Cooking makes our food "dead." It destroys some important vitamins and enzymes that contribute to good health.

So why have we cooked food for tens of thousands of years? Is it a mistake? Some health teachers certainly think so. They recommend we eat mainly raw salads and fruits like our earlier ancestors who hadn't learnt to use fire.

An opposing school of thought, including macrobiotics, argues that human progress came about because of cooking. Their theory claims our ability to think, plan, calculate, communicate in complex ways and love all came about because we learned to cook.

Breaking down plant fibre with heat makes food easier to eat. As a result, one theory says, humans evolved smaller jaws and that allowed more space in the head for the brain to grow. And so we became smarter.

Hey! If we are so smart, counters the raw foods camp, why is everybody getting sick? Both sides put up convincing arguments.

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Benefits of Heat

So what is it about cooking that strengthens us?

Energy. Cooking is the process of giving energy to food. Three factors determine how much energy a food takes on during cooking:

1. heat
2. time
3. pressure.

The quality of that energy also makes a difference. Heat makes food contract, so cooking has contracting energy. But some forms of cooking are more contracting and tightening than others.

Baking in an oven involves high heat and long time (a few hours to bake a Christmas turkey), although little pressure. It is a high-energy form of cooking. Because the heat is so intense, baked foods tend to become hard and dry. The energy is strong contracting. If you eat lots of baked foods, you will feel tight and tense.

Barbeque also involves very strong, intense heat except that, because it is open, the effect is not as strong as baking in an enclosed oven.

Pressure-cooking involves moderately high heat (hotter than boiling, not as hot as baking), short time, and high pressure. It is also high energy. But because the heat is less intense, the effect is also less intense. Eating some pressure-cooked foods can strengthen you (i.e. tighten you up) without making you overly tensed.

Stewing involves low heat, long time and, if the pot is covered, moderate pressure. Foods stewed for a long time also tend to contract - try stewing watermelon for a few hours. All the water comes out and the flesh becomes slightly tough, and very delicious. The energy of stewing is a lot gentler, good for calming you down.

Boiling or blanching involves medium heat, little time and no pressure. The energy is moderate and upward in nature (since boiling water bubbles rise), boosting your spirits.

Steaming is slightly higher energy than boiling. But the energy is different because steam expands outwards. So eating steamed foods tends to loosen you up.

Deep-frying or stir-frying is high heat, short time, and no pressure. The energy level is higher than boiling or steaming. And this energy is more excited, spreading out in all directions. If you need some excitement in your life, eat more stir-fried food.

Raw food has no heat, no time, and no pressure. It has little energy. People who eat plenty of raw salads and fruits tend to become weak unless they compensate in other ways, such as spending long hours in the hot sun. If you live in cold weather or feel constantly tired, stay away from a mostly raw food diet. However, if you find yourself in a warmer climate, you can eat more uncooked fruits and vegetables.

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Keeping cool

Living in the hot tropics requires that we eat mainly lightly cooked foods. To keep the heat and humidity at bay, try a quick soup done in five or ten minutes rather than a tonic soup that has been double boiled for two or three hours. Crave some rice? Well, having it boiled or steamed is better for the Singaporean soul than pressure-cooked or baked rice.

Everyone knows vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. But when the thermometer hits 35 degrees, steaming, blanching, or stir-frying them is the best way to serve them. Choose raw vegetables over vegetable stews if you can. And don't forget to enjoy the wide variety of fresh and exotic fruit native to your area of the globe.

When it comes to carbohydrates, quick-cooking Indian flatbreads, like chapati, dosai or prata and Chinese steamed buns are better suited to the tropics than regular breads and pastries that have been baked for nearly an hour.

Of course, the longer, stronger forms of cooking may still be helpful for those who are weak from illness. But if our food is generally lightly cooked, we will be more in sync with our environment and can feel comfortable without air-conditioning.

Seeing the relationship between heat and food will not only change the way you view food preparation, it will make you more aware of its effect on the body.

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Opposite of cooking

The latest invention in "cooking" technology requires no heat, no pressure and almost no time.

Microwaving is not cooking. It is the opposite of cooking!

In all other forms of cooking, food acquires heat. In microwave cooking, food actually loses heat. Microwaves emitted inside the "oven" vibrate at an extremely fast speed - about 2.6 billion times per second.

When we eat microwaved food, we take on this chaotic vibration.

Recently, I asked a friend whether he ate a lot of microwaved food. "Yes," he replied and asked in return. "How did you know?"

I could see. His energy was extremely chaotic.

Another time, I met a lady who claimed she had been macrobiotic for over 10 years. Yet she was not the calm and peaceful sort of person that most macrobiotic people are. She, too, had very chaotic energy.

As it turned out, she had been eating microwaved brown rice for over 10 years! Sorry, that is not part of macrobiotic recommendations.