The Nutrition Center recommends everyone to eat at least 250 grams of vegetables per day. The following applies: the more, the better. Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber. But to get all the nutrients, it is important that you cook certain vegetables in advance.
The benefits of cooking vegetables
When you cook vegetables, they become softer and therefore easier to digest. Your body also absorbs the nutrients better and you often eat more vegetables when you cook them, since they lose a lot of moisture during cooking. Vegetables shrink, so that the percentage of nutritional value per 100 grams is higher than with raw vegetables. Moreover, you eat more of it, so you also get more vitamins.
1. Carrots
Of course, raw carrots are very healthy, but these orange vegetables become even healthier after a few minutes of heating. The beta-carotene can then be absorbed more easily by your body. This is a substance that the human body can convert into vitamin A, which is important for bone growth, the health of your eyes and your immune system in general.
2. Spinach
Contrary to popular belief, cooking spinach increases the amount of iron in the final product. Cooked spinach also contains more vitamins A, E and zinc. Still worth warming this green leafy vegetable in advance.
3. Asparagus
With asparagus, for example, the nutrients are locked up in the cells and your digestion cannot properly break down the cell walls. When you cook them, the cell structure of the asparagus changes, your body can absorb the nutrients and they are immediately a lot healthier.
4. Tomatoes
When you cook tomatoes, the cell structure changes and the antioxidant lycopene is released. This substance is associated with a lower risk of several chronic diseases. This makes cooked tomatoes healthier. Only when cooking tomatoes (as with other vegetables) some of the vitamin C is lost.
5. Bell pepper
No, you don’t have to cook paprika. However, it does belong in this list, since bell peppers are healthier when you heat them. As with carrots, bell peppers are also rich in beta-carotene. This substance is fat-soluble, which means that it is more easily absorbed when consumed with a small amount of fat. So you absorb more vitamin A from peppers that are lightly fried in olive oil than from the raw vegetables. There is no point in cooking, since the vitamin C is (partly) lost in this heat.
6. Broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts
The following applies to these vegetables: they are packed with glucosinolates and myrosinase. If you steam or boil these vegetables, these healthy substances are active and extra well absorbed after consumption.
But of course there are also vegetables that are better eaten raw. Examples include cucumber and celery. This is because both cucumber and celery contain water-soluble nutrients in the form of vitamins B and C. When cooked in water, these valuable nutrients can be lost and the nutritional value drops sharply.
Don’t have a steam oven or steam basket? This is how you steam vegetables without a steam oven or basket:
Source: Real Simple† The nutrition center† Livestrong.com