benefit, and may even cause substantial health issues. Cooking without oil unleashes the natural flavours of food and can offer incredible health benefit as it makes our food lighter.
Again, as with many things, if you are using Extra Virgin Olive Oil in moderation, meaning in small amounts and not drenching your food with it, as well as having none of the above concerns, it won’t be any issue.
Why cook without oil?
A whole food, plant-based diet (WFPB) does not recommend using any oil in food. The reasons are that it is a source of concentrated fats without any nutritional value. When we extract oil from seeds, the nutritional benefits are left behind in the discarded solids. Looking at nutritional labels of any oil will show that there are no vitamins or minerals in the oil unless added.
Research has shown that oil can cause arterial stiffening., interfere with our digestive system and results in an overload of un-needed calories as one tablespoon of oil has ~ 130 calories and 14 g of fat. So, cooking without oil can make your food taste less greasy and less heavy.
Cookware
There is a lot of non-stick cookware available that can support when cooking without oil.
My favourite is the stone/granite coated cookware that is widely available for a very affordable price. But even stainless steel can work as well as enamel coated (they are very sensitive and require a lot more care), and the more expensive diamond coated cookware.
I personally don’t like the Teflon coated cookware due to the chemicals it contains and the risk of flaking and leaching into food.
For baking, besides the normal bakeware and use of single use baking paper products, there is now more and more silicon-based bakeware available that works very well.
How to Cook Oil-Free
Cooking oil-free is not difficult at all and we have recipe E-books available which contain recipes that are all prepared oil-free.
Whether I am sautéing vegetables or making a quick stir fry for dinner, the technique is simple and always the same.
I often start with minced lemongrass and minced garlic with a tiny amount of water in my pan when preparing a stir fry. If you add onions, they also contain essential oils that allow frying with very little added water. So, you can brown the herbs and vegetables like onion, capsicum and carrots first and then add a little amount of water or vegetable broth or vegetable water (you kept when steaming veggies) and afterwards add the vegetables you would like to have in your stir-fry. As with any cooking, you start with the veggies that need longer cooking then step by step the ones that need less or very little cooking.
Roasting veggies works well with baking paper on the tray and sure, it needs more fine tuning to master how long the baking process should be, so regular checking is the answer.
One of the main differences when cooking without oil would be that you have to stay present and can’t walk away as you need to monitor your food which might need water added when required.
Using an air fryer is also a way of preparing delicious food with a crunch – it’s crispy and very tasty.
Air fryers are like a small oven so they can make the surface of your food crispier in less time. They work very well and everybody who knows me is well aware I am a fan of the air fryer and use it for many different foods, from preparing purple sweet potato slices and chips, crispy tofu and whole baby pumpkins, to heating up wraps and more.
When baking without oil and a moist texture is needed, unsweetened apple sauce/puree works well as does sweet potato and pumpkin puree.
With desserts, toppings and creams, besides the above, silken soft tofu and chia seeds can be great alternatives and keep the dishes lighter.
There are also many oil-free salad dressings that can prepared with the silken tofu.
It’s easy and worth giving it a go if you feel you need to keep your food lighter. Enjoy
References:
- Dr Esselstyn ‘How to prevent and reverse heart disease’ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPeLgcyJ2Y8&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0HWXgMN_4sN3sAD0Qc4qeFmRfivMKTCsWp0RFydaFlRwqsQLrUbv4Bgkw
- Cooking without oil with Chef AJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9t5hIo4mKE
For recipe ideas look at our recipe e-books here
