No-Fry Zone: A Healthier Way to Cook

The next stop on the non-toxic train? Cooking in your kitchen. Cooking oils and fat from foods can create unhealthy air pollutants, especially at high temperatures. Poor ventilation can add to the problem. If you have a range hood (responsible for removing toxic pollutants and gasses from the air), make sure it vents to the outdoors and always use it when cooking. Cooking on the back burners helps, too, because the range hood typically exhausts this area more effectively. If you don’t have a range hood, turn on a room exhaust fan and open windows while cooking. Cooking at lower temperatures and avoiding frying can help to reduce the
amount of pollution generated, too. And it could help you live longer for other reasons: a new study reports that regularly eating fried food is linked with a heightened risk of death.