How to Eat Your Veges Essential Cooking Habits

September 25, 2009

Raw Vegetables May Not Always Be BestEven when eating raw vegetables, other factors must be considered when evaluating the nutritional quality of the food. How fresh is the raw vegetable? Significant nutrient loss occurs in raw vegetables if they have been picked too long before they are eaten and have been exposed too long to light and air. How well will you chew the raw vegetables before swallowing them? When a food is not cooked, the body depends much more heavily upon chewing to help prepare the vegetable for digestion. Cooking a vegetable, even for a very short period like one minute, can be a way of enhancing its digestibility.Cooking Method and Timing Nutrient contents of vegetables especially the water-soluble vitamins such as B vitamins and Vitamin C will be affected by the the cooking method as well as the amount of time you cook a vegetable

The longer you cook a vegetable, the more heat-sensitive vitamins are lost. Also vitamins which are water-soluble leach into the cooking liquid if the vegetables are cooked in water. Use cooking methods that re-uses the cooking liquid such as soups, or uses very little liquid such as steaming or microwaving to preserve nutrients.

In the case of some vegetables, cooking can actually increase the variety of nutrients that get released inside our digestive tract. The cooking of onions or the roasting of garlic are good examples. Onions and garlic are both members of the Allium family of vegetables which contain unusual amounts of sulfur-containing compounds which protect our health.

Frozen VegetablesMost frozen vegetables are processed quickly after harvesting, so nutrients are retained. Convenient way for easy preparation.They can also be stored for longer periods with little change in nutrient, taste or texture. Fresh vegetables, on the other hand are higher in fiber plus some vegetables are only available fresh such as leafy ones. With fresh vegetables, you have store them carefully as some vitamins such as vitamin C are very perishable. The longer you store the vegetables, the more vitamins are lost. Eat fresh vegetables as soon as possible after purchase for maximum benefit.

Steaming helps to retain the nutrients in the vegetables, especially water-soluble vitamins such as B vitamins and vitamin C. The vitamins dissolve into the water when you boil the vegetables; you can help retain the vitamins by re-using the cooking liquid for soup, sauces and gravy. Also avoid soaking vegetables in water before cooking to reduce losses.

Cook vegetables only to tender crisp, use a lid to speed up cooking time, and leave the peel on whenever possible to help reduce nutrient loss. HIgh temperature and long cooking can destroy heat sensitive nutrients

BoilingBoiling is the cooking method that causes the greatest loss of nutrients in vegetables. Many of the water-soluble vitamins as well as other nutrients are transferred into the water and lost if the vegetables are drained and the water is thrown away rather than reserved and consumed as soup or broth.

Boiling and draining vegetables results in a loss of 75% of the vitamin C and folate, 70% of the thiamine and potassium, 65% of the vitamin B6, 55% of the niacin and sodium, 50% of the vitamin B12, 45% of the riboflavin and copper, 40% of the iron and magnesium, and 35% of the vitamin A and phosphorus

BakingDry heat from baking destroys certain vitamins and other nutrients, including vitamins C, B1 and lysine. The effect is worse if the heat is too high or the vegetables are baked for Food research has made it clear that even 30 seconds in steam will alter the nutrient composition of a vegetable and will cause some loss of nutrients. However, when the exposure to steam happens for such a short time, this loss of nutrients is minimal and is not, in our opinion, a practical problem.

To avoid unnecessary nutrient loss, cooking each food properly is absolutely essential BlanchingIt is recommended to blanch vegetables before freezing them. Blanching is the process of scalding the vegetables by placing them in boiling water for a short period of time, usually about 2-3 minutes. This process kills bacteria and inactivates certain enzymes that can impair the color, flavor and texture of vegetables when they are frozen. However, blanching even for a short period of time still causes the loss of some nutrients. To minimize nutrient loss, vegetables should be placed into ice water immediately after blanching. MicrowavingSince microwaving is fast and only requires a small amount of water, it is often recommended as a preferred method to prepare vegetables to avoid nutrient loss. However, one study found that microwaving drastically reduces the amount of antioxidants in

broccoli. Flavonoids in broccoli were decreased by 97% after microwaving, compared to 66% after boiling and only 11% when the broccoli was steamed. On the other hand, another study found more flavonoids were retained in potatoes and tomatoes by microwaving than by boiling. www.iamnolabrat.com

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