cooking

One of the more intriguing news stories to catch my eye recently was a report on research that boiling carrots whole locks in more nutrients - especially falcarinol, an anti-cancer compound.

The study was led by Dr Kirsten Brandt of Newcastle University in the UK, and was presented at NutrEvent in France.

Out of the throngs of mediocrity known as "Google alerts," my attention was immediately grabbed by the headline, "Why Are Humans Different From All Other Apes? It's the cooking, stupid."

The subject of the headline is a fascinating look at the evolution of the human race defined by one phenomenon: cooking.

Professor Richard Wrangham's book "Catching Fire - How Cooking Made Us Human" makes some scintillating conclusions about the role of cooking and how it shaped who we are today.

The food looked so good that my appetite increased ten fold, luckily a fast walk during lunch kept me from hitting the Chinese buffet.

This new Cooking Light cookbook, edited and compiled by Heather Averett, contains over 500 of their best recipes and really covers just about all aspects of eating, but as usual in a reduced-Calorie way.

Even if you don't have an 11 year old, or you're not in the UK, you can get the book for free - download all the recipes from Real Meals on TeacherNet. But is it any good - and what else is the government doing to make sure that children have the chance to learn to cook?

Having a well stocked kitchen is like having armor for health and fat loss. This requires consistent and planned grocery shopping and preparing, but having a continuous supply of healthy staples makes healthy eating that much easier. Here are some kitchen essentials:

Here's five simple ways to stop yourself picking at food while cooking: