Trying to compensate for their sedentary lifestyles, people often get tricked by quick fat loss measures that claim impractical changes over a short period of time. Some simply want to do it for the sake of having a lean, athletic build while others desire to lose weight to become physically fit and healthy. Some of these fad diets might work while others won’t. But I have an assured method that will.
Along with exercises and balanced diet charts, you can lend a helping hand from the Air fryer technology. Air Fried food has multi-dimensional benefits along with helping in weight reduction.
So, let us get started by first knowing how exactly an Air Fryer works.
How Does an Air Fryer Function?
An Air Fryer is used to efficiently and effectively cook food with up to 80% less oil as you would’ve used otherwise. With its convection technology, it traps the hot air to circulate around the food at high speed which eventually cooks the food and therefore, leaving a crispy layer in the outer surface of the food. The air temperature inside the air fryer device rises up to two hundred degrees Celsius, which means it is enough for the food to be cooked.
Unlike traditional method, you no longer need to sink food in oil for frying. The air fryer technique allows you to enjoy almost oil-free fried food. Sounds interesting right?
Now let’s see how to use it. At first you have to coat or brush your desired food with some little amount of oil and put it in the cooking basket that comes along with the fryer. Then place the basket in the drip tray. This is how you cook food in Air Fryer. As simple as that.
However, you have to periodically shake the food basket manually so that the oil is coated evenly, otherwise, there are many other air fryer models that come with automatic food churning technology which functions on itself during the process of cooking.
Advantages of Cooking with Air Fryer
Enjoy Healthier food
Food is cooked healthy and crispy with a very small amount of oil. Types of food you can enjoy are French fries, wedges, onion rings, Buffalo wings, Chicken strips, cheese sticks and so more.
Enjoy Quicker Meals
Due to its comparatively smaller capacity in the inside, the hot air in the appliance tends to circulate close enough to the food and this lets the food to be cooked in minutes.
Easy to Use
It is not tough to operate an Air Fryer device. All it takes is selecting the cooking time and temperature and periodically shaking the food basket. That’s all you need to do!
Multi-Tasking
Along with frying, it can also bake, roast, grill, sauté and stir fry your favorite dishes.
Easy to Clean
You do not need to wash the whole appliance. Just remove the basket from the fryer and simply clean the basket. Due to using almost no oil, sometimes the basket may not require to be washed. In that case, you can simply wipe the basket with a rag or kitchen tissue.
Disadvantages of Cooking with Air Fryer
Risk of Burnt Food:
There is a high risk of food getting burnt in an Air Fryer as the food is cooked on a very high heat temperature inside and it is possible for the food to be over cooked or burnt even if one loses to focus on the food preparation for a fraction of a second.
Quick to dry out:
In an Air Fryer, food is prepared with the least usage or no usage of oil. This makes the food dry. It is healthy as you can have fried food prepared without oil. But this makes the food very dry especially while cooking crispy food, it is important to stay cautious.
Best Kitchen Buy has listed some unique Disadvantages of Cooking in Air Fryer on their website. Do check them out before investing in one.
How Air Fryer Food Can Help You Lose Weight
In a way Air Fryer lets you enjoy baked fried food, and not deep fried at all. Thus, you do not need to submerge food in oil for frying any more.
This leads to less oil consumption in your diet. Consuming oily food leads to gaining weight as it contains too much fat and calories.
When you dip food in oil, the food loses water and it soaks the oil, which further increases the level of calories in the food. Instead, if you intend to air fry the food then you are free from dipping it in oil. So, there is no oil which the food will absorb. Only brushing a little amount is sufficient and hence you can enjoy food with lesser calories.
Oil fried food contains Trans fats which increase your hormones levels, resulting in increased appetite and fat build up in body.
Many cooking oils are unhealthy and contain polyunsaturated fats and Trans fats. The Omega-6 fats containing in vegetable oils increase your weight even more. Omega-6 fats also increase your food appetite and you wish to intake much more food until your appetite has been satisfied. On the other hand, when you switch to air fried method, you are consuming oil lesser than ever, and even at most an 80% reduction in oil consumption, thus, resulting in a balanced appetite and lesser weight.
Some Common Safety Measures for using an Air fryer
Since you can now get rid of food dipping in oil, you are no longer at risk of getting yourself burnt with hot oil.
However, as this cooking appliance heats up food inside, it is also not surprising for the outer body to get slightly heated too. So, while in this cooking process, try to keep some distance from the fryer.
Do not instantly clean the air fryer basket right after being used. Wait for some time for the basket to be cooled down first or else you might physically injure yourself.
Also, watch out for the steam to be released first when you take out the basket from the fryer as your food has been cooked.
Keep children away from the fryer as they might damage the appliance or even hurt themselves.
Before operating, read the manufacturers’ caution and safety instructions carefully.