Cooking Vegetables The Healthy Way
There is no denying that vegetables are some of the healthiest foods you can have in your diet. Rich in vitamins and minerals, vegetables play an important role in keeping us healthy all year round. But quite often, poor preparation and cooking methods often lead to nutrient loss in vegetables served in most homesteads today. The good thing is that most of these problems can be kept at bay by learning how to cook vegetables the best way.
The real nutritional benefit lies on how you treat your vegetables before and during cooking. If you prefer cooked vegetables as opposed to raw vegetables, then you must learn the best way to cook spaghetti squash. For instance, if you overcook your vegetables, you make them lose important nutrients, depriving you the same at the dinner table.
Instead of roasting, frying or even boiling, it is advisable that you steam your vegetables. The only exception to this would be red tomatoes. Steaming actually increases the level of lycopene in most vegetables. This is an important antioxidant believed to prevent certain types of cancer, vision loss and heart diseases among others. Vegetables cook with just steam so they do not leech out nutrients from the vegetable.
In addition to the aforementioned, when learning how to cook, do not peel the vegetable skin before cooking them as this result in loss of important nutrients. It is believed that some of the most important nutrients found in root vegetables such as potatoes lie inside or just under the skin.
Before cooking vegetables, it is advisable that you clean them first. Commercially available vegetables could be potentially dangerous, especially when they are not properly cleaned. This is because many sprayers are used in trunk gardens, so it is possible that unhealthy types of water are used. For this reason, always wash your vegetables before cooking them.
When cooking vegetables, there are certain things you need to keep in mind. For example, do not remove the lid while cooking the vegetables. By removing the lid, you allow the steam to escape, and this often contains vitamins and minerals. Besides that, use low heat whenever possible. On the same note, do not use soda to preserve color because this destroys important vitamins. You should also consider curing your vegetables before cooking them because cut vegetables lose Vitamin C when exposed to air. To achieve good healthy food, do not soak vegetables or allow them to stand in water for long before cooking them as this causes nutrient loss.
