Written by Catherine Saxelby
on Wednesday, 20 July 2022.
Tagged: canned food, healthy cooking, healthy eating, nutrition, wellness
We all know vegetables are important in a healthy diet. From cabbage to fennel, I love vegetables and try to eat big portions of them at lunch, dinner and in-betweens. But all too often, I find they’re cooked in ways that don’t retain their maximum nutrition. Read on for my six tips to preserve their goodness
As a kid, I can remember being served green beans that were sliced in half, cut small and boiled until they were grey, as well as cabbage that looked like sludge – but that was how our parents and grandparents cooked vegies back then. These days, I want my vegies just-cooked still with a bit of crunch and dressed with something to bring out their flavour – a splash of good olive oil or a handful of chopped walnuts does the trick for me.
These quick tips will save you time in the kitchen and keep those vegies from being boiled to death or kept hot for too long:
Whether you go for a steamer gadget, double-boiler or just a foldable metal basket inside a pot, steaming is the healthiest way to cook vegetables. It minimises the loss of vitamin C, folate and thiamin (all heat-sensitive); cooks without discolouring or softening the vegies; and needs no fat. It’s healthier than boiling, where nutrients leach out into the cooking water and are discarded.
This is the most important vitamin we get from vegetables, salads and fruit. It’s fragile and reduced (not destroyed) by heat, which is why you MUST cook vegies as rapidly as possible.
This is a B vitamin that prevents birth defects in babies and is needed for healthy blood. Like vitamin C, it’s fragile and heat-sensitive, so make sure you don’t overcook these veg.
The first of the B-group vitamins, thiamin or vitamin B1 is needed for releasing energy from food and for nerve transmission. Think productivity.
A fat-soluble vitamin, vitamin K requires a little fat for the body to absorb it from the digestive tract. This is why it’s a good idea to splash olive oil over vegetables before serving. Vitamin K is used to make proteins that help our blood clot. It also helps to protect your bones from fracture and prevent your arteries from calcifying.
These compounds are why nutritionists say “eat by the rainbow”. You want a variety of different-coloured vegetables on your plate each day. They include lots of diverse compounds such as the large group of polyphenols (think flavonoids and flavonols) and other compounds like carotenoids. They also provide colour – think oranges, reds, yellows and browns.
These include potassium, magnesium and zinc. Potassium is a major mineral available from vegetables, and is needed for fluid balance and muscle regulation. Magnesium provides structure for the bones and zinc aids in the healing of cuts.
When it comes to fibre, most of us think of bran breakfast cereal or baked beans, but there’s heaps of fibre in vegetables, too. You only have to think of cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts to know what I mean.
I’ll wager that ONE of these tips rings a bell for you. And, of course, you’ll want to experiment with different ways to retain the goodness yourself. Which is great. Go for it!
This post was first published in my book: The Super Powers of Veg. You can access it here.
© 2024 Foodwatch Australia. All rights reserved
Author photo by Kate Williams
Website by Joomstore eCommerce