How To Prepare Healthy Foods
Without Ruining Their Benefits
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Just buying healthy foods isn't enough.
How you prepare them matters, too.
Posted: 01/21/2015
While
many people believe that stocking your kitchen with the right stuff --
from kale to mixed nuts to a colorful assortment of veggies -- is the
key to a solid diet, that's not entirely true.
If you don't prepare
these foods the ideal way, you might be missing out on many of the
nutrients that make them so potentially healthy.
Researchers have tested
a range of foods and cooking methods, from boiling to microwaving, to
discover which yield the most nutritious results.
Here's your cheat
sheet -- don't cook without it!
Cooked Veggies
Best: Microwaved
"Properly
cooking vegetables in the microwave can go a long way toward reducing
nutrient loss," says registered dietitian Sandra Bastin, PhD, who uses
the method in her own kitchen.
Microwaving limits the need for heat and
water, both of which can cause vegetables to lose nutrients. And when
Spanish researchers looked at the impact of cooking techniques on 20
different veggies, they discovered that microwaving ranked higher than
boiling when it came to preserving antioxidants.
Place veggies in a
glass container with one to two tablespoons of water, and microwave on
high until they are crisp and bright in color.
Kale
Best: Raw
Here's
why you should enjoy this leafy green uncooked: According to one study,
boiled kale lost 89 percent of its vitamin C, and its polyphenols
(compounds that may lessen your risk of disease) were reduced by more
than half. If raw kale is too tough for you, registered dietitian
Julieanna Hever suggests massaging the leaves with avocado or olive oil.
Cashews
Best: Roasted
As
long as you're roasting chestnuts on an open fire, throw some cashews
on there, too. Cooking cashews at around 265 degrees for 33 minutes
produces nuts that not only are tastier, but also have a higher
antioxidant level than their uncooked counterparts, according to
research. Roasting helps in two ways: It may free nutrients that are
bound together in the raw nut, and it may also cause a chemical reaction
responsible for increasing antioxidant activity.
Tomatoes
Best: Simmered
A
2013 study found that tomato paste had more than double the lycopene (a
chemical that may help fight heart disease and cancer) of raw tomatoes;
heat breaks down the insoluble fiber in the fruit, releasing lycopene.
To make your own paste, simmer chopped tomatoes with salt on the stove
until they reach a pureelike consistency. Run the puree through a food
mill to remove the skin and seeds. Spread the puree in a baking pan and
place it in the oven at 300 degrees. Stir every 30 minutes until the
paste is thick and deep red.
Sweet Potatoes
Best: Dried
Move
over, sweet potato fries. A recent study looked at where the spuds fell
on the glycemic index (GI), which measures how food affects your blood
sugar (the lower the number, the better). The results: Sweet potatoes
that had been dehydrated (a drying method that turns taters into chips)
had a GI score of 41, better than when they were steamed (63), baked
(64), or microwaved (66). You can buy a dehydrator online for about $40.
Once your sweet potato chips are dried, add salt for flavor.
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