The good news is that the majority of the nutrients will still be ‘intact’ in cooked foods, it’s just that some of the more fragile nutrients can be altered or destroyed by high temperatures.
Eat (and drink) your way to a super-healthy, energised and expertly balanced mind and body.A lot of vegetables are better for you when cooked – for example, beta carotene (a form of vitamin A) is more available from carrots when they’re cooked otg recipes.
The benefit of eating raw is that it increases the amount of enzymes, vitamins and antioxidants your body absorbs. However, some foods are more nutritious when cooked. This list will help you make smart choices.
Although it is possible to eat too many cooked foods, especially starchy ones, it is also possible to eat too many raw foods. When raw foodists claim that not cooking food makes it healthier and easier to digest, this can be true for some people but not for all.
The argument for cooked or lightly cooked is that some foods become more digestible after cooking, such as tomatoes and carrots. This is because cooking breaks down the cell wall which normally protects the nutrients from being released and absorbed.
Cooking doesn’t always mean that food becomes less healthy, for example it can actually make you more likely to absorb vital nutrients like beta-carotene from your plate.
Some vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots can be eaten raw. Vegetables like asparagus become more nutritious when they are cooked. Other vegetables are not good to eat raw such as kale or spinach.
Since raw foods contain the most enzymes, it makes sense to eat fruits and vegetables raw whenever possible. “The minute you chew up a piece of broccoli, you’ve destroyed half the enzymes. … Enzymes are one factor that make food more assimilable and digestible.
Cooking makes food easier to chew and can add variety of texture and flavour which can encourage people to eat more veggies, but in the grand scheme of a well-balanced diet, the raw or cooked debate isn’t that critical for most people.
The vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins are absorbed through the intestinal tract with the help of fats (lipids). Vegetables that can be eaten raw are high in fat soluble vitamin content should be cooked with a healthy fat, such as olive oil, coconut oil or ghee, to maximize nutrient absorption.
When it comes to cooking, there’s a long-standing debate about whether it’s better to eat raw or cooked vegetables. On the one hand, raw veggies are associated with improved nutrient content as heating causes some nutrients to leach out of the vegetable. On the other, cooking can make some vegetables easier to digest. Today’s video takes a look at this debate and discusses how to meet your vitamin and mineral needs on a plant-based diet.
As a general rule, raw veggies are healthier than cooked. Cooking destroys some of the nutrients – and certain vitamins degrade when exposed to heat or chemical processing.
