These Cooked Vegetables Are Healthier Than Their Raw Counterparts (2024)

FAQs

These Cooked Vegetables Are Healthier Than Their Raw Counterparts? ›

Cooked carrots, spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, cabbage, peppers and many other vegetables also supply more antioxidants, such as carotenoids and ferulic acid, to the body than they do when raw, Liu says.

Some vegetables offer more nutritional benefits when consumed raw, while others have more to offer when cooked. For example, bell peppers lose some of their vitamin C content when exposed to heat, and spinach loses some of its folate.

Cooking makes protein foods, even plant-based ones, easier and safer to eat. In the case of some plant pulses like kidney beans, cooking is essential to remove toxins. While eggs, meat and fish are sometimes eaten raw, cooking them helps you avoid food poisoning.

The bottom line. Vegetables are a rich source of vitamins and minerals that support health. While vegetables can lose some of their nutrients when you cook them, other nutrients actually increase with cooking. To get the maximum health benefits, eat many different kinds of vegetables, prepared in a wide variety of ways ...

Steaming veggies can preserve nutrients, color, shape, and texture, without having to add any unnecessary fats through ingredients like oils or butter. To steam, place food into a steam basket and cover over simmering water. Since food is not directly touching the water, vegetables retain more of their nutrients.

Boiling and cooking vegetables in high temperatures or in water can also decrease their nutrient level. Water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and B vitamins are often lost during these cooking methods. Minerals like potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc may be reduced by up to 60-70%.

Dark green, leafy vegetables have the highest concentration of antioxidants and fiber.

What raw vegetables can I eat every day? ›

Raw spinach and parsley are great options if you're looking for a dark, leafy green vegetable packed with a high level of minerals and nutrients. Carrot and celery sticks are commonly enjoyed with a dip as a side dish or snack. Green string beans are a great, crunchy vegetable that's a great snack with sliced almonds.

Cooking Can Enhance Nutrient Value

According to an article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, “many protective compounds are enhanced when vegetables are cooked.” Tomatoes, broccoli and carrots are three vegetables shown to have improved nutrient value when cooked.

Cooking, in fact, can increase the amount of certain nutrients in certain vegetables, such as lycopene in tomatoes and carotenoid levels in carrots. The reason being that the bonds that lock the nutrients in are broken by the cooking process thus the body can absorb more of them.

The leaves and stems of broccoli are very nutritious, but the florets have an even higher concentration of nutrients and phytochemicals. Raw broccoli has more vitamin C than cooked, but cooked broccoli makes the carotenoids more available to the body. So enjoy broccoli cooked or raw¬ just be sure to eat it often.

Foods which are healthier cooked

These include carrots, asparagus and even tomatoes, because cooking makes it easier for our bodies to benefit from some of their protective antioxidants, specifically ferulic acid from asparagus, and beta-carotene, which we convert to vitamin A, from carrots.

Cooking Can Enhance Nutrient Value

According to an article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, “many protective compounds are enhanced when vegetables are cooked.” Tomatoes, broccoli and carrots are three vegetables shown to have improved nutrient value when cooked.