Raw vegetables….are they better for you? I’ve always been told that you can “cook out” the nutrients of vegetables…true or false? We all want to get the most nutrients we can from our food, so what is the best way to eat our veggies?

Cooking your food will help you digest it without expending huge amounts of energy, is softens it and allows our digestive system to better handle it.  Contrary to what you might have heard raw is NOT always better….

A study published in The British Journal of Nutrition last year found that a group of 198 subjects who followed a strict raw food diet had normal levels of vitamin A and relatively high levels of beta-carotene (an antioxidant found in dark green and yellow fruits and vegetables), but low levels of the antioxidant lycopene.

What is Lycopene?

Lycopene is a red pigment found predominantly in tomatoes and other rosy fruits such as watermelon, pink guava, red bell pepper and papaya. Several studies conducted in recent years (at Harvard Medical School, among others) have linked high intake of lycopene with a lower risk of cancer and heart attacks. It may be an even more potent antioxidant than vitamin C.

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, if they're boiled or steamed. Cooking carrots actually increases their level of beta-carotene. Boiling and steaming better preserves antioxidants, particularly carotenoid, in carrots, zucchini and broccoli, than frying, though boiling is the best.

Ok, so what is carotenoids and ferulic acid, and why do you need it?

Beta-carotene belongs to a group of antioxidant substances called carotenoids, which give fruits and vegetables their red, yellow, and orange colorings. The body converts beta-carotene into vitamin A, which plays an important role in vision, reproduction, bone growth and regulating the immune system.

Ferulic acid is an antioxidant found in seeds of plants such as in rice, wheat, and oats, as well as in coffee, apple, artichoke, peanut, orange and pineapple.  It blasts away those nasty free radicals.
The downside of cooking veggies it can destroy the vitamin C in them.
The trade-off may be worth it since vitamin C is prevalent in far more fruits and vegetables than is lycopene. Among them: broccoli, oranges, cauliflower, kale and carrots. Besides, cooked vegetables retain some of their vitamin C content.

Diana Boyle

Embody Pole Fitness