Can someone clear this up about cooking vitamins out of food?
Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at
4:15 PM
i have heard that boiling or cooking ruins nutrients- then i heard it doesn’t. the i read this below link and it seems unless you eat food raw, you get nothing from them! i can’t eat 1/2 the veggies raw- i’m too picky! so what’s the real scoop?
http://www.naturaltherapyinfo.com/nutrition/vitamins.htm
Filed under: Nutrition
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It is not true that any cooking destroys all of the nutrients in food. My understanding is that steaming vegetables retains the most nutrients, sauteing or stir-frying in a small amount of oil isn’t too bad, and boiling them too long in a lot of water removes the most. There is always going to be some nutrient loss - nutrients begin to disappear the moment the vegetable is picked, and most commercial growers grow vegetable varieties that are "long keepers" to allow maximum shelf-life - so even if you ate all of your veggies raw, you’d still be dealing with a little bit of nutrient loss.
The truth is, *some* nutrients are heat labile - which means they are altered by heating. Vitamin C is especially delicate in that regard. This does not mean that *all* vitamins are lost, or even enough to be worried about. And cooking increases the availability of other nutrients - more than enough to compensate for such losses. Grains and meats *must* be cooked - the former to make them digestible, the latter to make it safe. It would be fair to recommend at least some fruits and veggies be eaten raw, for variety or convenience if no other reason.
Most of the ‘raw food’ fad is based on - AT BEST - exaggeration and misapprehensions; some of it amounts to quackery and plain old lies.
It is best to eat veggies raw, but eating them cooked is still good for you. It just takes out some of the nutrients that are in them, but not all. So eat what you can raw, but whatever you can’t, you can eat cooked, it will still be good for you.
Btw - I’m pretty sure steaming veggies is the best way to cook them cause it keeps in the most nutrients. But I would double check this online.
This is why i now steam my food
Steaming your veggies will reduce the nutrient loss from cooking:)
It does take some of the vitamins out by boiling them but there is still some left, so do not worry you do not have to get raw veggies.
This is basic. Food is at it’s best when still alive. After you kill a carrot the vitamins are less effective with age. The minerals are still there. Raw food is far better than cooked food. This is basic.
No, it only takes out some of the nutrients not ALL if that were true we all have major vitamin deficiencies.
Like the article says in the link you provided, cook veggies in a minimum of water, and then use the water in something like gravy, soup, or to make mashed potatoes. The vitamins are in the water. Some vitamins, however are destroyed by heat. Personally, I like lots of fresh veggies, especially spinach salad, etc.
I micro my veggies till they are tender-crisp. I’ve learned to love them like that. Try stir fry also.