Mothering Forum banner

Cooking out Nutrients XPosted in Meal Planning

485 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  avendesora 
#1 ·
I've heard that cooking and/or freezing food takes all the vitamins and nutrients out of it. So what/how do you eat if this is the case? How do we get any nutrition, short of going on a raw-food diet? I totally don't get it! But I want to be more food conscious so my family and I can eat nutritious food. I'm not ready to go all natural or organic, but I'm ready/willing to make some changes, and hopefully someday all natural/organic will be how we eat. I just don't understand what or how to eat now, if anything cooked or frozen is really just filler--for lack of a better word--with no nutrients. Any thoughts? Or suggestions on what we should be eating? I have no clue where to start!
 
#2 ·
I'll agree that cooked foods has less nutrients, but I certainly wouldn't say it had no nutrients.

There are some nutrients that withstand cooking well, and you can actually end up getting more of those nutrients by cooking - tomatoes are an easy example. You can get more tomato-based nutrients through cooked foods, simply because you can eat so many tomatoes-worth of sauce, where as you may have only had one raw tomato at that meal instead.

Raw foods can be easier to digest in that they have all of their enzymes in tact, however, raw foods can be hard to digest because modern people have lost the ability to chew our foods thoroughly and properly. (Many herbivores chew slowly all day, we tend to wolf foods down.)

Here's an easy thing you can do: Add raw green smoothies to your diet. I love the philosophy of raw food, but it doesn't strike me as something I could do locally, sustainably, or with toddlers. But that doesn't mean I couldn't benefit from adding some raw greens to my life. The book "Green for Life" by Victoria Boutenko is all about the benefits of raw green smoothies, if you're looking for some reference.

Here's our recipe:
1 banana
4-6 leaves greens (kale, collards, chard, etc)
1/4 c oj
Blend well, may take a few minutes, then add
1/2 cup other fruit (whatever is starting to go overripe, or frozen fruit)
1/4 c more oj
1 c water
Blend more.

Enjoy!
Aven
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top