The western diet includes a variety of fried food items with high-fat content and calories, leading to high blood cholesterol, hypertension, and other chronic diseases. French fries, chicken wings, potato chips, etc., are unhealthy food items, causing various illnesses. However, these food items are irresistible.
The good news is that you can use air fryers for cooking these food items without worrying about high-fat content and calories because these machines do not require you to add a large quantity of oil or submerge the food. In addition, you can follow various popular diet trends and cook food using your air frying machine.
What is an Air Fryer?
Summary
An air fryer is an advanced kitchen appliance. It has become popular in recent years because it enables people to cook, bake, fry, or roast food without using too much oil. The air fryer produces heat and circulates hot air at high speed to cook the food, leading to more crispiness, brownness, and tenderness.
Using a spatula to turn the food every five to ten minutes is crucial to achieving equal browning and crispiness. Experts recommend spraying the food with nonstick spray or use one to two tablespoons of oil to prevent sticking. You can cook a wide range of food items in your air fryer, including sweet potato fries, tempura-style vegetables, shrimp, dumplings, French fries, turkey bacon, vegan dishes, appetizers, and much more.
Popular Diet Trends
A balanced diet is essential to your health. Health professionals recommend consuming a healthy diet to prevent your body from chronic diseases, such as high blood cholesterol, type-2 diabetes, stress, depression, poor metabolism, and cardiovascular conditions. Some of the popular diet trends that will have your air fryer always cooking are:
Vegetarian Diet
A vegetarian diet is one of the healthiest and most popular diet trends in 2021. Millions of people in the U.S and other countries follow vegetarian diets to improve their health and achieve weight loss goals.
A vegetarian diet is purely based on plant-based food items while eliminating animal-based products, including eggs and dairy items, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. Likewise, following a vegetarian diet means eliminating food items like seafood and chicken from your daily diet regimen.
On the other hand, you can eat a variety of veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and legumes. Remember, you must also avoid consuming fruit juices, refined grains, and drinks with added sugar to prevent diseases. Some of the best food items to cook using an air fryer while following the most popular diet trends like vegetarian are:
- Brussels sprouts
- Air fried Tofu
- Fried mushrooms
- Air fried potatoes
- Avocado Tacos
- Kale Chips
- Sweet potato fries
Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is one of the most popular diet trends, requiring you to consume veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, grains, fish, and olive oil. Bear in mind that olive oil is the most popular ingredient use for various food items cooked in an air fryer.
Besides, the Mediterranean diet does not involve white pasta, pizza dough, refined oils, and white bread. So, you must no eat these foods. Likewise, it is crucial to avoid canola oil and soybean if you want to improve your health.
Mediterranean diet also focuses on healthy ingredients like onions, garlic cloves, cherry tomatoes, mixed peppers, eggplant, and zucchini. You can cook different foods using these ingredients to improve your health and reduce the risk of metabolic disorders and cardiovascular conditions.
Low-Calorie Diet
A low-calorie diet is specifically designed for people with health improvement and weight loss goals, making it one of the most popular diet trends worldwide. While it is challenging to maintain a low-calorie diet, you can save time and effort by using an air fryer and streamline the entire process.
Remember, this kind of diet focuses on reducing fat content, and an air fryer is an excellent appliance to cut back on fats and calories, leading to a healthy body and mind. Studies show that people in the U.S eat more fried foods than any other country, increasing the risk of obesity and hypertension.
Air fryers allow people to consume fried foods but with fewer calories and fat content. Thus, it is a healthy product you must invest in if you want to achieve your health goals. Let us talk about the health benefits of a low-calorie diet.
Healthy Weight Management
Air fryers allow you to prepare healthy food items and maintain your weight. These appliances do not restrict you from consuming fried food. Unlike a deep frying machine that uses a lot of oil for frying, cooking, and baking, an air fryer requires no more than two tablespoons of oil.
In addition, most of the food items you cook in an air fryer do not require oil. Yet, you can achieve the same crispiness, brownness, and deliciousness. So, if you want to lose weight, investing in a quality air fryer is worth it.
Prevent Carcinogenic Substances
Research shows that certain chemicals are intrinsic ingredients or constituents of food items like mushrooms and hydrazines that can cause cancer. In addition, polychlorinated biphenyls and aflatoxin B1 are carcinogenic substances found in various food items made with some cooking appliances, increasing the risk of cancer in multiple organs.
Because an air fryer uses hot air to cook food, the intense heat kills carcinogenic substances or chemicals, reducing the risk of various cancer types. However, it is crucial to clean your air fryer before and after use by following the manufacturer’s instructions.
According to the U.S National Toxicology Program, acrylamide is a human carcinogen that causes cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency states that acrylamide can also increase the risk of various other chronic health conditions.
Some health reports highlight that deep-frying machines can increase the risk of acrylamide formation, leading to cancer development, such as breast and prostate cancer. On the other hand, air frying machines can significantly decrease the risk of acrylamide and other carcinogenic chemicals. Thus, not only does an air fryer lead to a low-calorie diet, but it also protects you from life-threatening diseases.
