5 kitchen mistakes that damage the kidneys
Hello, this is Katherine, welcome to 00Kidney.
There are 5 KIDNEY KILLER MISTAKES you could be making in the kitchen EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU COOK!
Because the wrong way of cooking and preparing foods can make EVEN the healthiest superfood … A CARCINOGEN!
Yes, these mistakes are really dangerous for PEOPLE WITH HEALTHY KIDNEYS TOO.
But they’re especially bad if you have kidney disease.
Behind me, in these bags, ranked from the least dangerous to the most dangerous,
the top 5 mistakes you make in the kitchen that can cost your kidney health.
Question, how do you put a MISTAKE… inside a bag?
Let’s find out, let’s see what’s inside!
Peeling your fruit and vegetables!
Oh, what do we have here…
The peel from carrots, apples, pears… a banana?
Ok, what you may see here are just some peels, ready to be put in the trash can.
What I see instead, is healthy fiber here
Essential vitamins here…
This one is full of copper, an essential nutrient your body uses to fight anemia.
And, many people don’t know this, but the biggest part of the nutrients, vitamins and healthy polyphenols of many veggies and fruit is in the peel.
Yes, you’re throwing away the healthiest part of the fruit when you peel it.
Question, do you know anyone who peels their fruit and veggies? Send them this video now, so you can help them improving their health!
But how much does keeping the peel really help?
Let’s make a practical example.
Fiber.
Getting the right amount of fiber EVERY SINGLE DAY is one of the best things you can do if you want to lower your creatinine and get back some kidney function.
And if you want to stay healthy in general.
Fiber won’t just keep you regular, it fights diabetes, cholesterol… it can even improve your heart health.
Now, to get these benefits you need between 25 and 50 grams of fiber per day.
That’s a lot.
And, if you peel an apple, you’ll get just 2 grams of fiber from it.
But if you eat it with the peel, you’ll get more than twice than this.
And this is true for a lot of fruit and vegetables, ok?
So, never peel your fruit and veggies, when it’s reasonable.
Yes, this doesn’t apply to bananas.
And, by the way, if you want to know how to get more fiber in your diet, watch this video up here.
Or bookmark it for later, because our number 4 is really dangerous.
There’s an item in your kitchen that can put you at risk FOR HEAVY METAL POISONING!
Let’s see how to avoid this dangerous mistake!
Cooking with aluminum!
If you frequently cook in aluminum cookware, or use this, I may have bad news.
Cooking with aluminum pans or pots, using aluminum foil and drinking out of aluminum bottles has been linked with neurological health issues.
Ok, I know what you may say now, this is just the umpteenth health risk inflated by media, alright?
And, while you may be PARTIALLY right about this, if you have kidney disease, WAIT before you shrug off the danger of cooking with aluminum.
Now, the problem with aluminum is that it can build up in the body and start to become toxic when it reaches a certain threshold, ok?
Guess what’s the organ in your body supposed to prevent aluminum from reaching that threshold?
Right, the kidneys.
Poorly functioning kidneys, won’t clear aluminum as well from the body, so more ends up accumulating in your system.
This makes people who have kidney disease more vulnerable to aluminum toxicity.
Now, don’t just go throwing away all your old pots and pans, there are still things you can do to minimize your intake, ok?
First of all, avoid cooking with acidic foods such as tomatoes and lemon in aluminum.
So, if you’re marinating some fish in lemon for example, do it in iron cast cookware instead of aluminum: this way iron will leak into your food.
And while aluminum is dangerous, iron will help you fight anemia and fatigue.
That’s a nice kidney health tip, isn’t it?
Now, maybe the best tip to avoid aluminum, also good for your kidney health generally, is to avoid or reduce your intake of processed food.
Food additives containing aluminum are present in many processed foods, including baked goods made with self-rising flours.
Not very healthy for your kidneys.
So maybe don’t throw away all your aluminum cookware, but next time you buy a skillet, get an iron cast
one.
And, talking about DANGEROUS cooking methods, the next MISTAKE is maybe the most FREQUENT way of transforming healthy dishes… INTO CARCINOGENS!
