Are you by any chance spoiling the nutritional properties of vegetables?
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Carrots, potatoes, cabbage, a little beet and onion. Maybe even tomatoes and young radishes. It’s all pretty simple, right? Vegetables seem simple and completely ordinary, and their preparation is something from the category of “easier than a steamed turnip”.
However, everything is not so simple. If you want to get the most out of your vegetables, you need to cook them the right way. And avoid the following eight mistakes in cooking vegetables.
1. You throw away the good parts of vegetables.
How often did you cut the leaves and stems of your broccoli? Or peeling potatoes and cucumbers? This is a fairly common mistake that unites many cooks. However, now that you know that this is a mistake, it is worth correcting it and changing your lifestyle. The peel, stems and leaves of vegetables also contain useful substances that can be used in cooking.
So, for example, stalks and leaves of broccoli can be used in soups, salads, roasts. This way you get more nutrients.
2. You don’t wash vegetables properly.
Many vegetables such as celery, spinach, bell peppers and tomatoes are often grown with pesticides. If you just wash vegetables quickly, or don’t wash them at all, you run the risk of consuming harmful substances. Hence poisoning, allergies, abdominal pain. They also accumulate in fat, so they are released when you start to lose weight. Therefore, during the diet, you may well feel bad.
To get rid of harmful substances, you need to soak vegetables in a pot of water for 10–15 minutes before eating or cooking them. And then — just quickly rinse them with running water.
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3. You don’t combine vegetables with fats.
If you’re on a low-fat, vegan diet to stay lean, you’re doing a disservice to your health and body, mate.
Combining a small amount of fat with red, yellow, orange and dark green vegetables helps the body absorb cancer-fighting and heart-healthy nutrients like lycopene and beta-carotene, doctors say. The results of the study show that you need to consume six grams of fat along with vegetables to get the most nutritional benefit.
While this may seem like a big serving, the dietary guidelines actually suggest that healthy adults consume no more than 35 percent of their total daily calories from fat, which translates to up to 70 grams per day for 1,800 calories.
The easiest way to combine vegetables with fats is to add a little avocado to a salad, or even olive oil.
4. You abuse juice
Yes, juices are very good, especially when they are homemade. But when the vegetables go through the juicer, their fiber-rich skins and flesh are left behind. But they help increase the feeling of satiety and improve digestion.
Much better to make drinks in a blender. Just throw in food, blender and add some water or plant-based milk. Get a healthy and nutritious smoothie. Also look for healthy smoothie recipes. For example, we wrote about the 25 best smoothies for weight loss, and also shared the most useful smoothies for women.
5. You don’t deviate from the prescription.
Just because you followed the recipe step by step doesn’t mean you cooked the vegetables right. Too long heating them only spoils everything. Boiling is also a so-so idea when cooking vegetables.
Avoid boiling or prolonged cooking of vegetables. It is enough just to steam them for five to seven minutes, and then bring them to readiness in a saucepan over medium heat.
Roasting vegetables in the oven is also a good solution.
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6. You overcook them on the grill.
All is well with veggie kebabs, except perhaps for benzopyrene, a carcinogenic chemical that attacks them when cooked over charcoal and fire for long periods of time.
First of all, you should not butter vegetables when you cook them on a grill or grill. This kills their beneficial properties, although it cooks much faster.
It is also worth trying a special grill basket. So your vegetables are not influenced by smoke, but at the same time they are baked evenly and very tasty.
7. You overeat vegetables.
It would seem, is it possible to abuse vegetables? It turned out that it is possible. Vegetables should be the star of your meal, not a stand for fatty sauces. No cheese sauce, no onion sauce. All kinds of mayonnaises turn your low-calorie salad into a heavy, greasy thing that kicks your pancreas.
It is much better to use olive oil to dress salads. Or a simple dressing of parmesan, balsamic, garlic and lemon juice. If you want to crunch, add hummus.
8. You only eat raw vegetables.
It is very tasty — especially when your grandmother gives you a chopped cucumber, just plucked from the garden, and you smear it with salt and start to crunch. Mmmm. So, we pick up saliva and write the article further.
However, crunching vegetables does not mean getting a dose of vitamins. Do not forget that vegetables are not only an appetizer for a TV series, but also a pleasant ingredient for your culinary delights.
What vegetables grow in your garden?