How you prepare your food is just as important as
what you eat.

You can start with the highest quality organic produce,
grass-fed meats, and wild-caught fish... but if you
cook it the wrong way, you might kill off many of
the natural nutrients and antioxidants.

Today, I'll take you through some of the most popular
methods for preparing food, and how each one affects
the power and potency of your favorite foods.

And I'll introduce you to a new kitchen technology
that I've been using.

It's a convenient, accurate, and remarkably easy
way of cooking that not only locks in nutrients
and eliminates excess trans fat and cholesterol, but
actually makes cooking less of a chore, and a lot
more fun.

First, here are some of most popular ways of preparing
food, and what you can expect from each:

Microwaving: Using a microwave is easily the most
destructive way of preparing food. In fact, microwaves
were banned in Russia for two decades because of
studies showing how nutrients are killed off when
your food is "irradiated."

The mineral content is mostly unchanged, but water-
soluble nutrients like your B vitamins, vitamin C,
and a host of powerful antioxidants are easily
destroyed. Microwaving also breaks down
essential proteins, destroys up to 97% of all
nutrients in vegetables, and accelerates the structural
disintegration of all foods.

Boiling: By far the most intense form of cooking,
boiling results in the loss of 10% to 25% of all nutrients,
along with most of the mineral content. There are a
few advantages, however. Boiling gets rid of some
"anti-nutrients" you don't want, likeoxalates in some
vegetables, which contribute to kidney stones. And
some vegetables, like carrots, maintain a higher
level of antioxidants when boiled, while preserving
more nutrients like vitamin A.

Roasting: Baking and roasting is a double-edged sword.
While most water-soluble vitamins are better preserved,
and the process is more gentle than other methods,
baking and roasting can increase the formation of
AGEs (Advanced Glycation End-products), which
create oxidative stress and accelerate aging in your body.

Steaming: A favorite for food purists, steaming is one
of the best ways of preserving the nutrients in your food.
Even vitamin C, which is fragile when exposed to heat,
is retained in vegetables when steamed. So much so, the
antioxidant content of most vegetables actually goes up
after steaming. The only downside is texture. Steaming,
unless you're very careful, usually turns food into mush
and often imparts a bland, boring flavor.

Induction: This newer technology is my personal favorite.
Instead of using gas or electric heat, induction creates a
magnetic field that generates small electric currents in the
pan, evenly heating every square inch of the metal. This
avoids "hot spots" and uneven cooking. And it stays cool
to the touch, so you won't burn yourself, or make a mess
when food boils over onto the stove top.

A study from Northland Laboratories in Northbrook,
Illinois found induction cooking not only locks in nutrients,
but eliminates many of the "bad guys." For example,
induction cooking generates:

• 10 times LESS trans fat;

• 145% LESS saturated fat;

• 195% LESS cholesterol;

• And far LESS inflammation-promoting free radicals.

Another benefit of induction is the precision and temperature
control. Instead of guessing between your usual settings of
"low, medium and high," induction technology lets you set
EXACT temperatures, which means you can repeat the same
great results time after time.

Induction also saves time. Pans heat up MUCH faster than
usual, and you can boil water in as little as 90 seconds.
They're super easy to clean, and more affordable, as they use
90% less energy than a traditional gas or electric stove.

They're versatile, too. You can dial up the exact temperature
you need to successfully boil, simmer, deep-fry, stir-fry,
sauté, steam, sear, slow cook, barbecue, melt, and grill,
all with startling precision.

Induction Cooking Is The Best Way to Cook for Muscle & Strength <----Here's How!

Keep training hard,

Mike Westerdal, CPT, SNC, RKC
Founder - CriticalBench.com