How? Let’s see what’s inside!
Hitting the smoke point of oils!
But wait, wasn’t olive oil healthy?
Yes, but not if you cook with it!
All fats, including the oils you typically use in the kitchen, have a smoke point.
If you hit the smoke point, several bad things are going to happen.
Your food will taste bad. Your kitchen will stink.
And, most of all, you will turn your nutritious olive oil into a carcinogen, a true health hazard.
Yes, you heard me right, the wrong way of cooking olive oil can increase your chances of getting cancer.
How? When you hit the smoke point, one byproduct oil makes is acrolein.
Acrolein is very dangerous, it can bind to amino acids and DNA in your body and cause changes in the DNA itself.
This is what a carcinogen does… THIS IS A REAL KIDNEY KILLER MISTAKE.
Even the smoke this oil makes is toxic.
And, obviously, you’re destroying a lot of the healthy phytochemicals and nutrients present in olive oil, for example.
Now, the smoke point is around the time when your oil begins to produce smoke.
And a lot of people don’t know this, so you see recipes on the internet and guides suggesting to cook foods at very high temperatures.
How can you avoid hitting the oil’s smoke point?
Avoid deep frying and other high heat cooking methods.
Because, if you cook with your kidney health in mind, deep frying is not recommended.
It’s a lot better to prefer low to moderate heat cooking methods such as baking, roasting at moderate heat and sauteing.
Then, use the right oil for cooking.
Nutrient-rich, organic oils like nut, seed and olive oils have lower smoke points and are better for finishing or low-heat purposes, ok?
And never cook with extra virgin olive oil.
Virgin or raw oils have lots of compounds that contribute to the health benefits, but they tend to burn, making the smoke point lower.
So, if you use it for cooking, get standard olive oil. Not the extra virgin one.
If you use it for seasoning, get extra virgin olive oil.
And talking about cooking methods, the next one is really scary, at leas for some people!
Fearing the microwave
Wait, are microwaves bad for your health?
Some people think that microwaves somehow make food less healthy by zapping the nutrients out of food.
They think that microwaves actually irradiate foods or something like that.
So, are these doubts about microwaves legit?
Well, the use of microwave ovens is really widespread.
This means that there should be enough evidence out there, to tell us if they are safe or not.
Now, to understand what makes a way of cooking healthy or dangerous we should take a look at how it damages the nutrients in food.
Because some nutrients break down when they’re exposed to heat, whether it is from a microwave or a regular oven.
Vitamin C is perhaps the clearest example.
The more the heat you apply over time, the more Vitamin C you lose.
But because microwave cooking times are shorter, cooking with a microwave does a better job of preserving vitamin C and other nutrients.
So, the cooking method that best retains nutrients is one that cooks quickly, heats food for the shortest amount of time, and uses as little liquid as possible.
Microwaving MEETS those criteria.
Using the microwave with a small amount of water, essentially steams food from the inside out.
That keeps-in more vitamins and minerals than almost any other cooking method, ok?
This shows us microwave food can indeed be healthy.
And what about the radiation microwaves produce?
Microwaves radiations are just as dangerous as the light emitted from a bulb. I wouldn’t worry about it.
That’s why I always use the microwave when I can.
But I would definitely worry about the next mistake, the most dangerous of this video!
Forgetting spices
Uh, spices! Almost forgot about them! Yes, that would have been a very dangerous mistake!
You see, spices are really great!
Spices don’t just add flavor to your meals without adding extra fat, salt or sugar.
Spices are also healthy!
Cinnamon, for example, can lower your blood sugar!
Ginger can relieve nausea and garlic can boost your immunity!
And most of all, they can really help you avoiding to add salt to your dishes.
This makes forgetting about spices the most dangerous mistake of today’s video!
Want to know everything about what the healthiest spices are?
Watch this video!
And if you want to watch my other top 5s, click here!
This is all for today, thank you for watching!
About the Author
Michaelw Hi, my name is Michael and in this blog I'm gonna share the story of how I got off kidney dialysis for good. Getting off dialysis isn't easy at all, and that's why I'm trying to help people as much as I can.
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