HOW TO PRESERVE NUTRIENTS WHILE COOKING

 How to preserve nutrients while cooking 

Good service can be done by teaching the people how to prepare healthful food. This line of work is as essential as any that can be taken up. More cooking schools should be established, and some should labor from house to house, giving instruction in the art of cooking wholesome foods.—The Review and Herald, June 6, 1912 {CD 254.4} 

Cooking aids in digestion and increases the absorption of many nutrients. However, some cooking methods (cooking at high temperatures or for prolonged periods) depletes the nutritional value of your food. 

Nutrients which are often depleted during cooking: 

✓ Water-soluble vitamins: vitamin C and B complexes — thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), folic acid (B9), and cobalamin (B12)

 ✓ Fat-soluble vitamins: vitamins A, D, E, and K ✓ Minerals: primarily potassium, magnesium, sodium, and calcium 

✓ Vitamin C, thiamine (B1) and pantothenic acid are all “sensitive” or “highly sensitive” to damage by heat. 

✓ Wash fruits and vegetables before peeling/cutting/chopping. Water soluble vitamins are lost if the vegetables or fruits are washed after cutting/chopping it. 

✓ Cooking may cause changes to the contents of nutrients, but it depends on the types of vegetables and cooking processes as well. 

Tips to get the best out of your food: 

1. Do not overcook - “Once vegetables start to lose their texture and brightness, it’s an indication that they’ve started to lose antioxidant capacity as well,” says Jones.

2. Minimum cooking time - Cook vegetables for only a few minutes whenever possible. 

3. Cook at low flame - Cooking at low temperatures over long periods can help to preserve vitamins in your food. On the other hand, cooking vegetables at high temperatures for longer periods of time can result in more nutrient loss 

4. Steam your vegetables - Steaming over very low heat until just cooked is one of the best methods to preserve the nutrients and flavor of your vegetables. 

5. Do not cover the pot with lids – While steaming or boiling vegetables, covering pot with lids right after cooking will continue the process of cooking hence will lead to overcooking. 

6. Eat fresh, raw foods - Raw foods are also rich in enzymes that nourish your body. When you eat raw foods, try to eat them in their freshest state as the longer you leave them, the more they lose moisture and vitamins and then deteriorate. 

7. Cut food after — rather than before — cooking, if possible. When food is cooked whole, less of it is exposed to heat and water. 

8. Soak and sprout your legumes before consuming - Legumes when soak and sprouted can be excellent sources of certain minerals and vitamins. Beans often contain phytates or phytic acid that bind to minerals and make them unavailable for our bodies to absorb. Soaking and sprout reduces the concentration of these phytates and makes the minerals available for your body to absorb. 

9. Avoid buying precut and packaged products - Fruits and vegetables that have been precut may lead to loss of some nutrients. The interiors of uncut produce are protected from oxygen (oxidation) and light but exposed when cut. The nutrient that suffers the most in precut fruits and vegetables is vitamin C, although some vitamin A and vitamin E get lost as well. 

10. Certain vegetables should be cooked skin intake - Cook vegetables like potatoes with their skin on as most of the nutrients are located just beneath the skin. Cooking with the skin on allows the nutrients to move from just under the skin into the flesh. 

11. Freeze vegetables when they are fresh - Vegetables contain the highest quantities of nutrients when they are fresh. The older they get, the more nutrient-depleted they become. Frozen vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh—and sometimes even contain more nutrients than fresh as frozen vegetables are flash frozen right after harvest,” Juliana Dewsnap, RD, LD, CPT. 

12. Sautéing and stir-frying – Here, the food is stirred often, the temperature is higher, and the cooking time is shorter. Choose saturated fats such as coconut oil for stir-frying. Cooking for a short time without water prevents the loss of B vitamins, and the addition of fat improves the absorption of plant compounds and antioxidants. 

13. Don’t use baking soda when cooking vegetables. Although it helps maintain color, vitamin C will be lost in the alkaline environment produced by baking soda 

14. Avoid reheating your food multiple times as it destroys the nutrients in them. 

The skillful preparation of food is one of the most essential arts, standing above music teaching or dressmaking. By this I do not mean to discount music teaching or dressmaking, for they are essential. But more important still is the art of preparing food so that it is both healthful and appetizing. This art should be regarded as the most valuable of all the arts, because it is so closely connected with life. It should receive more attention; for in order to make good blood, the system requires good food. The foundation of that which keeps people in health is the medical missionary work of good cooking. {CD 263.1} 

Summary: There is no perfect cooking method that retains all nutrients; therefore, it is important to select the right cooking method for different vegetables to maximize the nutritional quality of your meal. In general, cooking for shorter periods at lower temperatures with minimal water will produce the best results. Let not the work of cooking be looked upon as a sort of slavery… This talent should be regarded as equal in value to ten talents; for its right use has much to do with keeping the human organism in health. Because so inseparably connected with life and health, it is the most valuable of all gifts.—Manuscript 95, 1901 {CD 251.2} ~ 

Dr. Gaihemlung Pamei