The healthiest way to eat vegetables revealed

Could you be removing key nutrients by cooking your vegetables? Photo / Getty

Everyone knows that eating vegetables is good for you - but there are some methods of cooking that can actually destroy the nutrients they contain.

Boiling certain vegetables will mean that their vitamin C, B and folate will be lost during the cooking process, reports the Daily Mail.

And, according to the experts, some vegetables should be eaten raw if you want to enjoy their maximum nutritional benefit.

Good Housekeeping experts Marjorie Green and Marita Moore have now explained the healthiest way to eat different vegetables: so make sure you steam or pressure cook tomatoes, but eat onions raw.

VEGETABLES TO COOK

Marjorie, a qualified dietitian and founder of Finally Slim Forever, and Marita, a dietitian and founder of Lotus Fitness Academy, have revealed that the healthiest way to eat tomatoes, mushrooms and asparagus is to cook them.

Marjorie told Good Housekeeping: "Cooking tomatoes breaks down their thick cell wall and releases the cancer finding property lycopene", she explains.

Research has revealed that eating high amounts of lycopene has been linked to a lower risk of cancer and heart attacks.

Furthermore, a 2002 study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry found that actually cooking boosts the amount of lycopene in tomatoes.

Marjorie says that cooking mushrooms also makes them release polysaccharides, which are thought to inhibit tumour growth.

And when asparagus is cooked, the amount of cancer-fighting antioxidants they contain increase.

RAW

The experts say members of the Brassica family - including broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage - should never be over-cooked and are best eaten raw.

These vegetables are some of the healthiest of all as they contain cancer-fighting chemicals called glucosinolates as well as an enzyme called myrosinase, which can boost your immune system.

However Marjorie explains that cooking destroys these enzymes. "Your body will struggle to use the glucosinolates from cooked Brassicas," she says.

Therefore, it's best to only lightly cook these vegetables or eat them raw when possible.
Onions should also be eaten raw if you want the maximum benefits from them.

Marjorie explains: "Chopping a raw onion releases anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer substances called 'organosulfides': the compounds that make you cry when you are chopping a raw onion. Heat can deactivate these substances".

COOKED OR RAW

The experts recommend eating a mixture of cooked and raw vegetables to get the most nutrients from them.

Research has shown that while cooking can reduce the amount of some nutrients in a vegetable, it can enhance other benefits at the same time.

This is the case with peppers, spinach, carrots and any vegetable that's high in vitamin C.
Cooking these foods will reduce the amount of vitamin C they contain. However steaming or pressure cooking these vegetables will preserve their antioxidants and carotenoids, which can reduce the risk of eye diseases as well as some cancers.

Marjorie recommends eating vegetables in the "French" style by starting with a plate of raw crudités and then moving onto to a meal containing cooked vegetables.