Health enthusiasts believe that foods fried traditionally, as in deep fryers and pans are a healthy way of cooking. Yet still, they can pose some health problems when consumed regularly. Why, because fried foods are high in calories and fats, and often, salt, so taking them on a daily basis can put you at risk of having type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and may even shorten your life. So how could you prevent these diseases? Just don’t consume too much, as in everyday, of deep fried food and use the right kind of oil when frying.

Now comes the air fryer, which is being endorsed as healthier than traditional fryers. People tend to believe; it has even become a fad even with reports of chemical compounds forming on air-fried foods. This compound called acrylamide, is linked to cancer disease. The truth is, air fryer is really healthier than deep frying; but fried food is still fried food. To make a healthful meal, you should include some vegetables and fruits, grains, and milk in your diet and that’s really healthy.

Many people are looking to make the change into a healthier lifestyle. Are you one of them? If so, maybe you have heard about air fryers and its “healthy hype”. Air fryers are kitchen devices that have become the hottest thing for those who want to lose weight. However, can the air fryer really replace the traditional fryer that you’ve been using?

Air fryers are egg-shaped or square devices that sit on your counter top. They are about the size of your coffee maker, and are being marketed as a healthier and more guilt-free way to cook and enjoy foods. Unlike deep frying or pan frying, they use no oil, or just a thin coating of oil.

How Do Air Fryers Work?

Air fryers do not fry food, as what is done traditionally. You do not submerge your food in oil. Air fryers work like a convection oven, where hot air is circulated around food, cooking it from all sides at the same time.

Once food is placed in a slide-out basket inside the air fryer, a metal heating coil is activated. The coil is located above the food. When it starts to warm up, the air heats the basket and flows over the outlines and curves of your food, distributing the heat evenly throughout the fryer. The air fryer takes only about 3 minutes, to reach the maximum temperature for cooking.

Air fryers are smaller than convection ovens and this small size keeps the heat, wholly directed to your food. The hot oil dehydrates the outside of the food, while creating an outer crust and sealing in the flavor and moisture.

Steam is released at the back of the unit in a vent; and excess oil drops down into a pan under the food basket.

You can cook in a fryer something that you would want to usually have as a fried-snack, like for example, chicken, maybe even chicken fingers and chicken nuggets, vegetables, cheese sticks, fish, onion rings and french fries, pizza and donuts and so many other eatables.

Some brands and models of air fryers, include toast and bake settings that make these units, more like convection ovens. You can bake brownies here or roast a chicken.

One negative aspect of air fryers is the basket’s small size, which does not allow enough room, to cook a meal for an entire family of four or more.

13 Popular Air Fryer Brands Are Ready For You.

Are Air Fryers Better for You Than Traditional Oil Frying? What Are Its Benefits?

By most standards air frying proves to be healthier than deep frying or pan frying, as it cuts calories by 70% – 80% and the food has a lot less fat. You get a crispy chewy food that you love, but without the oil. Here are the benefits of air fryers:

• Cooking in an air fryer reduces the chances on some of the damaging effects of frying in oil. When you fry starchy food like potatoes, it results in the chemical called the acrylamide. This is a compound that is linked to cancer. According to a study, air frying can lessen the quantity of acrylamide by 90% in deep-fried potatoes, which cannot be ignored.
• Air frying promotes weight loss. This is good news for people who are at risk of obesity; and those who want to decrease their body weight for physical fitness. Deep fried foods have fats and calories of higher levels. Switching to air fried foods, from traditionally fried foods, reduces your consumption of unhealthy oil, thus promoting weight loss.
• Air fried foods can reduce risks to diseases. Regular consumption of deep-fried foods can expose you to various health conditions. Replacing deep frying, with air frying, prevents your body from having complications.
• Air fryers are safer to use than deep fryers. Deep frying means, you cook in a container full of boiling oil, which can be a safety risk. Air fryers do get hot, but it never poses any risk from splashing, spilling or touching hot oil by accident. You should always ensure safety, in every cooking.

Do Air Fryers Have Adverse Effects?

After the listed benefits, it is important to know that air fryers also have their share of unfavorable effects, some of which include the following:

• A healthy diet is not guaranteed by air frying. While they can provide you with more healthier food options, there must also be limit in consuming your fried food. This will benefit your health significantly. For optimal health, you should concentrate on a diet that is composed of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and meats, with relatively low fat content.
• Air frying can reduce the formation of acrylamide, but other potentially harmful compounds can be created from high heat cooking, with meat. Such compounds include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyctic amines, both of which are associated to the risk of cancer. However, there is still a need for further studies on how the formation of these compounds relate to air frying.
• With daily air frying, people tend to miss out, on the benefits of plant-based fats, such as olive oil and avocado oil. Remember that high quality fat taken in moderation is very important, for hormone and brain health.
• Air fryers operate on high temperature at a very rapid rate that may make foods burn easily; and charred food can be a cancer risk also.

For the simple reason that you have food cooked in an air fryer, it does not imply that you are having a healthier meal. Make sure that you include other methods of cooking into your dietary routines, such as oven roasting, baking, grilling and pan-searing foods. This will help you secure a more healthy diet.

Are Air Fryers Worth the Investment?

The air fryer has become the new fad, the new must have, the much in demand item that everyone wants to own. With regards to the question about whether it is worth investing in, it can be answered depending on your preference. I just thought that it wouldn’t hurt, to provide you with some convincing arguments for purchasing an air fryer.

• It is a healthy substitute to traditional methods of frying. Deep frying or pan frying with oil is not healthy, especially when food cooked this way is consumed regularly. An air fryer uses only hot air and no or very little oil. This will make your meal healthy, when properly prepared, meaning no too much breading, no high sugar and sodium content. Your air fried chicken, will be much healthier than oil fried one.
• Air fryers are able to adapt to many different functions. You can make just about any meal in an air fryer that you make in a convection oven and more. You can also reheat food in it, in a shorter period of time. In some air fryer models, you can bake a cake or a brownie. You can fry your favorite foods – fries, pizza, roasted veggies, bacon and chicken in its many varieties.
• Air fryers are inexpensive. It is a well-known fact that good quality kitchen appliances are expensive, but people are forced to buy, to make cooking easier and healthier. Fortunately, air fryer prices are rather on the reasonable and affordable side.
• Air fryer pays itself off over time. It means that in the long run, the money that you save because you have it and because you can use in many different ways becomes greater, than the money you used to buy it. If you replace your toaster and toaster oven with it, you can save even more on your energy costs. You can also save plenty of cooking time with its rapid cooking techniques.
• Air fryers can save you kitchen space. You’ll get so much space, when you have only the do-it-all appliance like an air fryer on your kitchen-counter, rather than having all the microwave, toaster and oven toaster.

Isn’t it enough? 10 Reasons to Tell You That Why Air Fryer is Worth Buying

Summary

If you are in the market for a new rage, the latest fad that will make you spend and enjoy most of your time in the kitchen, it’s definitely an air fryer. It can save you plenty of time, kitchen space and money that you can find it very difficult to think about the time when you didn’t have it. It’s about time to purchase one, don’t you think so?