Maintaining good health is one of the best ways to ensure you can enjoy your home for years to come. So if you are wondering how to stay healthy with food, it is important that you begin by focusing on creating a good obsession with food safety.
In the past, it used to be that your grandparents would advise you to wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them. This is because they believed that a good old-fashioned scrubbing with soap and water was going to make all of the produce perfectly safe for consumption. But in actuality, this practice would have done more harm than good, as washing produce before it has been properly cleaned and sanitized can actually introduce harmful bacteria to the fruit.
Today, we know that all fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed with cold or warm running water before you eat them. However, there are certain methods for this that should be followed in order to ensure that all bacteria have been eliminated.
For instance, you should never rinse your produce with a solution that is warmer than the food itself because this could actually increase the bacterial load of your fruits and vegetables. Instead, it is recommended that you use a steady stream of cold water to thoroughly wash any produce before eating it.
In addition to washing off any bacteria, you should also thoroughly rinse off any residual pesticides or herbicides. To do this, you can soak your fruits and vegetables in a mixture of white distilled vinegar and water (50/50) for about 20 minutes before rinsing them with clean water again.
Finally, if you are able to find it in your budget, the best option for washing your produce is to use a product known as fruit and vegetable wash. Not only does this wash contain the necessary enzymatic agents that will break down any built-up pesticides, it also contains ingredients such as grapefruit seed extract and orange peel oil which aid in the elimination of bacteria.
Once you have finished washing all of your fruits and vegetables, you have to make sure that they are properly stored in order to ensure maximum food safety. For instance, you should never store your fresh produce in a refrigerator that is set below 40 degrees Fahrenheit because this can cause the bacteria inside of the fruits and vegetables to multiply more rapidly. Instead, it is recommended that you maintain a cooler temperature of about 34 degrees Fahrenheit for your fridge.
Additionally, you should always remove any produce from its original packaging before storing it. For example, a head of lettuce should never be stored in a plastic bag if it is going to be kept in the refrigerator. This is because whenever air flow stops completely, this can cause condensation which will provide an ideal environment for bacteria to grow.
Finally, you should always store your produce on the bottom shelf. This is because most fruits and vegetables release a wax coating that helps to retain the moisture of the food. If this coat gets onto other foods in the refrigerator it can damage them as well as cause them to spoil faster than usual.