Cooking Vegetables : The Best Nutrition Practices

Vegetable is part of our diet which we consume every day. People consume vegetable day to day, but as vegetable is been consumed day to day, many do not know the best nutritious way to cook or prepare their vegetables.

Vegetable contains the following:

1. Vitamin A - Which keeps the eye healthy and makes the skin healthy.
2 Vitamin C - It helps to heal cuts and wounds.
It keeps teeth and gums healthy.
It aids the absorption of iron in the body.
It also boosts the immune system of the body.
3. Fiber - It helps to reduce constipation
It helps to reduce blood cholesterol.
It aids proper bowel movement
4. Folic Acid - It helps in the formation of red blood cells.
It reduces neural tube defects and spina bifida during fetal development.
5. Potassium - It helps in maintaining healthy blood pressure.
6. Antioxidants - Which reduces oxidative stress in the body.
7. Phytochemicals - Such as beta-carotenes
8. It is low in fat and calories
9. It has no cholesterol.
10. It has been researched that vegetable may reduce the occurrence or incidence of heart disease and stroke.
11. Also it may protect against certain types of cancers.

When we look at how people prepare vegetables nowadays, it could be seen that many people do not know the best way to do it.

These are the best nutrition practices in preparing your vegetables:

a. Do Not Blanch Your Vegetable - Many times people add hot water to their vegetable and leave for long period of time. The nutrients inside the vegetable is leaked into the hot water. Most times, this vegetable is squeezed and the water turned away. The nutrient inside the vegetable which has been leaked into the water is thereby poured away.

Vitamin C and Vitamin B's which are water soluble vitamins are much readily dissolved into the water. So blanching causes loss of nutrients.

What you can do - You can steam the vegetable for 2 minutes to 3 minutes then add the vegetable to your sauce. There is no need of adding water to it.

b. Before shredding your vegetable, ensure that you wash your vegetable thoroughly before shredding. Washing of vegetable after shredding may result to loss of some water soluble vitamins.

What to do - Wash your vegetable thoroughly, then shred or slice your vegetable thereafter and cook afterwards.

c. Do not cook your vegetables or leave your vegetables on fire for a long period of time. The average time of cooking vegetable should not exceed 4 minutes to 6 minutes. Heat destroys and denatures some nutrients inside vegetable.


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