Vegetables are your lifeline to good health, especially a variety of colors, both cooked and raw. But which ones are better cooked or better raw? I’ll keep it simple. Some vegetables should be cooked to get the most benefits. Some not so much. Heat destroys vitamin C but heat helps your body absorb vitamin A. What should we do? It can be confusing so here is my own take on it:
BETTER COOKED:
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Collard greens
- Swiss chard
- Broccoli – short steaming (3-4 minutes) preserves its cancer-fighting compounds
- Cabbage – easier to digest, cooking still provides some cancer fighting compounds
- Mushrooms
- Kale for mineral absorption
- Bell peppers for vitamin A
- Green beans
BETTER RAW:
- Leafy salad greens
- Bell peppers for vitamin C
- Broccoli for cancer fighting compounds (who eats raw broccoli?? 🤮)
- Cabbage – raw cabbage has more cancer fighting compounds
- Cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, etc.)
- Beets (again, who eats raw beets??)
- Kale for vitamin C
STILL GOOD EITHER WAY:
- Bell peppers
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Beets (cooked beets provide betacarotene and are more digestible when cooked)
Most vegetables need fat to absorb efficiently so my salads always have lots of heart healthy olive oil and sometimes avocado or nuts. I also drizzle extra olive oil on most pasta dishes. Steaming is generally the best way to cook most vegetables, retaining a lot of their nutrients. Roasting is my next choice but boiling is the least optimal way to cook any vegetable, except in soup, chili or stew where you consume the liquid.
*Several reputable sources are reporting that to gain the most benefits from cooked cruciferous vegetables, you should chop them 40 minutes before cooking to activate the beneficial enzymes. I don’t know if I’d have the time… ⏰
I hope this helps. I eat lots of vegetables in lots of colors. In fact, every meal I cook starts with what vegetables are in the fridge. Then I build the rest of the meal on that. When I serve a colorful plate of food, I ask my husband, “How beautiful are these vegetables?” He always replies, “Not as beautiful as you.” 😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️ Awwwww… (or he’s just angling for me to make brownies. 🤔)
Here’s a closing poem:
Bake them or steam them, or roast in a pan,
Eat lots of veggies, as many as you can.
Mix up the colors, you’ll benefit more,
You’ll look and feel way better than before.
If you take my advice, if you do as you should,
Your friends will all say… “Bitch, you look good!” 😀
