Stew, boil or eat raw: How to cook vegetables with benefit
According to WHO, in 2013 aloneabout 5.2 million people died from preventable diseases by regularly eating a sufficient amount of vegetables and fruits. We are talking about non-infectious diseases, especially cancer and cardiovascular. The organization recommends that adults use four hundred grams of fruits and vegetables per day, and this amount does not include potatoes and other starchy root crops. Fiber and water in the composition of vegetables help the normal functioning of the intestine; Of course, juicy bright vegetables and greens are also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.
Many people ask questions about proper storage and cooking of vegetables: do the vitamins remain in place after cooking? Does the harm of nitrates reduce the benefits of fiber? What is better - peel vegetables or eat with peel? We understand with experts: a candidate of medical sciences, a nutritionist and the founder of SOLO healthy nutrition company Margarita Koroleva, a physician at DOC + mobile clinic Elvira Ter-Oganesyants and a candidate of medical sciences, a doctor of sports medicine, a nutritionist of the federal network of fitness clubs X-Fit Oleg Iryshkin.
To prevent vegetables from spoiling longer, manufacturers and retail stores try to keep them at a low temperature or use shock freezing. Potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and beets are well stored in a cool, dry, dark place, such as in a grocery store. True, the loss of some of the vitamins is inevitable, and it is unlikely to be affected - few people are ready to regularly dig up a couple of fresh potatoes for dinner. It remains to hope only for compliance with the temperature and light conditions, in violation of which the vitamins are lost even faster.
The freshness of more fragile vegetables - broccoli, cauliflower, green peas, corn, green beans - is maintained by shock freezing, during which the products are very quickly cooled to about twenty degrees below zero. This method allows you to save not only the taste, but also a large number of useful trace elements. Here the main thing - to prevent thawing and re-freezing. It is easy to understand how frozen vegetables were stored: if there were no violations, there would be no ice inside the package, and the vegetables themselves would be covered with a light layer of frost.
Processing is another option to extend the shelf life of products. To this end, carrots are coated with clay, soaked in chalk solution or treated with antiseptics, and cucumbers are coated with a mixture of mineral substances and packed in polyethylene. Tomatoes, eggplants and Bulgarian pepper are treated with paraffin and sorbic acid, a natural preservative that is found in rowan berries. The vegetables treated with these products are glossy shiny, but these preservatives will not harm the body - you need a very large number of them.
According to doctor Elvira Ter-Oganesyants, diphenyl (E230) is the most harmful chemical that is used to process fresh vegetables. This food preservative slows down the appearance of mold and bacteria - but there is evidence of its connection with the development of various types of allergies and even malignant tumors. In Australia, the use of diphenyl is prohibited; With respect to a substance with a similar name - diphenylamine - the policy is reversed: it is banned in Europe, but applied in America, where it is not recognized as dangerous. It is believed that the findings of the US FDA of low risk are associated only with poor quality research, and those who want to avoid the accumulation of toxic components in the body are advised to switch to more expensive but safe organic fruits.
Nitrates are salts of nitric acid that fertilize the earth to grow a rich harvest. These substances can accumulate not only in the soil, but also in the plants and their fruits grown in it. During digestion, nitrates break down into safe nitric oxide and nitrites, which in turn turn into nitrosamines - toxic compounds that are harmful in large quantities, especially for the kidneys and liver. True, not everything is so terrible: the body copes with nitrites and even synthesizes them itself. The question in quantity: per day, you can safely eat 5 milligrams of nitrates per kilogram of body weight; That is, a person weighing 60 kg can eat up to 300 mg of nitrates - this is a whole kilogram of tomatoes.
True, some vegetables accumulate more nitrates - the leaders include beets, radishes, cabbages and celery. In addition, these substances accumulate unevenly: cabbage has most of them in the stalk, in carrots - in the core, in cucumber - in the "butts", and leafy vegetables (greens) - in the stems. To reduce the amount of nitrates in vegetables can be heat treated (although the benefits of boiled, stewed and baked fruits will be less), as well as removing the peel or green stalks. Lemon juice contributes to the destruction of nitrates, so it makes sense to add it to vegetable salads. There is an opinion that you can get rid of nitrates by soaking vegetables in cold water or by adding potatoes to the dish that “absorbs” these substances - but at the same time, “giving” a small portion of nitrates to water or potatoes, the vegetables will lose healthy potassium and calcium salts.
