Have you wondered that even though you eat plenty of the greatest
fruits and veggies that are proven to be extremely beneficial to your health,
you see the result occurs very slowly? Sure, eating the right foods is
important, but how to prepare or cook them is even more crucial to reap all their
health benefits. Here’re some big mistakes you’re making in processing your
foods and how to correct them in order to get the most vitamins and minerals
form the foods you eat.
Garlic
CRUSH or
CHOP your garlic! Research indicates that crushing garlic and allowing it to
sit for at least 10 minutes released allicin- an enzyme that helps reduce the
risk of heart-related diseases and fight cancer.
Carrots
Do not cut
up your carrots! One study found that cutting carrots increased surface size
and allowed more nutrients to leach out. After washing and peeling, carrots
should hit the water in their whole form. Cook or eat them raw, but one study
showed that cooking carrots increased the bioavailability of carotenoids.
Broccoli
The best
cooking method is STEAMING. Broccoli is loaded with vitamin C, chlorophyll,
antioxidants and anti-carcinogenic compounds that have been shown to be
effective in the prevention of certain cancers such as breast cancer and skin
cancer. If you want to reap the most health mileage from this veggie, resist
the urge to boil or fry it as these cooking methods will cause the biggest loss
in nutrients.
Strawberries
Avoid
cutting strawberries to get the full nutrients of fiber, antioxidants and
vitamin C in these bright-red berries. Nutritionists explain that certain
nutrients-especially vitamin C- are sensitive to light and oxygen, so when cut,
strawberries easily lose their nutrients. Eat them WHOLE!
Yogurt
You know
that watery substance that you often see atop your Greek yogurt? That’s whey
which contains protein and vitamin B12, associated with minerals like calcium
and phosphorus. Thus, give your yogurt a quick stir to retain all its health
benefits. Another note is that you are not going to get yogurt’s probiotic
benefits if you are cooking a hot dish like chicken curry with it. Of course,
you still get the protein, calcium and vitamin D.
Tomatoes
Your mistake: Eating them raw
How to correct: Heating them up
Why: Cooking tomatoes significantly increases their levels of lycopene –
the phytonutrient that is responsible for their cancer and
heart-disease-fighting properties. Plus, cook tomatoes in olive oil for the
biggest nutritional boost as lycopene is fat-soluble that means you need fat in
your diet for your body to absorb properly.
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