How to preserve nutrients while cooking.      

Most of us eat only thrice a day & work for 24 hrs because our body works even when we are asleep.  This means that these three meals should give us all the nutrients required to run, nourish, repair & maintain our body.  Dietitians will tell you that 75% of our food should be raw.  Both you and I know that this prescription is difficult to follow & even more difficult to enforce on our family members.  Today, let’s take a middle path and see how to preserve maximum nutrients while cooking food.

The three enemies of food are heat, air & water.  If we have to choose the biggest stealer of nutrients, it has to be water.  Any cooking method that uses the least of the above three is preferred.

The first choice that comes to mind is microwave.  Even when you Google for best cooking methods, the top articles will point to microwave.  However, internet can be a great source of misinformation too.  Microwaving food destroys all most all antioxidants & thus does not get my recommendation as a preferred cooking method.  Microwave might still be an economical, fuel efficient & a convenient way to reheat food but is not advisable for preparing food.  The powerful convenience food lobby is responsible for gagging all negative studies of microwave from being published.

Let’s look at tips to preserve nutrients while cooking.

• Pressure cooking uses the least amount of time and water & thus is the best method for cooking food.
• Steaming comes close second as the food does not come in contact with water in this cooking method.
• Stir frying is also good as the ingredients are heated for a very short period of time without the use of water.
• Cutting vegetables into larger pieces also preserves nutrients as less surface area is exposed to air.
• Using a sharp knife is a very simple technique to preserve nutrients.
• While frying, it is much better to use oil from a single source rather than blended oils.
• Leaving the skin on the vegetables is recommended as maximum nutrients are concentrated just below the skin.
• Cooking food uncovered is a sure way of loosing vital nutrients through exposure to air & longer cooking time.
• In case the food needs to be boiled, serve the food in the cooking liquor or at least use this liquor for soups.
• Preparing food in smaller batches & cutting vegetables just before preparation time is also recommended to preserve nutrients.  Because of these reasons, it is much healthier to eat at home.  Restaurants, despite their best intentions, cannot prepare food in small batches or start cutting vegetables after your order is placed.

I know that raw food is still the best.  But let’s not overdo the raw fad.  It has been proven from research that patients & kids are better off having cooked food.  In fact “tomato” was found to have more antioxidants after it was cooked.

Looking forward to some mouthwatering steamed food recipes from the loyal readers of Friendly-Tips.