Do you motivate yourself to eat vegetables every day for the good of your health? That’s great! But chances are you might be best dose of nutrients every time you eat them. You see, it’s easy for veggies to lose nutrients and vitamins if not prepared properly.
So don’t just focus on eating more veggies—try to get the most nutrients out of each meal. Here are 7 things that make veggies less nutritious and how you can avoid them.
1. Juicing
Juicing is a great way to eat more veggies effortlessly. But you’ll be missing out on fiber if you choose juicing over eating whole veggies. And as you may know, fiber controls hunger and improves digestion.
Blending your veggies is better than juicing since you’ll get all the fiber content. You can make your smoothies tastier and healthier by adding spices like turmeric or cinnamon.
2. Not washing your veggies
Most veggies in the market are filled with chemicals from pesticides. In fact, a 2013 study found that a third of the produce they tested had pesticide residues. Note that toxins from pesticides can cause inflammation, diarrhea and increase risk of diseases if you’re exposed to them long-term.
Make sure you wash your veggies thoroughly before you cook them, or buy organic.
3. You only eat your veggies raw
You may think that eating raw veggies retains all the nutrients, but that’s not entirely true. Some veggies like tomatoes are more nutritious when cooked. And I may also note that raw veggies are not easy to break down and absorb once ingested.
You’re better off eating your veggies cooked most of the time. Only eat raw veggies occasionally.
4. Using the wrong salad dressing
Eating salads with fat improves absorption of nutrients, but the type of fat you use matters. Most salad dressings are unhealthy and loaded with lots of calories. Extra virgin olive oil is the best fat to add to your salads.
5. Boiling your veggies
Did you know that water absorbs vitamins from vegetables when they’re boiled? And did you further know that boiling reduces antioxidant content in foods?
If you have to boil your veggies, don’t forget to drink the water you cook with since it has nutrients. But realize that steaming, roasting and sautéing are better ways of cooking veggies without losing nutrients.
6. Overcooking
This may sound obvious, but most people still do it. Veggies shouldn’t lose color or get mushy when we cook them. Here’s how you can avoid overcooking veggies.
7. You don’t buy frozen veggies
Some studies show that frozen veggies are more nutritious than fresh ones. Reason being, fresh veggies start to lose nutrients when stored for several days, while frozen veggies contain most of the nutrients since they’re packaged immediately after harvesting.
Buy frozen veggies since they’re healthy and cheaper. And don’t store fresh veggies more than a week.
SOURCE: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-ways-you-are-making-your-vegetables-less-nutritious.html
