Vegan question: Raw or Cooked?

Question

Hey there! I 've got a question about preparing my food. I've read that if you cook your veggies 116 degrees it depliets them of their nutrients. I want to be healthy and get all I can from my food. Do you know about this and if you do, do you have any ways of preparing food that you get all of its nutritienal value? Also, if anybody has any great recipies or websites to share I'd love it! :) Thank you.

Answer 1

It's partially true. When you cook vegetables or fruits, nutrients are lost into the water or whatever else you are cooking them in.

It's good to use the water to make gravy or something where the waters can be used in something else in your meal so that you get the nutrients lost, in that.

Not that much of the nutrients is actually lost during cooking (remember, cooking also includes preparation and cutting is another way in which foods lose their nutritional value - have you noticed how an apple turn brown ina  very short space of time after you cut it? This is the nutrient loss).

Try to use the water is you can, if not, then don't worry about it too much as dried foods, freeze-thaw foods etc also have reduced nutrients and it doesn't seem to make much difference!

Make sure you have enough iron, protein and vitamin C and just add in foods with other nutrients where you can!

Answer 2

i got this one book called raw food. - and there are a few books by a guy called David Wolf. He talks about all the great things about raw foods, and how you can eat it to look younger. I think the book is called Food for beauty.

Those books have loads of recipes. I have not tried any yet, simply because I have been really busy lately. I wish you luck.

Answer 3

>AlwaysOn>Guidehttp://www.seeveggiesdifferently.com/veg...

Try that site!

Answer mine,pleaseeee.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Answer 4

It is true, for example, cooking food destroys vitamin C. I'll try to find a chart for you.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/topics/proc...

Eating raw foods does give you ultimate benefit in respect to vitamins and minerals. However, when you eat only raw foods, the benefits tapper off. If you cook food, they are easier to digest. This means they become readily available for energy. Also, your digestive system will require to do less work.

I personally think mixing both is the best.

Also, I suggest reading the articles in Nutritiondata.com. They are great and personally I find they are the best source of information.

Answer 5

raw!   steaming would be better than boiling, unless you drink the water after wards, lol.!   I like the chrunchiness  of raw veggies!

Answer 6

If you are in Singapore, i think you can join this fun raw food classes:

http://www.rawfoodcuisine.com.sg/

Answer 7

Sometimes cooking may enhance nutrients.  (see ref)

It's best to not do anything extreme, and have a combination of cooked and raw foods.  If you do cook, don't dump the water you boiled food in, but re-use them, so if it is leeched out, you don't lose the nutrients.