Particles of soil and dust contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and parasite eggs, as well as harmful chemical compounds, can remain on vegetables, so they must be washed. Pesticides that treat the kidney, too, often fall on the fruit. The closer a vegetable grows to the ground, the more carefully it needs to be washed - if it is enough to rinse the tomatoes with warm running water, then it is better to rub the radish and carrot with a sponge or brush.
There are also special detergents for vegetables and fruits, designed to wash off pesticides, dirt and wax. Although their use may reassure (it is nice to know that you are doing something useful for yourself), official sources of recommendations consider it unnecessary. According to research, ordinary water coped with the purification of products no worse or even better than special means. It is recommended to wash vegetables shortly before use. If you want to wipe them dry, use a clean towel or paper towel. If you bought a package of washed vegetables or herbs, you do not need to wash them again.
Root crops are best kept in a dry and cool place - in the pantry, on the balcony (not in summer) or in a regular kitchen cabinet. It is enough to keep cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bell pepper, celery in the refrigerator, in the vegetable compartment. Do not store vegetable products in the light: under the influence of ultraviolet light, they lose some nutrients, including vitamins B2 and K, so it is better not to put a basket of apples on the window sill. Greens do not tolerate long storage and quickly lose useful properties. Before storage, it is recommended to rinse, trim the roots (if any), dry and wrap in a paper towel or put into a bag.
According to nutritionist Margarita Koroleva, the concentration of vitamins and trace elements in the skin of many fruits is the highest - but also toxic substances accumulate in it. For example, nitrates accumulate in the peel of a cucumber, but at the same time it contains many vitamins C, B1, B2, biotin and carotene, as well as calcium, potassium and magnesium. It turns out that farmer's, unprocessed vegetables are better eaten with the skin. If you are cleaning vegetables - for reasons of utility or simply taste preferences - they still need to be washed beforehand. Otherwise, the dirt from the peel during cleaning may fall on the pulp of the fruit.
Fresh vegetables, as a rule, bring more benefits, but there are exceptions. For example, cruciferous (broccoli and other types of cabbage) in its raw form due to the large amount of fiber can cause bloating and flatulence. At the same time, the longer the heat treatment and the higher the temperature, the less nutrients the products retain. Spinach loses about 60% of vitamins during cooking, and carrots lose up to 95%, so it’s best to eat them raw. On the other hand, to get the same amount of lycopene, an important tomato antioxidant, you need to eat fewer cooked vegetables than raw vegetables (and most of it is contained in tomato paste).
Vegetables are important not to cook for too long. When al dente is ready, green beans, asparagus, beets, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower will be slightly harsh and crispy - and they will keep enough vitamins, minerals and fiber. Of course, it is important to take into account your own tastes: if you like soup or pasta sauce with steamed, soft pieces of vegetables, do not deny yourself. It is better to cut vegetables right before eating or cooking - otherwise many substances, including vitamin C, will have time to oxidize in air.
The glycemic index of most vegetables increases during the cooking process - that is, the longer the product is cooked or roasted, the faster sugar is absorbed from it. This is due to the partial destruction of complex carbohydrates - they become more accessible for digestion. For example, the glycemic index of fresh zucchini is 15, and the fried one is already 75. Jumps in the level of glucose are undesirable in the first place for people with diabetes mellitus or its risk. To avoid unpleasant consequences, eat vegetables should be raw or slightly processed, but crispy. It’s best to boil them for a few minutes in a small amount of water and be sure to over high heat - so their glycemic index will rise slightly and the products will not leave too many useful substances in the water.
Sometimes you can hear about the dangers of foods that contribute to the formation of mucus in the intestines - and even the need to "clean" the body of mucus. But this is the same legend as the detox from slags necessary for everyone in a row. In fact, many cereals, fruits and vegetables, such as oats, rice, flax seeds, bananas, pumpkin, potatoes, contain a special type of carbohydrates (heteropolysaccharides) that have gelling properties. Once in the intestine, the fragments of such food soften and increase in volume due to the mucus that forms - as well as the consumption of fiber, this contributes to the full-fledged work of the intestine. According to nutritionist Oleg Iryshkin, different characteristics should be weighed when choosing foods: the same potato is useful for the digestive system as a mucus-forming product, but in combination with other components of the diet of a particular person may contain too much carbohydrates or calories.
Photo: o_shi - stock.adobe.com, Tatiana Morozova - stock.adobe.com, makistock - stock.adobe.com