Food may be necessary for survival, but what we put into our bodies has a profound effect on our well-being. For a healthy body, it is important to eat the right amount of food, that has been cooked the right way and at the right time.
Our hurried lives today make us vulnerable to bad eating habits, far from the path nature intended. In the wild, animals eat instinctively and mostly enjoy complete lives with no cholesterol problems whatsoever. Humans, on the other hand, suffer a vast number of lifestyle-related diseases.
To be healthy, we need to eat a balanced diet, of which fats play an important role. Cooking oil is one of the ways in which we consume fats, and it’s important to understand how it affects our health.
Oil & its composition
No oil by itself is good or bad. It is actually the composition of the oil – which changes during cooking – that converts it into unhealthy fats. Oils are made of a number of fatty acids, consisting of saturated fats and unsaturated fats – polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and trans fats.
Trans fats, which occur in very small quantities naturally but are widely present in processed foods, are bad for our health. They increase the chances of early heart attacks or strokes by clogging your arteries at a much faster pace than normal.
Heat can change an oil’s composition to create these trans fats. Although cooking methods like deep frying lend food that delicious taste we know so well, it also causes oil to lose a lot of its nutritional value.
Oil & temperature
A process known as oxidisation occurs when oil is exposed to temperature, air, moisture, metals and even light. Temperature is the biggest contributing factor to oxidisation, which degrades the quality of oil to cause health problems. Different oils have varying temperatures at which their composition changes. This is called smoking point, and it helps to remember that the higher the smoking point of the oil, the better it is for cooking. Oils made from avocado, mustard, palm, groundnut, rice bran, sunflower and coconut have higher smoking points.
Oils that are healthy at room temperature can quickly become bad for us after they’ve been heated, depending on their smoking point. Generally, the more saturated fatty acid an oil contains, the more stable it is during cooking. Many people believe that saturated oils cause heart attacks and unsaturated oils are good for health, but when heating oil for cooking, the opposite is true.
All oils respond to heat, light and oxygen. Oxygen breaks down the oil, potentially producing harmful components particularly when heated. How resistant an oil is to oxygen is known as its oxidative stability. Oils from almonds, avocado, canola, coconut, palm, sesame and extra virgin olive oil have high oxidative stability and are therefore healthier to use during cooking.
Even the methods used to extract oils can affect their nutritional values. Oils are extracted using chemical solvents, decanter centrifuges or through pressing at high or low temperatures. Sometimes, all these methods are combined. The healthiest oils come from those pressed at cold temperatures which prevent them from heating.
Oil-free cooking
Whichever way you look at it, the use of oils in cooking is not the natural way of consuming food. The ideal and healthiest way to eat it is with little to no oil. Cooking methods like boiling, grilling, baking and roasting involve very little or no oil altogether.
IFB’s Health Chef Oven is capable of frying with little to no oil in addition to baking, grilling and toasting. These ovens, make cooking healthier dishes easy through the use of little to no oil. These are easy to use and offer a combination of cooking functions in a single appliance, all for delicious but healthy, oil-free meals.
As busy professionals, Anna and her husband Matthew follow flexible work shifts, making it extremely difficult for them to maintain a schedule that works with the neighbourhood dhobi. To complicate matters further, Matthew travels often on business and Anna's elderly parents come to live with her for a couple of weeks every now and then. There is always a growing pile of dirty clothes that need washing and the couple are becoming increasingly frustrated that their busy lives leave them little time to get daily chores done.
With the new baby having just arrived, Sophie's household has been in a state of excitement. But she is worried. Sophie has returned to work and her mother has now left, bringing the responsibility of running the household back onto her. Her little one, Miriam, has extremely sensitive skin, and her five-year-old, Thomas, appears to love the sand pit at school. Washing their clothes separately by hand along with all her other household tasks is taking its toll on her and she is afraid she might have to quit her job if she is unable to manage her home.
Rita recently moved to Bangalore to train with the state hockey team and work part-time at a bank nearby. Her day is packed with training, and living alone makes it difficult to ensure she has a fresh set of workout wear free of grass stains for 5am every morning. Rita is also often in the starting line-up for matches every weekend when the team wears their striking white cotton uniforms. Exhausted from play, she resorts to buying extra sportswear to avoid running out. She needs an easy solution before the situation gets out of hand.
