Vegetables and Your Family's Health

The Correct Ways To Cook Vegetables To Maintain Health Benefits

by Dr. Richard Visser

To serve healthy meals at home, you don't have to get rid of all your family's favorite foods and eat like a rabbit. You can simply modify the way you make your favorite family recipes. They'll be healthier and may even taste better. The way you prepare your food is just as important as what you make.

For example, a recent Portuguese study showed that microwaving vegetables removes some of their most valuable nutrients. Super-healthy broccoli lost 74 to 97 percent of its antioxidants (including vitamin E and beta carotene) when immersed in water and then zapped.

A different study showed that cruciferous vegetables (a group that includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage) had almost 90 percent of their cancer-fighting antioxidants removed after boiling, but not much lost after steaming, microwaving, or stir-frying. The same effect was observed with flavonoids (phytonutrients that prevent cancer and heart disease). Zucchini, beans, and carrots retain much higher amounts when cooked in a little water versus being cooked in large amounts of water.

Antioxidant vitamins such as C and folate (a B vitamin) are water-soluble, and go down the drain in amounts as high as 50 percent with the cooking water. So, if you shouldn't boil your veggies on the stove or in the microwave, what can you do?

Steam your veggies, and they'll lose only about 11 percent of antioxidants. Steamer attachments for use with saucepans and microwaves are readily available, as are electric steamers. While you're steaming, add soy sauce, wine, citrus juice, or tamari to the water--the essence will rise up and delicately flavor the vegetables.

Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a non-stick pan and briefly stir-fry. You can stir-fry your vegetables with or without steaming them first. Just chop your veggies into smaller pieces if you're not pre-cooking them. Because stir-frying uses high heat, it also cooks veggies quickly and with little water, so they retain most of their nutrients. Just be careful how much oil you're using and what kind of oil.

Oven-roast your vegetables or put them on your outside grill. Both methods take longer (about 40 minutes at 400 degrees), but the results are really tasty and nutrients aren't lost in water. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash all benefit taste-wise from baking.

Be careful of overcooking no matter what method you're using. If your veggies turn a dull version of their original color, or if white veggies turn yellow or grey, they're overdone. Avoid overcooking since it reduces the nutrients, as well as takes away flavor and visual appeal.

What about frozen vegetables? Fresh vegetables are blanched (briefly cooked in hot water) before being frozen (and sometimes salted, so check the label) and then sold to you. Unfortunately, 30 percent of vitamin C is lost in carrots and 20 to 30 percent is lost in peas. You're consuming 70 percent less folic acid in frozen spinach than in fresh spinach. So, while frozen vegetables are better than none at all, fresh are definitely the best.

NOTE: Canned vegetables are sitting in water for months on end. When you drain and rinse them (which you should to wash away the salt and preservatives), important nutrients are also in that water and thus down the drain.

More healthy cooking tips:

If you do boil a vegetable, save the vitamin-rich water (it freezes well) and use it later in soup or gravy.

To flavor your veggies the healthy way, toss or cook them in small amounts of stock, wine, lemon juice, fruit juice, or vinegar.

When steaming veggies, place them in shallow, even layers. They are cooked when a fork inserts easily.

Often the best nutrients are found in the skin, so thoroughly scrub rather than peel veggies when possible.

Use a non-stick pan so you can use little or no oil at all without food sticking, or try cooking sprays (name brands or fill-your-own spray bottles) or a pastry brush to reduce the amount of oil.

Instead of garnishing veggies with sour cream or butter or fatty sauces, try pestos, salsas, or chutneys.

If a recipe lists cream for thickening, substitute low fat yoghurt, soymilk, evaporated skim milk, or cornstarch.

An alternative to browning vegetables by pan-frying is to cook them first in the microwave, then crisp them under the griller for a minute or two.

Taste your food before salting it, or try a dash of olive oil or lemon juice on your cooked food first, to replace the salt.

Don't re-use your cooking oil, as it degrades and releases toxic polymers and polar compounds with each reheating.

These simple, easy tips can make a huge impact on how many nutrients your kids get out of each meal.