How to prevent nutrients loss when preparing food

Here is the reason why.

In addition to the overall decline in the nutritional value of food that I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, also the food processing destroys the most valuable elements in fruits and vegetables. Because the nutrients contained in food (depending on the type) are very sensitive to the temperature, pH levels, as well as processing methods (chopping, peeling, slicing, cooking), the amount of vitamins and minerals we provide to our body is often below the RDAs. Especially the water-soluble vitamins and minerals are vulnerable and easily lost in a process of preparing and cooking food.

Seeing some of the research data, you may be surprised how much does the nutritional values change. E.g.:

• peeling tomatoes means loss of 17-25% of vitamin C;

• apple peeling: minus 48% of vitamin C;

• cooking broccoli: minus 40-45% polyphenols;

• cooking cauliflower: minus 30-34% beta-carotene.

You can see that not only what we eat matters, but also how we prepare it.

In order to minimize nutrients loss while preparing meals, it is worth to follow the following rules:

1. If you need to peel vegetables and fruits, try to remove the thinnest layer.

2. Eat the peeled vegetables and fruits right away.

3. Use stainless steel kitchen utensils and equipment to process food.

4. Do not leave food in water for long periods of time.

5. Put the food that you need to cook into the water that is already boiling (it will shorten the cooking time).

6. Boil in as little water as possible and cook "al dente". Do not overcook.

7. Boil the vegetables first (preferably whole) and then peel them (the skin protects them from losing ingredients).

8. Do not leave the cooked vegetables or fruits in hot water, remove them from the sauce pan.

9. Cook frozen fruit and vegetables without defrosting.

10. Steam instead of cooking in the water.

11. Make soup or sauce from the vegetable stock.

12. Sprinkle the salads with lemon juice or add fat (olive oil or cream) to cover their surface.

13. Prepare salads just before serving.

14. Drink freshly squeezed juices and smoothies right away.

While most fruits and vegetables are best eaten raw, some food processing is not all bad. Sometimes it's even beneficial.

For example:

☑ soaking the legumes, seeds and nuts removes anti-nutritional compounds; it also increases the bioavailability of minerals contained in them;

☑ cooking tomatoes increases the bioavailability of lycopene;

☑ crushing garlic releases health-promoting allicin;

☑ during cooking, carrot cell membranes soften, which makes beta-carotene easier to absorb;

☑ cooking tripples the amount of calcium in spinach.

If you feel that your diet is low in vitamins and minerals, it is important to supplement with good quality, highly digestible products. Nutrient deficiencies, especially those that persist for a long time, may turn out to be dangerous to your health.