Cooked Or Raw Vegetables - Which Are More Useful?

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

The fact that vegetables are good for health is indisputable. Everyone eats them, only the taste preferences can be different: some prefer them fresh to salad, some are fond of vinaigrette, others can not live without vegetable soups or pickles, etc.

Vegetables are a source of vitamins, minerals, organic acids, pectins and crude dietary fiber. In order to absorb all these nutrients well, you need to know how to eat vegetables. We often hear the advice: "Eat lots of raw vegetables."

This statement is partly true. Partly because vegetables are not always healthier when raw. Excessive consumption of raw vegetables can cause exacerbation of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, gas. Vitamins are also not always absorbed by the body if vegetables are raw.

Heat treatment of vegetables

It is believed that if subjected to heat treatment, vegetables lose a number of their healing properties. But this view is not entirely true. The plant cells in vegetables are covered with cellulose.

This matter is practically not absorbed by the body, which means that a significant part of the biologically active substances under its layer cannot be excreted and absorbed by the body. Man has no enzymes to break down cellulose. And then comes the question of heat treatment, which has a mechanical effect on cellulose cells.

Thus, scientists have proven that vitamin A is better absorbed from cooked carrots than from raw. As a result of stewing or steaming, the carotenes in carrots become active and antioxidants are released more easily. If the biologically active substances from raw carrots are absorbed by only 5%, then from stewed carrots it is already 50%.

Also, you should know that in raw carrots the surface layers are most useful. It is better to cook carrots whole to preserve the beneficial anti-cancer substance falcarinol, which can be lost during cooking in grated form. Only frying can be considered a harmful method of heat treatment. But cooked and steamed, carrots retain their vitamins because they are fat-soluble.

Broccoli and zucchini also prove to be more useful in after heat treatment. The digestibility of carotenes and antioxidants increases by 30%. But this rule is valid only if the cooking time is not long. Stewed vegetables are healthier than cooked and roasted vegetables. And it is not at all useful to eat vegetables fried in fat.

Potatoes, eggplants and tomatoes are useful in baked and stewed forms. The powerful anti-cancer substance lycopene, contained in tomatoes, is released during heat treatment. Lycopene reduces the risk of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. Therefore, stewing tomatoes, making sterilized tomato juice and puree of them enrich our diet with nutrients dozens of times.

High temperatures can destroy vitamin C in vegetables, provided that the heat treatment is prolonged. However, if the vegetables are processed at high temperatures for a short time, vitamin C does not have time to collapse, but rather oxidizes. To reduce the harmful effects of vitamin C, the water should be boiled, salt added and then the vegetables should be dipped in it.

Boil the vegetables with the lid closed to reduce the oxidation of vitamin C. The enzyme ascorbinase, which is present in fruits rich in vitamin C, destroys ascorbic acid at temperatures up to 100 degrees and instantly shrinks at boiling point, without causing damage to the vitamin. In the pharmaceutical industry, plant raw materials rich in vitamin C are subjected to a short heat treatment, but at high temperatures.

Raw vegetables

Raw vegetables they are also very important for the body, but they play a different role. It consists in entering the body of the same fiber, which, although not absorbed by the body, cleanses the gastrointestinal tract. Lack of fiber in the diet leads to chronic constipation and intoxication of the body. Cellulose absorbs harmful radionuclides and cholesterol and removes them from the body. Adequate consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables is a good protection against atherosclerosis, hemorrhoids, cholecystitis and intestinal neoplastic diseases.

It is desirable to cut vegetables for salads in bulk to reduce the area of their oxidation with air. Exceptions are onions, garlic and cabbage. In the latter, the digestion and oxidation of air contributes to the most active release of phytoncides with anti-sclerotic and anti-cancer properties.

So start preparing salads with chopped onions and garlic. Garlic can be pressed through a press. Cut the cabbage thinly and mash it with your hands to release the juice. Eat the salad immediately to get the most vitamins.