Being a stylist at a prominent fashion house in Mumbai has been Anisha's dream job. It allows her to wear the latest trends, try out new fabrics and be creative. Her wardrobe is filled with delicate silks, chiffons, satins and sheers that need careful handling when being cleaned. It seems like every day ends with the backbreaking task of washing each garment by hand to avoid damage. Anisha is always looking for a way out of this annoying chore so she can continue wearing her favourite clothes and also have more time to engage in creative hobbies. Not everyone has the same laundry needs. 
IFB's Sports Wear program is ideal for Rita, and she has fresh, clean workout wear ready every morning, while her match uniforms are spotless thanks to the Cotton Whites program. And Anisha's delicate clothes get a thorough pampering with the Cradle Wash program which uses a gentle rocking movement and slows spin speed to clean them with extra care. The smart washing machines have additional programs for lingerie, wool, jeans, shirts, silk sarees, and even duvets. If you are concerned about germs, the Hygiene wash program rids clothes of bacteria, while the Sanitize option kills allergens and treats the highly soiled material. 
Based on changing requirements, you can even choose a variety of different wash programs that suit your needs – Use Soilage if a particular garment is badly soiled, Water Plus if you want more water to rinse out a load, Pet Hair to remove fur from clothes and kill allergens, Quiet Wash to do your laundry at an odd hour of the night, Rapid Wash to complete the washing in a hurry, and Steam to keep your clothes soft, fresh and clean. 
Thanks to IFB's special air bubble and steam wash system, Anna, Sophie, Rita and Anisha do not need to worry about wear and tear on their clothes. They can even choose a delayed start to their washing or a special anti-crease cycle that takes the worry out of their day.
So choose IFB for laundry done in minutes with the care of a specialist. Explore the range of washing machines from IFB and turn an everyday chore into a pleasant and less time consuming one. Buy one 
As a working mother of two, Sarah juggles child care and her career as a 24/7 job, leaving barely any time for herself. Her eight-year-old daughter often turns up after football training with grass-stained shorts, and her teenage son somehow manages to stain his white uniform with ink almost every other day. It's hard enough that she has to work and manage household chores every day, without having to make mid-week runs to the laundry or squat in the bathroom with a brush and detergent after midnight to clean their uniforms. Sarah is tired and frustrated with what is increasingly turning into a regular practice.
her team. She believes that striking appearances set her apart during meetings, and therefore spends her hard-earned money on upmarket clothing to enhance her image. At a recent networking do, while in the middle of an engaging discussion, she accidentally spilled wine down the front of her new Stella McCartney silk shift dress. It broke her heart to think that one silly mistake would land the new dress in the bin, all because she would never be able to get the stain out.
Vicky volunteers at an animal shelter close to his house after work. He loves playing with the growing puppies and kittens, and recently adopted a playful, fluffy brown dog he named Mutley. Even though living with Mutley is wonderful, Vicky can't help finding fur on his trousers and shirts, and even on his linen at home. Keeping his house tidy and free of pet hair is proving to be exhausting and Vicky is concerned that he might have to give Mutley up. Stains often run deeper than the surface of our clothes and fabrics, affecting even our lives. IFB understands this and is here to make life better.
specially designed for uniforms involving a strong and thorough wash for spotless garments. Now, it doesn't matter how often they stain their uniforms or how late she finishes work. The children will have clean uniforms the next day, and Sarah will have more time on her hands. Rhea, on the other hand, can rest assured that her new dress is not ruined. With the Beverage Stain program, she'll have it as good as new in minutes. For a particularly strong stain, she can also opt to put it through a pre-wash or choose Delicates if it is a garment she normally hand washes. The latter uses a very gentle movement to avoid stretching or damaging clothes, and she can now wear her new shift dress to look stunning yet again. 
So go ahead and don't worry about the stain. IFB will take care of the rest. Explore the range of washing machines from IFB and turn an everyday chore into a pleasant and less time consuming one. Buy one 
This fail-proof homemade recipe for Indian naan can be the new alternative to your daily roti or paratha. Watch video now: Ingredients: