The dietitian reveals the healthiest way to eat vegetables – the answer may surprise you

In Carlene Thomasâ’s experience, two types of people seek her advice as a dietitian for the healthiest way to prepare vegetables.

Those who seek to improve their diet are curious about how different cooking methods affect the nutritional content. Others ask how better to work more vegetables in their diet in general.

The simplest version of its response to both groups is: The best vegetables are what you really want to eat.

“A lot of people are involved in aspirating vegetable purchases – without using them, said Thomas, from Leesburg, Virginia. In that case, it doesn’t matter how you cook, because if they are going to the trash, they are not in the body your. “

That is to say, research shows that different methods of cooking affect the nutritional content of the products, but it is not as simple as raw against steamed against mature.

Are raw vegetables healthier than cooking?

Not always. Prolonged exposure to high heat degrades many nutrients. But cooking not only softens the cell walls in the vegetables, making them easier to digest, but also changes their structure to grow what is called bio – the body’s ability to absorb vegetable nutrients, said Thomas .

The result is often more nutritious than raw food. Cooked tomatoes, for example, emit more of antioxidant lycopene for fighting cancer than RAW, she said, and cooked carrots have more betacarotene that can be absorbed. Baking pumpkins, carrots and sweet potatoes increase carotenoids, rich pigments that are antioxidants known to combat inflammation in the body.

What cooking methods are the healthiest?

In general, the shorter the cooking time, the more nutrients are stored. Partly because they take relatively little time, evaporation and microwave are considered the most nutritious methods (also because they do not require fat to cook), said Amber Poll, a dietitian in Lincoln, Nebraska.

A narrow second is turning on – pouring vegetables in boiling water for a minute or two – but be careful not to leave them in long water. Boiling vegetables, in addition to easily turning them into fungi, risks losing water -soluble nutrients including vitamin C, B1 and folate.

â € œit € ™ is being released into the water, and you will discard the water, ”Thomas said.

Is there no account for the taste?

Even dieticians say there is no problem using a small amount of fat. In addition to making the most flavoring vegetables, a little cooking oil helps to make the fat -soluble vitamins absorbed into the body, said the pan.

This means more vitamin A from squash, carrots and sweet potatoes, more vitamin D from fungi, more vitamin E from bell peppers, leafy greens and asparagus and more vitamin K from greens, broccoli and onions.

For sauteing, the pan recommends to start medium heat with a tablespoon of oil, although it depends on the pan. Use enough oil so that the vegetables do not stick, but not as much as the pools.

For baking, you will need to double the oil for the vegetable pound. Despite the longest cooking time, baking will still hold some nutrients and strengthen the aroma with caramelization of natural sugars.

â € œFavi is king, â € said the beggar. â € œ I will see more people roasting their vegetables and enjoying them, regardless of mushroom vegetables that they are boiled and boiled.â €