Deep frying vs Air frying - what’s the real truth?

It’s the season of chai-pakodas and we love our deep fried foods, but fear eating them due to concerns like weight gain, diabetes, cholesterol, pimples or just plain misconception that fried is bad. So what do we do instead? We ditch deep frying and go for “air frying”. It’s like ditching a man who loves you, makes time for you, looks after your needs, respects your family, supports your choices (in short checks all the green flags) for a rich, arrogant, self-obsessed man.

Let’s not do that to our beloved fried foods. Here are some hard facts on why deep frying is good and air frying is not -

1. Deep frying prevents overeating. Fats help provide satiety. Since air frying lacks fat, there is delayed satiety leading to overeating. This then results in bloating and weight gain.
   

2. Oil helps in Vit D absorption. Vit D is a fat soluble vitamin and without adequate essential fats in our diet, there will be no Vit D absorption. Vit D deficiency is linked to health issues like hormonal imbalance, poor immunity, poor bone strength, poor gut health, poor cholesterol and blood sugar regulation.
   

3. Deep frying prevents constipation. An important function of fats is to maintain the inner mucosal lining of our digestive tract. This ensures smooth breakdown and passage of food, thereby facilitating easy bowel clearance.
   

4. Fat lowers the glycemic index of a meal. Those with Diabetes must have the snack deep fried only, to ensure slow and steady blood sugar response. Air frying, on the other hand, has a higher blood sugar response.
   

5. What about cholesterol? One major risk factor associated with high cholesterol is Vit D deficiency. Without essential fats, there will be no Vit D sufficiency and your cholesterol regulation will remain a challenge.

Remember, it’s not the food, but the fear of food that is bad. So enjoy your deep fried snack without fear, as the season won’t last forever.

Cautions to take when eating deep fried foods -

1. Do not refrigerate and reheat a fried snack. Reheating destroys nutrients.

2. Do not go for partially fried snacks preserved in cold storage (eg. frozen French fries).

3. Do not go for packaged and processed fried foods like chips, sev, soya sticks etc. They are typically cooked in poor quality palm oil.

4. Do not use vegetable oil, refined oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, rice bran oil, canola oil or olive oil. Go for the traditional cold-pressed oils like mustard oil, groundnut oil, coconut oil, sesame oil (depending on the region you come from), or simply ghee.

5. Do not reuse the oil for cooking. You can use it for head massages or skin application instead.

#simple #sensible #sustainable

Chhavi Goel

Conscious Nutrition

+91 8169769392

www.chhavigoel.in