Vegetables are important parts of our diet; eating lots of vegetables is one of the simplest ways to improve health and well-being. Vegetables are excellent sources of many nutrients – vitamins and minerals which include potassium, dietary fiber, folate, vitamin A, and vitamin C. Research consistently shows that people who eat at least 5 servings of vegetables a day have the lowest risk of many diseases, including cancer and heart disease.
Vegetables are classified into starchy and non-starchy vegetables. While starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn, peas, etc., are high in fat and calories because they contain high carbohydrate content, non-starchy vegetables are lower in fats and energy but have a higher water content, and richer in vitamins and minerals.
Eating Raw or Cooked?
Sometimes the best way to enjoy vegetables is to not cook them at all. Enjoying your veggies as ‘salad’ is one of the best experiences you can have. Some veggies have nutrients which easily get lost in water or destroyed by heat. The most appropriate way of getting them efficiently is by eating the veggies raw. However, not all veggies are effective when eaten raw. Studies found that eating cooked spinach and carrots resulted in higher blood levels of the antioxidant beta carotene, which then converts to vitamin A. Cooking vegetables also helps increase the amount of minerals, like calcium, magnesium and iron, available to the body.
Best Ways of Cooking vegetables?
Despite the rich content of vegetables, the way they are prepared determines how much of the nutrients will be retained or lost before consumption. The best way to cook vegetables have been detailed below
Boiling
Boiling vegetables is one of the easiest ways to prepare them. To boil vegetables, simply bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt, and add your veggies. Although boiling is easy, it isn’t the most effective way to cook all vegetables. Boiling is the most effective way to cook starchy vegetables like potatoes and other firm root vegetables. However, it isn’t the best choice for leafy vegetables. Boiling vegetables causes water soluble vitamins like vitamin C, B1 and folate to leach into the water. Boiling is a good option if the vegetable is added to soups and stews because you’ll eat the veggie’s nutrients in the soup. To get the best out of boiling, boil the vegetables for only a few minutes until they are bright in color and as tender as you like them.
Microwave
Vegetables can also be cooked using a microwave and it is one of the best ways of cooking the vegetables. The main advantage of microwaves is obviously the time factor and since microwaving uses little to no water, the heat helps to cook the vegetable quickly from the inside, preserving heat-sensitive vitamins (like vitamins C and B9).
More so, the internal temperature also goes no higher than boiling which helps preserve the flavor of the vegetable.
Steaming
Steaming is the best way to get the best out of your vegetables. It entails the use of hot steam to cook food; that means the food doesn’t come into contact with water or oil, as it would when boiling, or with cooking oils and fats, as it would when frying.
Steaming keeps the veggies moist without it becoming waterlogged. Steaming helps to soften vegetables, making chewing and digest easier. There’s no need to add fats or oils when steaming; this keeps your meals heart-healthy and keeps the number of calories you’re consuming to a minimum.
Roasting or Baking
This may sound strange but veggies can be roasted or baked – both starchy and non-starchy veggies. Roasting completely transforms the flavors and textures of raw vegetables. Since roasting or baking vegetables uses dry heat and does not require any water, this minimizes nutrient loss. Roasting also helps to preserve more nutrients than boiling, not to mention the delicious taste, crunch and easy preparation. The only down-side to roasting vegetables is that it can reduce levels of heat-sensitive nutrients, such as vitamin C and folate. More so, if you aren’t careful with the heat regulation, your veggies can dry out. The best kind of veggies to roast are hard veggies, like potatoes, root vegetables, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Roasted potatoes is a common delicacy in Nigeria.
Stir Fry
Stir-frying involves cooking bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables quickly on high heat. This cooking technique is popular in the west but originated from ancient China. It is one of the most healthy ways of cooking vegetables. Stir Fying results in tender-crisp vegetables that retain more nutrients than if they were boiled. It is also easy and requires little time for the food to be prepared. However, not all kinds of vegetables can be stir-fried, for example potatoes. While stir-frying improves the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and some plant compounds, it decreases the amount of vitamin C in vegetables.
Sauté
This is one of the best ways to get out the best in your vegetables. To sauté a vegetable means to cook it in some type of fat over controlled heat. It is very similar to Stir-frying – the difference is in the amount of heat used. While high heat is used to stir-fry, a low controlled heat is used to sauté. The most common fats used in sautéing are Olive oil, avocado oil, butter, and coconut oil. Olive oil is the best option for sauteing because it has one of the highest levels of antioxidants and phytonutrients of the cooking oils.
Which is the best?
Some vegetables are better for us if they are steamed, roasted, or boiled, such as Spinach while others, when eaten raw. There are vegetables that aren’t pleasant when eaten raw, like pumpkin, but are delicious roasted, steamed, or stewed.
People will tell you that vegetables should be eaten raw to preserve micronutrients. Other people will tell you to steam them, because adding fat is unhealthy (it isn’t). The point is, vegetables are good for you and they are tasty. Eating more vegetables is healthy. Getting them into your diet in greater variety is healthy. Preparing them in ways that make them delicious is healthy, because it encourages you to eat more of them. How you eat your veggies depend on you as long as you are getting them wholly into your body system.