Which Vegetables Need To Be Cooked?

Which Vegetables Need To Be Cooked?

Cooking our food gives us a second stomach outside of our bodies, beginning the digestive process by breaking down the proteins and carbohydrates before we chew the food. Heating our food makes our food more easily digestible.

Use Gentle Cooking Methods

Boast flavor and nutrients by avoiding high heat cooking. Begin on medium and reduce to low.

Forget you have a high setting on the range. Heat destroys some of the nutrients in our vegetables and some vegetable nutrients are better absorbed after some cooking. While boiling or steaming happen at the same temperature, the steam will have a lot more heat energy making boiling more gentle. This is why steam burns are worse than the water burns. The temperature of steam can continue to rise well above 100 degrees Celsius if it is contained and additional heat energy continues to be added.

Cook These Veggies To Bring Out The Nutrients

• Asparagus: Lightly steamed. Retain the folate which is sensitive to heat. Folic acid or folate is a B vitamin. Is also referred to as vitamin M, vitamin B₉, vitamin Bc, pteroyl-L-glutamic acid, and pteroyl-L-glutamate.
• Artichokes: Steam or bake. Heat doesn’t seem to affect them. High in both heart-healthy fiber and antioxidants.
• Cruciferous: Cook or ferment them! This family of veggies includes: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, rutabaga, turnips, bok choy, and Chinese cabbage. Arugula, horseradish, radish, wasabi, and watercress. Cooking too long, destroy’s the enzymes that break down glucosinolates into cancer-fighting agents. This means that while broccoli soup may taste good, it doesn’t provide the same nutrients as a cup of lightly steamed broccoli. Eating raw cruciferous vegetables suppresses thyroid hormone production, creating fatigue, coldness in your body and a slowing metabolism, causing hypothyroidism.
• Carrots: Raw or lightly cooked. Retain folic acid which converts into Vitamin A with a gently low heat. Carrots can be enjoyed raw, but their nutrients are better absorbed after a very light cooking.
• Green beans: Lightly steam or boil. Green beans keep their antioxidant levels after cooking.
• Spinach: Eat it raw. Spinach loses 64 percent of its vitamin C after cooking.
• Sweet potatoes: Boiling amplifies nutrients.
• Tomatoes: Cook or raw with oil. Cooking tomatoes helps the body absorbs more lycopene from tomato sauce, for example, than from raw tomatoes. If you are enjoying them raw, sprinkle them with olive oil, as this combo is a particularly effective way to promote lycopene absorption.

High Heat Cooking Methods To Avoid

• Limit charred and smoked food. If your meat is burned, cut away the charred pieces.
• Don’t expose meat directly to a flame and minimize cooking above 150°C / 300°F.
• Marinating meat in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic or red wine can reduce HCAs by up to 90%.
• If cooking at a very high heat, flip the meat frequently.

*Vegetables Recommended To Be Cooked

Here is a handy chart showing which vegetables are high in sugar along with the starchy vegetables that raise blood sugar rapidly. Click here for low sugar fruits. How you eat is how you live.